Coincidence? More like serendipity. I mean, this pink paper flapping under my windshield wiper, the only car on the street? Day care services, the flyer said. Infants welcome. Manna from heaven! Do you know how hard it is to find someone to watch babies? I had to return to work -- you know how it goes when you’re single. Besides, she was cheap and convenient.She seemed okay. Quiet. Sad brown eyes. She looked kind of familiar. But she rocked Sophie, face out, the same way I do. “Beautiful baby,” she sang. “Beautiful baby.” Later, when she said she’d had miscarriages, I should have put it all together. Because she was there in the hospital, you know. In the same room. I only remembered after.
I hated leaving Sophie with her. I wanted to stay home with my baby. That first week Sophie screamed herself purple when I dropped her off. Me? I bawled at my desk. Called every hour. “Is she all right?” I’d ask, and she’d say, “She’s just fine, Miss Dorothee.”
It got better. We found our routine. That day I was actually relaxed – it was my birthday, you know – so I treated myself to an ice cream cone on the walk home. But no lights were on. She didn’t answer the door, so I kicked in the window, black raspberry spattered all over the front steps, but she wasn’t there, no one was there… oh God, officer, please find my baby.
***
Inspired by the 52-250 Flash a Year Challenge theme: coincidence. And a tad of guilt -- two kids, and I never was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home mom.
Peace...
Posts
Every mother's nightmare. Don't you have maternity leave entitlements in the US? ;-)
ReplyDeleteFor one moment I thought the raspberry stain could also echo dried blood.
marc nash
Nightmare is the right word. Single moms - I don't know how you do it.
ReplyDeleteThat is truly every mother's nightmare.
ReplyDeleteAHHHHH. Sorry, this is scream-worthy. My stomach dropped.
ReplyDeleteKnew it was descending somewhere bad. Don't know why my mind went to baby-eating squid. 'Lights off, baby missing' is much more your territory, and gets a sharper gut reaction. Poor lady.
ReplyDeleteNightmare indeed! And I remember those days of bawling my eyes out after dropping my son off with the babysitter, so worried I was, and that was after taking a whole year off work to be with him. Thankfully I didn't have to endure what this poor woman did.
ReplyDeleteSuperb job describing those helpless feelings Linda!
So freaking scary.
ReplyDeleteJai
I loved your story, Linda, of course (the splattered ice cream, like blood, an inspired touch), but I think John's baby-eating squid idea has a great deal of merit.
ReplyDeleteI would die. Simply die. When I was a single-mom, I was fortunate enough to have family to watch my daughter. Not everyone has that.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was never able to be a stay at home mom either.
Aaaaagh!!! No, I didn't see that coming! This is going to haunt me all weekend.... Excellent story xxx
ReplyDeleteOhh, that'se heart wrenching!
ReplyDeleteExcellent writing, Linda!
The curse of being a parent: how often you worry that something like this will happen to your child.
ReplyDeleteI felt that pull in the belly when the baby and mama both cried. This is so simply told, yet so evocative. The extra detail of the ice cream - another layer of guilt for the frantic mum. This one will stay with me forever.
ReplyDeleteYikes! Very scary read, Linda, all the more so since it is so completely believable.
ReplyDelete~jon
Wicked
ReplyDelete