1
Wednesday, 5 January, 1977, 10:39 AM
Elliot Alexander entered the hospital room to see his wife and newborn son. He was finally a father at age twenty-seven. He was so proud that he felt he might burst.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said as he peeked around the curtain in the semi-private room. “Is everything all right?”
Lori looked up from the baby and said, “I’m fine, and so is your son. Mason, meet your daddy.”
Elliot couldn’t find words to express the joy he felt at that moment. He leaned over to kiss Lori, then stared in total wonder at the perfect miniature being that he and Lori had created. He slowly leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on Mason’s forehead. He drew back and wiped the tears of joy that were streaming down his cheeks.
“Hello, Mason,” he said in that strange voice he always used when he talked to babies. “You’re the most handsome little boy in the whole world.”
Lori smiled as she looked back and forth between her husband and the baby. She had already counted all of Mason’s fingers and toes and examined him from top to bottom. “Isn’t it a miracle, El?” she asked rhetorically. “He’s perfect. Look, he’s got your nose.”
Elliot smiled, but Mason’s nose looked more like Lori’s to him. “And what’s going to be his middle name, honey?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to work on that. They already asked me what to put on the birth certificate. He’s just Mason Alexander at this point.”
“Can I hold him?”
“Oh, sure dear.” Lori fixed the blanket around the baby. She gently lifted him toward Elliot. He awkwardly took the baby from her, remembering from their birth classes exactly how to hold it. He stared into Mason’s face and began babbling goo-goo talk in that same strange baby-voice he always used. Mason immediately began to cry. Elliot was scared that he was hurting him, and quickly handed him back to Lori.
“That’s okay, dear,” she reassured him. “It’s not your fault. He just wants to feel his mommy’s heartbeat, don’t you Pookie?” She was playing with the baby’s chin as she spoke.
Elliot sat down in the chair next to the bed and thought to himself, “Pookie?”
.....
The Alexanders had been married for two years. He was twenty-seven and already a successful entrepreneur. He owned four appliance stores in the Baltimore area, and he was planning to open a fifth in the Spring. Lori had been his personal assistant. They met four years earlier, when she had just turned twenty-one. He interviewed her fresh out of college, and hired her immediately. They started dating and one thing led to another.
She left work only three months earlier. Her pregnancy was very uncomfortable and she wanted to stay home for those last three months. They jointly decided that she would give up her career to be a housewife and mother. They planned to have two or three children. Mason was their first.
Their house was a five-bedroom, two-story colonial in a beautiful suburb of Baltimore. They bought it brand new and paid a decorator and landscaper to fix it all up before they moved in. In the last three months, Lori had supervised the conversion of one of the bedrooms into a nursery. It was like a photograph from Better Homes and Gardens. She didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or girl, so they had to remain quite neutral in the selection of furniture, colors and wallpaper. The theme they had chosen was alphabet blocks.
Lori interviewed nannies during the last month of the pregnancy, and selected a live-in through a Swedish agency in the area. The nanny was only contracted to stay on for six months, and then Lori would take over the full responsibility of caring for the child herself.
Both Lori’s and Elliot’s parents were alive, and also all four of Lori’s grandparents. Elliot’s mother and father were in their late thirties when they had him, and now only his two grandmothers were alive. The entire family was excited about the new baby, and they couldn’t wait to spoil him rotten. The nursery was piled high with toys, outfits, diapers and other necessities long before the last sheet of wallpaper had been hung.
.....
The nurse came into the room to get the baby. “If you’re all through, ma’am, I’ll just take little Mason and get him all ready for his nappy-poo.”
Lori smiled at her. “Okay, but what time can I have him again?”
“About two o’clock, ma’am,” she answered as she lifted the child from Lori’s bed. “Doctor said he’d be through for a look at both of you by one or one-thirty.”
“Oh, great. Thank you, eh...”
“Diane, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Diane. And, please, I’m Lori and this is my husband, Elliot.”
Diane simply nodded. Her hands were full at the moment. She left and Elliot looked at his watch.
“It’s getting late, honey. I promised to meet Phil over at the new store to get the office area squared away.” He bent over and kissed her. “I’ll be back later. Probably around four.” He got up and left.
Lori was feeling the pain from childbirth. She drifted off to sleep.
.....
Diane gently placed Mason in his tiny crib in the nursery. She pulled a pen from her pocket, looked at the clock on the wall, and jotted something down on the clipboard attached to the crib. She turned around and started off to bring the next baby back.
Mason started to cry the moment she placed him in the crib. Jack Casey looked out at the world through those tear-filled young eyes.
2
Wednesday, 5 January, 1977, 11:13 AM
Paula Marie Austin was the third child for Dan and Kimberly Austin. Actually, she was the fourth, if you counted the miscarriage that Kim had a few years back. She was a healthy baby girl weighing in at just over eight pounds. She was now little sister to nine-year-old Thomas, and five-year-old Loreen. Kimberly had given birth to Paula right at home. This was a family tradition for the Austins.
They lived in a modest ranch house in Huntsville, Alabama. It was Kimberly’s brother Matthew’s place before he moved to Birmingham. They had a small piece of land with a swing-set out back. There was also an area in the corner of the yard that served as a vegetable garden each Spring and Summer. The fences on all three sides of them belonged to the neighbors. It was a little strange to see a chain link on one side, a post-and-rail on the other, and a stockade fence in the back. But it was home, and that’s all that mattered to them.
Daniel Austin, thirty-one years old, worked two jobs to support his family. He was an automobile mechanic at a service station from eight to five, and he moonlighted at the Sears store four nights a week. He was from a poor black family of farm hands in the area. He was the first of them to finish high school. And he even completed a year of community college before he married Kimberly.
He learned basic auto mechanics from his older brothers who were always fooling around with some broken down car or truck. He had a natural talent when it came to fixing things, so he chose the Industrial Arts curriculum in high school. There, he not only advanced his knowledge of auto mechanics, but he also learned woodwork, metalwork, and body shop. By his senior year, he had helped restore a completely wrecked automobile into a beautiful, shiny sport-sedan that the school sold for two thousand dollars.
He was working at night toward his associate’s degree in heating and air-conditioning when he married Kim. But, he had to drop out so he could work nights at Sears to get the money to buy their house.
Kimberly was two years younger than Dan. She worked for a short time as a secretary before they got married, but she became a full-time housewife immediately afterward. She and Dan knew each other from high school. Even though there was a two-year span in age, he had repeated the sixth grade, and they were only a year apart in school. They dated in high school. She went to his senior prom, and the following year, he went to hers. Most of their friends had known, even back in high school, that they would end up married.
.....
Dan pushed open the bedroom door and walked in. His grin went from ear to ear. “Hey, baby! How are you doing?” He walked right over to the bed, kissed his wife on the cheek, and scooped up his new daughter. “Look at Daddy’s little girl,” he bellowed. “Isn’t she a treasure?”
Kimberly was exhausted, but managed a smile nonetheless. “Hi, Dan,” she whispered. “I didn’t expect you to be around before dinner.”
“Well, Mattie called me over at the station to tell me the news,” he told her, referring to the midwife who delivered the baby. “Bill told me to take the rest of the day off. And with pay, I should add!”
“Well isn’t he suddenly the generous boss?” she remarked matter-of-factly. “Is that the same Bill that made you work Christmas day?”
“Oh, no! It’s a different Bill,” he chuckled. “But, look at this gorgeous child, will you? She’s just the image of her mama.”
“Keep it up. Flattery will get you everywhere!” She grimaced for a moment from the pain. She repositioned herself, and then asked, “As long as you’re home, can you go across the street and get Loreen from Aunt Sarah? She’s too old to take care of a little one like her anyway.”
“Sure,” Dan agreed, “but first give me a few minutes with my little Paula.”
“Fine,” she conceded, “as long as you get me a couple of aspirins to kill this pain.”
He placed Paula down next to Kim, and darted into the bathroom to get her the bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. “How’s that?” he asked boyishly, as she gratefully took them from him. He turned back to Paula. “Now come to your papa, little sweetheart,” he purred as he lifted her and cradled her in his left arm. “Everything’s gonna be just fine.” He kissed her on the cheek and he poked at her tiny hand with his right index finger. The baby formed a fist around his finger. “Well, ain’t you the strong one?” he whispered to his new princess.
Kimberly watched him with their new baby. She smiled and thought to herself what a wonderful he was.
.....
Sarah heard the knocking. “Okay. Just hold your water. I’m coming as fast as I can!” She peeked through the door-glass and immediately unlocked the door. “Mornin’ Dan,” she said as she opened the door. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks, Sarah. I’m off for the rest of the day, and Kim asked me if I’d come over and pick up Loreen.”
“Why sure,” she said as she turned her head back toward the kitchen. “Loreen, your papa’s here for you.”
Loreen came running right in, and she jumped into her father’s outstretched arms. He swooped her up, her head almost touching the ceiling, and she burst out laughing.
“Hi, papa. Did you see my new baby sister?”
“I sure did, child. She’s almost as pretty as you are.” He saw the grin forming on her face, and he drew her to him for a big hug. “What do you say we go over together and take care of your mama?”
“Okay, papa!”
Dan turned to look at Sarah and told her, “Thanks for your help, Sarah. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
.....
Kimberly was lying on her side staring into the face of her beautiful new baby. The aspirins were starting to work; the pain was subsiding. As she looked into those innocent eyes, a smile spread across her face. She felt that special bond that only another mother could understand, and she wondered what Paula’s life would be like. Kim noticed the baby’s eyes moving around randomly, trying to take in the light and shadows that make up a baby’s world. “Be patient, little darling. You’ll be able to see us soon.”
Paula’s eyes were unable to focus. The world was a jumble of unclear images, and a collection of unfamiliar sounds, smells and tastes. Somewhere deep inside of Paula, Joan Spencer was desperately trying to see her new world.
3
Wednesday, 5 January, 1977, 12:45 PM
Lawrence Hunt was a month premature, and little more than five pounds. The doctors were certain that little Larry would be just fine, but they decided to keep him in the special infant care section for at least three days. This was going to mean that Barbara Hunt would have to go to the baby instead of having the baby brought to her. It also meant that she would spend one or two extra days in the hospital, and she’d be sleeping, starting tomorrow, on one of the cots in that special unit. But for today, she could rest in her regular hospital room.
Art was there for the delivery, right in the room with her. The whole sight of the birth made him a little queasy, but somehow he stayed for the duration. He had missed seeing the birth of his other child, Brad, and he promised Barbara he’d be there for their second.
“The nurse said I could come in now,” Art said to Barbara as he entered the room. “How are you feeling?”
“In a lot of pain at the moment, dear.” As the words left her mouth, she felt a little guilty for saying it. Art had been up with her since two in the morning, and she felt worse for him than for herself. “Did you see the baby?”
“Oh, yes! I just came from there. They’ve got him in a little incubator, but they say it’s just routine.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “I called your sister. She said Brad’s just fine. She’s going to call around and bring everyone up to date.”
“They said I can’t go home for a couple days.” she commented. “Maybe even Saturday. Should I get mom to come over and take care of Brad?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. I’m taking the rest of the week off, so I’ll take care of him myself. I’ll bring him here with me if I can, or I’ll arrange for someone to watch him off and on.”
“Art, I can’t believe how tiny Larry is. Did you see those teeny fingers and toes?” she asked. “It’s such a miracle!”
“To tell you the truth, I really can’t remember how small Brad was when he was born. He was full-term, but he didn’t weigh much more, did he?”
She thought about it for a moment then replied, “He was almost eight pounds, Art. That’s quite a lot bigger.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t really matter, just so long as he’s healthy.” Art’s stomach let out a protracted gurgling sound. “Oops,” he said, “I guess I’d better eat something. Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving,” Barb answered. “Can you see if they’ll bring me something to eat?”
“Okay. I’ll talk to the floor nurse, and then I’ll run down to the cafeteria and have something myself. If there’s any problem, I’ll smuggle up a sandwich for you.” He winked at her, and then kissed her on the tip of her nose. “I’ll be back in a flash. And by the way, kiddo, this baby’s a real looker. Takes after his mother!”
With that, he got up and left the room. Barbara was smiling. She was so relieved that the birth was over and done with. The thought of having a baby in the Winter had scared her a little. She always imagined going into labor in the middle of a blizzard with twelve inches of snow on the ground. She felt hungry and tired. She drifted off to sleep.
.....
Arthur and Barbara were both thirty-four. They met at the University of Pennsylvania in their senior year. She was in the Marketing program, and he was an Accounting major. They got engaged early in the first semester, and decided they’d get married as soon as they graduated. He was from a small town in Kansas, and she was from Pittsburgh.
Before she graduated, Barbara had a job lined up in the sales department of a Pittsburgh toy manufacturing company. She managed to get Art an interview with them, also. He got an offer from them as well as from two Philadelphia-based companies in the finance departments. There really never was much of a choice to be made. They both went to work for the Pittsburgh company, and they got married a few months later.
He worked his way up to VP of Finance, and she made it to Director of Sales and Marketing. When they had their first baby, Brad, she took a brief leave of absence. They found a day-care center that took infants, and she returned to work. They planned to do the same thing this time around.
They were both making very good salaries, and they lived in a huge, renovated stone house dating back to the early eighteen hundreds. It was situated on a twenty acre wooded lot, and they thought of it as paradise. They were able to save a lot of money, and they both hoped to retire at fifty. Then they planned to travel and see the world while they were still young enough to enjoy it.
At first, being a small town boy, Art was a little shy about moving to Pittsburgh. But he flourished in the big city environment. He learned to love the world of symphony orchestras, art museums, and ballet. He got involved in politics for a while, and even got on the board of directors of their country club. Pittsburgh was one of the greatest cultural centers on the continent, and within three years of moving there, he was certain that he could never tolerate small-town life again.
Barbara’s family all lived in the Pittsburgh area, and Art was sort of adopted by them. His own family was back in Kansas, and he hardly saw them. He spoke with them on the telephone almost every day, but it wasn’t the same as being there. Twice each year Art and Barb made it a point to take one-week vacations to stay with his parents. Counting their routine Christmas trips to Pittsburgh, Art’s parents got to spend no more than three weeks a year with their only son. It was rough on them, especially after their first grandson, Brad, was born. Now, with Larry just born, things would be even worse.
.....
Art came back into the hospital room with a full stomach. Barb was asleep. A covered lunch tray sat on a cart next to her. He lifted the cover and saw that it had not been touched. He debated whether to wake her, then decided that she would want him to.
“Barb,” he whispered in her ear, “it’s time for lunch.”
She awoke with a huge yawn. She was famished, and he helped her with the lunch tray. She gobbled it down in a few minutes, and then asked when she could see the baby.
“I’ll check with the nurse,” he said as he turned and left the room. He came back a minute later and told her, “They’re bringing a wheelchair for you now. It’s hospital rules. You can see the baby right away.”
“Great!” she exclaimed. “But, I just don’t understand why they can’t bring Larry to me.”
“It’s no big deal, honey. I told you before, it’s just a routine precaution with premature babies.”
The nurse came in just then, rolling a wheelchair in front of her. She applied the brake and assisted Barbara into it. “Do you know where to go?” she asked.
“I do,” Art responded, “and I’ll take her over if that’s all right.”
“Oh, sure,” the nurse agreed. “Just make sure to put paper masks on before you go in there.”
“Sure!” agreed Art. “Thanks for the help.”
The nurse smiled politely and left.
Art wheeled Barbara down the corridor, past the regular nursery room, and then turned right. At the first set of doors on the right, he turned the wheelchair around and backed in through the doors. He allowed them to close, and then he grabbed two masks, handing one to Barb and putting the other one on himself. He helped Barb with hers, then proceeded to back up through the second set of doors. It was like an airlock, but not quite as air-tight.
When he turned the wheelchair around, Barb saw the incubator with the three-by-five card marked “Hunt”. She urged Art to move her closer, and then she sat awe-stricken, staring at her beautiful new son.
“Art, it’s such a miracle, isn’t it? He’s such a helpless little being. He’s so dependent on us to do everything for him, and to teach him all the things he has to learn.”
“It sure is,” he agreed. “Look at how his little feet move while he’s asleep. He’s just lying there without a care in the world. It must be nice to be so innocent and carefree.”
Barb was studying his every feature again. She pored over the tiny fingernails and the light-brown fuzz on the top of his head. Then she noticed his closed eyes. “Look, honey,” she pointed out, “His eyes are moving. He must be dreaming.” She thought for a moment, then added, “What could he possibly have to dream about?”
But Larry Hunt had quite a bit to dream about. In fact, he had fifty-seven years of Ann Willis’ life to dream about.
4
Wednesday, 5 January, 1977, 1:44 PM
Maria Cortez was a healthy baby girl. Her mother had delivered her only six hours before. Juanita Cortez was already sitting up in her maternity ward bed playing with her precious first child. Juanita was hardly more than a child herself, just having celebrated her nineteenth birthday. The baby was all she thought about for the last several months. It would have been nice if the baby’s father had been here for the childbirth, but some things were not meant to be.
Sister Emily came by to check up on Juanita. She hated to see an unwed mother in here, especially such a poor one with so few prospects. She walked over to the head of the bed and reached down to fix Juanita’s pillow. “And how are the new mother and daughter doing?”, she asked politely. “And, what a couple of beauties you are indeed!” she added.
“Hello, sister,” Juanita responded. “Thank you. She is a beautiful child, isn’t she?”
Sister Emily really felt sad thinking about the struggle these two would have in life. “You’ve certainly been blessed, child.” She felt Juanita’s forehead as she spoke, “Are you having any pain?” Then she held Juanita’s wrist as she looked at her watch and continued, “I’ll just check your pulse and blood pressure and be out of your way.”
Juanita looked up at her and answered softly, “The pain is tolerable, thank you. When will I be able to leave the hospital?”
Sister Emily pumped up the armband and then listened for the heartbeat in her stethoscope while she slowly released the air pressure. “I’m sure you’ll be able to leave tomorrow, if everything stays status quo.” She jotted something down on the wall chart. “And who’s coming to take you home?” she probed.
“My mother will pick us up, Sister.”
Sister Emily had many more questions, but she decided she could ask them later. Right now it was best to allow the two of them as much privacy as the ward permitted.
.....
Juanita was a typical case here in Los Angeles. She and her mother, Rosalita, were Mexican migrant workers without papers. They had no insurance, and lived in the squalor of a Tijuana trailer camp. As fate would have it, at least the baby was born in America, and Juanita knew that would ultimately work to their advantage.
The father, Fernando Gomez, was back in Mexico, at least two hundred miles from Tijuana. He split when Juanita was in her fourth month. Raising a child would be tough for her.
She planned to stay nearby as an “illegal” with a widow grape grower who took a liking to her. The woman’s name was Corina Valdez. She had inherited her husband’s vineyard twenty years earlier, and she ran it very profitably. Taking in Juanita wasn’t the smartest thing for her to do, but she really thought Juanita would be a perfect companion for her. That made it worth the risk of getting hassled by the Immigration authorities. But, Corina did have her share of contacts among them, and could handle it if necessary.
To Juanita, Corina’s sponsorship was a blessing. Since her baby was automatically granted US citizenship, Juanita hoped that she could use the baby to help gain her own citizenship, and eventually lead a prosperous life as an American housewife. But that was all too far in the future to worry about now.
Actually, it was Corina that would be taking her and the baby home. Her mother, Rosalita, was back in Tijuana right now, and had no access to a car anyway. Corina had promised that Rosalita could stay with them if she wanted. But Juanita knew that her mother’s life was back in Mexico with all of the other children. She was, however, very grateful for the offer.
.....
Doctor Caulder came by shortly after Sister Emily left. He glanced at the chart for a moment, then looked at Juanita with a warm smile. “You were wonderful in there,” he told her, referring to the delivery room. “Not too many first-timers are as brave as you are. And I don’t mind saying that you’ve got yourself an extraordinarily beautiful child. I see here you’ve named her Maria.”
“Oh, Doctor Caulder,” she said, squinting to read his name tag, “I wanted to thank you for all you did for me in there. And thank you also for your kind words about Maria. She is more than beautiful to me, though. She is my whole world.”
“Well, I wish you the best of luck with her.” He examined the baby for a moment. “It looks like you and Maria should be able to get out of here tomorrow morning. I’ll be around again about nine o’clock tomorrow morning for a last check, okay?”
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Doctor Caulder. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
He smiled and nodded his head, then walked away thinking how wonderfully brave this young girl must be.
Juanita sang softly to the baby in Spanish. It was an old lullaby her mother had sung to her as a child. This was the happiest day of her life. She held Maria close to her and kissed her on the temple. She wondered to herself whether she should speak only English to the baby. Corina mostly spoke Spanish. She would talk with Corina about it and figure out what was best.
Juanita smiled as she marveled over her beautiful baby. Maria’s eyes were wide open and she seemed to be looking around the room. “Can you see your mama, precious one?” she asked her baby in loving jest.
Tiny Maria Cortez was responding to the shapes and shadows and sounds of her new world. And from somewhere deep within this baby’s consciousness, Rabbi David Pearlstein was trying to capture a glimpse of his brand new surroundings and his brand new mother. Juanita Cortez had no way to know or understand the irony of her baby being born in a Catholic hospital.
5
Wednesday, 5 January, 1977, 3:08 PM
Donald James Perry was the first child of Derrick and Dawn. Dawn sat in her private room at the hospital fussing over her handsome new son. She was so disappointed that Derrick couldn’t be here for the birth. They had taken the classes together, and they were so determined to share the experience. But Derrick had been taking more and more business trips to Washington now that the project was starting to look feasible.
The nurse asked Dawn, “Do you want me to take Donald back for a nap, or do you want to keep him here with you?”
Dawn really wanted more time with Donald, but she was getting very tired. She thought for a moment and asked, “Can I just have another ten minutes with him? Then I’ll want to catch a nap. Is that okay with you?”
The nurse glanced at her watch and made a quick calculation. “Sure Mrs. Perry, I’ll be back shortly. I’m off at four, and I’m supposed to have all the babies back to the nursery before then.”
She turned and left as Dawn said, “Thanks.” Then Dawn took the controller and adjusted the bed so she was in more of a sitting position. Her stitches hurt as she did this, but the pain wasn’t too bad. She took the baby and cradled it in her left arm, keeping her right arm free to touch and explore this miracle of new life.
“I wish your daddy were here, precious. He really wanted to see you being born.” She played with Donald’s tiny hands. “Just look at you,” she remarked as she fussed with his hair. “Your head is so pointy and funny looking. Doctor Turner says you’ll look normal in a few weeks. I hope he’s right, or we’ll have to call you cone head.”
Out of the blue, Donald started to cry. Dawn was nervous, as lots of new mothers are, and she immediately checked to make sure she wasn’t pinching or hurting the baby in any way. “What’s the matter, sweetie? Are you hungry?” At this point she almost wished she had chosen to breast feed, but she and Derrick had discussed it so many times before and decided against it. “Be patient, little angel. You’ll have a bottle in a few minutes.”
It was as if Donald understood. He stopped crying and began to move his mouth in a sucking action. His hands went to his face by reflex. Dawn remembered what the nurse had told her, and she slipped the little socks over Donald’s hands to keep him from poking himself in the eye. As she did this, she thought it was a bit ridiculous. She imagined a world filled with millions of unfortunate one-eyed babies whose parents couldn’t afford socks for their tiny hands.
.....
Derrick Perry was born and educated in England. He had graduated from Oxford with a degree in Physics, and worked for a few years as an instructor. He came to the United States as part of the big “brain drain” in the late sixties, and worked for M.I.T. in the Physics Department. He taught a few basic courses as part of the deal, but his full-time job was related to fusion reactor development. This was a new field, and the government was interested enough to provide several million dollars a year to the school.
Dawn was a research assistant when Derrick first came to M.I.T. in nineteen sixty-eight at the ripe old age of twenty-seven. She had a degree in mathematics from a small college in New Jersey, and this was the only job she could find that would start her at a decent salary. She was a year younger than Derrick, and she already had four years of tenure when he came over from England.
It was probably his accent that first captivated Dawn, although she never would admit it. They used to sit and talk over lunch in the lab. Neither of them had enough cash to spare for a restaurant or cafeteria lunch. As they got to know one another better, they started taking turns packing lunches for two. It took the same amount of time to make two sandwiches as one, so they decided that they could catch ten minutes more of sleep every other day. Such was the world of logic to a Mathematician and a Physicist.
The love part materialized slowly. They were both caught up in their work, and sometimes they stayed late talking about the results of the day’s experiments, or what they planned for the next day. They had known each other for two years before he leaned over to kiss her in the middle of one of their after-work discussions. It was the most embarrassing experience she ever had, and one of the most romantic, too. They bumped noses on their first kiss, and his glasses slipped off and dropped on the table.
After that first encounter, it took three weeks before Derrick got up the nerve to ask her out. The rest was history. They were married for five years when they had Donald. It was an unplanned pregnancy. She didn’t want to give up her career, and she really wasn’t ready to be a mother. They talked it over for months. Finally, they decided she’d take six months off, then find a sitter to take care of the baby during the day. They both knew in their hearts that this child would be their last.
Her family was from the Boston area, so they spent a good deal of time with them on weekends. His parents were back in England and they only spoke once or twice a month on the phone. As her due-date approached, there was a noticeable increase in the number of calls coming from his parents. Dawn had an ominous feeling that when his parents became grandparents for the first time, there would be lots of pressure applied to try and get Derrick to move back there. She knew she’d never leave Boston, so she wondered how this marriage was going to turn out.
.....
Dawn was in the middle of a yawn when the nurse peeked in again. “Mrs. Perry, are you ready for me to take the baby?”
“Oh, thank you. I’m really so tired.” She lifted the baby slightly as the nurse slipped her hands under the wrapped blanket. “Take good care of him, please!”
Nurse Kelly assured her, “I haven’t dropped one in weeks!”
Dawn looked stunned for an instant, then realized she was joking. The smile came to both of their faces at precisely the same time. Dawn asked, “When can I have him again?”
“Well, they’ll be feeding him around four-thirty. You’ll get your dinner around five. So it’ll probably be five-thirty or so.”
“Thank you, nurse,” she replied, “but can I get him later on, too?”
“Oh, I don’t see why not. You really can have him almost full time if you wish. Just signal the duty nurse when you want him.” She walked out with Donald, and Dawn reclined the bed to its flat position. She was asleep within a minute.
.....
Nurse Kelly placed Donald in his bed and unwrapped the blanket from him. The temperature here was maintained at exactly seventy-eight degrees and the babies all remained uncovered, except for their tiny disposable diapers. As soon as he hit the mattress, he began fussing. He was hungry, and he’d soon be fed by the next shift-nurse.
She took a moment to tickle Donald under the chin, then said in her special baby voice, “Kelly’s going to say bye-bye now. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” With that she turned and headed for the door.
Donald began to cry to express his hunger, and Hank Alderfer thought he had ever-so-briefly caught the aroma of a cornfield in late August.
6
Wednesday, 5 January, 1977, 5:57 PM
No matter what she tried, Kate Murphy could not seem to get her new baby to stop crying. Her first one, Allison, was such a good baby. She hardly ever cried at all. But, Brian Edward Murphy was going to be one of those problem kids. She felt it in her bones.
“What’s the matter with you, fella?” she asked. “Do you want to get back there in that nice comfortable womb?” She had already breast-fed him, burped him and cleaned him up. She wondered why he was so unhappy.
“He’s a noisy one,” commented Angie, the woman sharing the semi-private room with her. “All four of my others were complainers, but this one seems just fine.”
Kate thought to herself how glad she was that she only had two. “Angie, you’re gonna jinx yourself. Little Stevie over there might turn out to be a wailer if you don’t stop bragging.”
Shawn Murphy walked in and found Kate in the first bed. “Hi, honey,” he said, almost out of breath. “I just got here. They wouldn’t let me leave until I got their stupid crane working. Oh, God! Look at him. He’s so cute.”
“Angie, this is my husband, Shawn. Shawn, Angie,” she politely said.
Shawn turned to the woman in the next bed and said, “Hi, Angie. Nice meeting you.”
“Same here,” she replied.
He turned back to Kate and his new son. “Brian, you look so different. The last time I saw you, you were a shriveled up little red prune. Are you being good for mommy?”
“No he isn’t, if you must know,” responded Kate. “You call all this noise ‘being good’, do you?” She smiled at her husband. “You must really be beat, Shawn. Up all night, then a full shift. You don’t have to stay if you’re too tired.”
“That’s okay. I want to be here. Your mom’s got Allison, so it ain’t like I’ve got to go rushing home or nothing. Did they say when you can go home?”
“Doctor Gilbert said I can go home tomorrow. Isn’t that wonderful?”
“Yeah. That’s great! Maybe I can switch shifts with Gus.”
“Oh, can’t you just take the day off? There’s going to be so much to do tomorrow. Why don’t you just take a personal day? I’d really like having you around, especially tomorrow night.”
“Okay, then. I’ll call in later so they have time to get a sub. Can I hold him, hon?” She nodded and he picked up his son for the very first time. “So, did they say what time you’d get out tomorrow?”
“According to Doctor Gilbert, by eleven. But the nurse said more like twelve.” She formed a look of displeasure on her face. “Can you come by around ten-thirty, just in case?”
“Sure! I’ll come over earlier than that, if that’s okay with you.” He looked at his new son. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his daughter, Allison, but he had always wanted a son. He was walking on air. Already, he could picture the baseball glove on Brian’s tiny hand. He played with the baby’s hands, and Brian stopped crying almost at once. “That’s a good little guy,” he whispered. “Daddy’s little boy.”
.....
Shawn Murphy was twenty-eight, and two years younger than his wife, Kate. He went to tech-school right there in Philadelphia, where he was born and raised. He started his apprenticeship at eighteen, and was a full-blown, licensed union electrician by twenty-one. He worked out of the Philadelphia union hall for a number of years, and he met Kate when he was out on a job.
Kate worked for a local injection molding company as a clerk-typist. She started the job right out of high school, and she worked there ever since. She met Shawn six years earlier when he was on a job at her company installing a new electric line for the molding equipment. He was younger than she, but she fell for him at once. They started dating, and they got married a year later.
Shawn found a steady job working directly for a suburban steel mill, and it paid quite a bit more than working out of the union hall. With their combined incomes, they were able to buy a nice, practically new, three bedroom row-home in the northeast section of Philadelphia. It was there that they had their first child, Allison, who was now three years old.
They managed to save a sizable sum of money over the last few years. Shawn planned to use it to open his own business, but Kate was determined to buy a four bedroom single home in the suburbs where her children could grow up in a better environment. Shawn was adamant about starting the business first, but Kate argued that they should first get the single home, even if that delayed the business plans for a few years. The dispute was destined to continue for years to come.
They both had large families in the area, so they spent many weekends visiting or entertaining family. When Allison was born, the family visits increased to almost every weekend. Allison was the first grandchild for both his and her parents. They lavished gifts upon her, and the third bedroom soon became a playroom filled with every toy imaginable. When Kate got pregnant with Brian, this bolstered her argument in favor of a bigger home. But, Shawn put his foot down. He spent eight weekends turning the basement into a playroom to free up the third bedroom for the new baby.
.....
The nurse came by with the dinner tray. Shawn felt in the way. “Should I be going or something?” he asked.
“No,” Kate suggested, “you can just hold Brian while I eat. Is that okay?”
“No problem, honey.” He looked around and spotted the chair in the corner of the room. “I’ll just sit over here. Brian and I can have a nice man-to-man talk.” He sat down and got comfortable while Kate started her dinner.
They were seated right by the window. It was already dark outside, but Brian’s eyes seemed to fix on the darkness rather than the bright lights and shapes moving around inside the room. Shawn watched his son discover his new world.
Brian fixed his gaze at the window. He seemed to pick out the shape of the moon through the window. Ray Williams thought he heard the distinct sound of a bus horn.
