Cries of the Children(29)

“But it’s lunchtime,” Julie protested. “We were going to see the babies.”

“I’m sure you’ll see them later,” Nanette promised. “In the meantime, it ain’t fittin’ for a little girl to go hungry. Would you like me to take you up to the lunchroom?”

Julie hesitated.

“I’m sure Dr. Winstead won’t mind.”

“Okay,” Julie said.

A short while later, Julie was set up with a lunch tray in the cafeteria. Nanette excused herself, saying she had to get back to work. Left alone, Julie ate her lunch in silence, studying the people around her. No one paid much attention to her. When she finished, she decided to make her way back to the emergency room.

While waiting for the elevator, she read the floor directory. She noticed that the maternity ward was just one flight up.

Maybe I can just go up myself, Julie thought. Samantha won’t mind. I’ll look for that Dr. Huston. I won’t get in anyone’s way.

Maybe, she decided, justifying her actions, Samantha was already up there waiting for her.

Since visiting hours hadn’t begun, the elevator was empty. When she stepped onto the second floor, no one noticed her. Samantha read the visiting-hours sign on the metallic doors. It wasn’t anywhere near one o’clock, but she didn’t let that stop her. Instead, she pushed open the door and went off in search of babies.

She saw a nurse working at a desk, and heard the distant moans of a woman in labor. But then she heard a baby’s cry, and turned in the opposite direction. The walls of the maternity ward were painted a soft blue, with murals depicting scenes from Mother Goose. Julie read a sign marked “Nursery” and followed the arrow around a hallway. To her disappointment, the shades were drawn in the nursery windows. She could hear babies crying, but try as she might, she couldn’t catch a glimpse of the newborns.

Sighing, she turned around and decided she’d better wait until Samantha brought her up. But as she rounded the hall, she noticed a windowed door she hadn’t seen before. She went up to it and looked in, but all she could see was strange machinery.

The sign on the door said “NO ADMITTANCE, HOSPITAL PERSONNEL ONLY.”

Well, she thought, that couldn’t apply to her. She was supposed to see the babies—Samantha said so. Without a moment’s hesitation, she pushed open the unlocked door, and unwittingly entered the preemie ward. It was actually a group of rooms, all encased in glass and all with similar machinery. There were glass boxes too, which Samantha didn’t recognize. The ones in this particular room were currently empty. Through the windows Julie saw two nurses, about three rooms away, talking. In the room directly next to this one, a man and woman stood over a glass box, looking very sad. Julie wondered what they were sad about. But she was more interested in finding the babies.

There didn’t seem to be any in this room, so she decided to search elsewhere. But then a tiny mouselike cry made her turn sharply. She realized at once it had come from behind a curtain. Slowly, curious, she walked over to it. She pulled the curtain aside to find a glass box that held an impossibly tiny infant. For a moment Julie kept her distance. She felt scared suddenly, as if something bad was going to happen.

But its just a baby! she told herself firmly.

She made herself walk closer, made herself look down at the doll-like infant. It had a little white knit cap on its head, and wore a simple cotton undershirt and diaper. Blue-violet light shone down on it, to help fight jaundice.

Julie smiled at the tiny but beautiful infant. But her smile quickly faded when she noticed the wires attached to various parts of the baby’s body.

As if she’d been struck, she fell back against the curtain, knocking over a chair. This wasn’t a good thing. It was bad, terribly bad. . . .

Wires. Something bad about the wires. Someone was yelling at her to get in the box or she would die.

Julie had to get away. She had to find a safe place. She had to run, to hide.

She raced from the nursery as fast as she could, drawing the attention of a doctor making rounds. Barbara Huston called out to the little girl, but Julie did not hear her. She simply ran blindly, trying desperately to get away from the wires and glass boxes.





13


LORRAINE SLEPT SOUNDLY all the night, and was awakened the next morning by clanking sounds. She sat up in the sofa bed, rubbed her eyes with chubby fists, and looked across the room. Bettina was fixing breakfast.

“Good morning, child,” she said. “Come have some eggs.”

Lorraine joined the old woman at the rickety table.

“Did you sleep well last night?” Bettina asked.

Lorraine shook her head.