Short Story by Barbara Kasey Smith’s Corner of the World:
The alarm goes off at five o’clock as I turn over dreading to leap out of bed. I’ve never been an early morning riser because of the love I have for watching various programs that interest me on television at night. I’ve been walking to work at the cement plant to take advantage of the exercise I desperately need since my job as a supervisor is sitting at my desk for the majority of the day. I’m not in love with the job but in our small town here in West Virginia there aren’t that many jobs available; and I’ve made a decision to like it and to be happy to have a job where I can enjoy the environment of my hometown. I love the homely warm feeling of the town and the amazing friendliness of the people.
The beauty through all seasons is magnificent; the winter months offers winter wonderlands; the spring fetches a rebirth of life; the summer gorgeous foliage and warm summer nights; and the fall conveys an amazement of glorious colors. I enjoy the life I have in this area and all the natural beauty it provides and I never want to leave it.
Mornings are a drudge for me as I try different ways to enhance a desire to enjoy them instead of allowing them to steal my moods. I decide today to walk through the woods to my place of employment instead of walking through the streets. It’s a cold nippy morning and the frost is hanging in the air and on the vegetation. The morning’s light is trying to peek through the sky but instead darkness prevails. I’m feeling a tad bit of apprehension as I get deeper into the woods and it’s harder to see clearly. Shadows in the distance appear to be making movements toward me and their facades look like images of conjured up objects. It’s amazing how the darkness can play tricks to the eyes and build imaginations in the mind to cause fear.
I have a feeling someone is watching and following me because I hear a snapping and crunching of limbs and leaves in the background; and I think, “Who would be following me,” and I snicker to myself?” I’m a woman who would put up a terrible fight and kick to the bitter end if someone tried to accost me. I’m a strong hands-on person and I’d never allow someone to take me down without a good fight. I’ve walked this route a few times during daylight but never when it’s dark. There’s never any problem in our small town but maybe a few minor incidents once in a great while.
All at once I hear what sounds like a baby crying; I stop dead in my tracks, wait until the sound penetrates my ears again. I do believe it’s a baby; a newborn at that. I walk in different directions to allow the sounds to guide me closer and closer. Suddenly, I spot a sunken gap in the side of a hill and I believe I see a person lying there but I cannot be certain because it’s still too dark. I hear the cry as if I’m within a few feet of it. I’m not certain what to do because I could be walking up on a criminal and I have nothing to protect myself. It’s strange how something appeared to lead me to travel through the wooded area today; and the feeling someone was watching me; and I think, “Is this a premonition someone needing help?”
I’m not about to walk up on what I’m squinting to see, I back off and lean against a tree and wait for the sun to pop through the trees. I’m not worried about being late for work because I cannot leave this area until I see what’s in that dug-out…”Is it an animal or human?”
I must confess I’ve got more fear than I want to disclose but I’m also determined to find out what is crying like a baby. I don’t care what it is but I cannot leave something that may be in distress and suffering. I lean against the tree for more than twenty minutes when I finally see the light prying through the trees. I feel a sense of security for its appearance as I hope to see what I’m in for. I wait for maybe ten more minutes and then I creep over to where the dug-out in the hill is, and as I approach it, I see a young woman lying there helpless in the leaves. She has her body cuddle around something and then, “A loud cry of a baby comes from within the area.” I call out, “Are you okay; do you need help?”
Only mumbles and the cry of a baby can be heard. I go closer and see a beautiful woman lying there in total confusion and her voice is barely audible but her arms are hugging something close to her body. I can barely see, and I say, “You’ve given birth to a new born, lie still I’ll go get help for you.”
She doesn’t respond and I take off running to get help, the lady is in dire need of medical assistance. She’s confused and unable to tell me what’s wrong or why she’s out there in the cold. I finally make it into town and I go straight to the fire station for help and they yell, “Jump aboard and come with us to show us where she is!” I’m thinking, “I hope she is still there when we can back!” I take them to the area in the woods and there she lies in the leaves with a naked newborn in her arms. One of the firemen says, “It’s a good thing she chose this dug-out with leaves in it or they would have already been dead…it protected them from the cold and the wind.”
The firemen do the necessary preparations to carry them out of the woods; one of them turns to me and says, “It’ll be a miracle if the woman lives; she’s in critical condition, if you’d been much later, she would have passed away and the baby would have frozen to death.”
I could not believe this had happened to me today but I’m so thankful I chose this route to take or the lady and her baby would have died alone in the woods. Death would have been harder for her to face with a newborn in her arms and with her helplessness. I go into the hospital with the firemen and answer as many questions as I can about the incident I had come upon in the woods. The physicians get to work on them both and it is a touch and go for most of the day but around 5 o’clock p.m., they tell me, “If she makes it through the night she might have a chance to live…she’s lost a lot of blood; the baby boy is doing great and has an excellent set of lungs.”
The doctors told me to go home for the night and to come back tomorrow. On my way home I heard the news about the woman and baby being found in our area in the woods and if anyone knew of a woman in her early twenties that was due to have a baby and is missing to contact the local police.
When I get home and have the time to absorb what has happened to me, I call the local police and ask them if they’ve found out any information about the woman; and they advised a woman out of Tennessee, expecting a baby, was on her way to Washington, D.C. by bus and she had not made it to her destination in the D.C. area and there’s a look-out for her. The bus was to make a stop in our small town and then onward bound to D.C.
It’s a long night as I toss and tumble in my bed in hopes the woman and baby will be okay. I cannot imagine who she is and why she was out there in the cold? It’s all a puzzling situation to me and I’m glad I found her and the baby. I pray for a miracle for both of them…knows how much a child needs its Mother.
I’m awoken by the telephone and advised by the local police both Mother and baby are okay and that the young lady had gotten off the bus at the bus-stop in our town because she was feeling poorly and she didn’t make it back on the bus in time. The bus-station had closed and she was left out on the street with no place to go and no money. She travelled through the streets and went into the woods to find a place to rest for awhile because she was in such excruciating pain. She found the leafed gap in the hillside and lay down because her child was coming. Alone there in the darkness of the woods she gave birth to a fine boy who weighed 8 pounds.
The leaves and the wind provided sounds of gladness that the baby was born on that cold night as they waited for the opening of a window of light. I’m blessed to have found them and know they’ll reach their proper destination into a world of life and wonderment.
Barbara Kasey Smith is the writer of this short story – Copyright 2015 – Use by Permission Only. Barbara’s New Book, Jailbait, is available at lulu.com; Amazon.com; Barnes & Noble.com.