Encounter

How had it come to this? All I had done was pop out to the supermarket in what was meant to be a very brief trip after work, when all of a sudden, the blizzard hit. I blamed Daniel for my predicament. I loved the man, but it was him who decided he needed to have steak tonight or he would surely die.

“He’d been working hard all day from home.”

“It was to celebrate our 2 year, 4 month and 5 day anniversary.”

“But he knew how much I cared for him and it wouldn’t take long.”

So, after a particularly painful day at the office which included a boss I wanted to strangle, I took a detour. The clouds had an angry grey tinge to them. I had better make this quick. I wouldn’t want Daniel to starve without his precious dead cow to chew upon.  I rolled my eyes and fiddled with the radio. Maybe some of my favourite music would help me through this difficulty. Sludgy white powder started dripping onto my windshield. Snow? But the weather report had not forecasted this. At least I knew I was not far from the supermarket. Get in, get my precious love’s cow carcass and then drive back before the snow got any worse. Finally, I had arrived. Finding a car park was easy, almost too easy. Perhaps people knew something I did not about the weather. I took my coat and bags out of the back seat and got ready to brave the cold. It was then, the worst of the blizzard started. I made my way blindly to the front of the store. At least that would provide some shelter till the storm passed. Daniel would likely just have to wait a bit longer for his dinner. I walked inside, taking a basket and greeted the lone checkout operator. “Hi.” She looked at me blankly and then nodded. I noticed she looked even more worn out than I felt. The girl could not have been more than 20 but the bags under her eyes gave her the impression of someone who had seen more than their fair share in life or probably she was just tired, overworked, and underpaid. I could relate almost too well to her predicament. Hopefully for her sake, she would be able to go home once I had left the store. 

I browsed the meat aisle and picked up the juiciest and likely the most expensive looking steak. Daniel certainly would not get to complain after this. I could hear the wind thrashing outside. There was no way I could drive in that weather. I’ll take a look around for a while, I thought. I hid the steak underneath a lower quality piece and left the basket on the floor. Nobody else was in the supermarket and highly likely would not come through in this weather. Therefore, Daniel did not need to worry about his steak being nicked. In a daze, I browsed the canned food, the cutlery and snapped out of my thoughts when I got to the baby aisle. Babies and I were not friends, as I was not the parental type. Ever since a young age, when everyone else thought babies were ‘cute’ I thought they were annoying and difficult. Being an only child with a limited, mostly negative exposure to babies likely did not help with my thinking. I just couldn’t imagine having to change all those nappies and sterilise all those bottles. Day after day. Week after week. Having to be responsible for another human being mostly until the day you died. Fortunately, Daniel and I were in agreement about leaving the raising of the future generation to others who were more suited to parental roles. I swiftly made my way back towards the meat products, leaving all the bibs, wipes and toys behind me.

As I went back to collect Daniel’s prized meat, the lights flickered. It went dark for a moment, before the backup generators kicked in. It was eerily quiet. In all my thoughts, I hadn’t realised the checkout girl was nowhere to be seen. “Hello?” I wondered if she had gone out the back. Frustrated, I checked my wallet to see if I had any cash on me. Once the blizzard had subsided, I wanted to get back home as soon as I could. I didn’t have time to wait for checkout girl to decide to come out and accept my payment. “Hey, I’m ready to pay now.” I mused out loud. There was still no response from checkout girl or anyone else who may have wandered in when I was in the other side of the supermarket.     

Standing at the checkout with the basket of steak in hand, I’d had enough of the silence. Regardless of the potential of freezing to death, all I wanted to do now was to get home to Daniel and forget about how creeped out I felt. I put some money on the counter and made my way to the exit. when all of a sudden, I realised there was a small mass on the floor that wasn’t there when I had walked in. Did some child leave their doll behind? I genuinely hadn’t noticed anyone else in the store since I’d been there, so where had it come from? Then crying and movement came from the doll and that was when I realised it was a living, breathing baby. It had on an egg yolk coloured one-piece suit which had cartoon ducks spread all around it. The child must be checkout girl’s. But why would she leave the infant on the floor where they could easily be trod on? Not to mention, who knew how dirty the floor could be. Irresponsible parenting at its finest. “Hello?” I called out again. “Can you come get your baby?” No answer. The infant continued to cry. I did not know what to do. It was just typical of me to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I sighed, put down the basket and picked the child up. The rhythmic rocking seemed to soothe his or her sobs. “You’d better not poo yourself.” I whispered to the child. I had my limits when it came to being forced to look after a wailing infant. Out of curiosity since the infant was wearing a neutral coloured outfit, I checked under their nappy. A girl. Her cerulean eyes pierced mine. There was a familiarity about them which I could not pick. All of a sudden, I saw a baby being snatched away from her mother by a professional looking man and woman. The mother looking like she had just given birth to the infant. How cruel the world could be, in allowing a newborn to be taken away. I went back to the reality of me still holding this girl. What was I to do? I wasn’t a fan of children, but I was no monster either. I didn’t want to leave her behind without at least ensuring she had somewhere safe to go to. I rested her on a nearby counter and rang the police. The reception garbled. I sighed. I guess I had no choice but to wait with this baby until either checkout girl showed her face or I could find some reception when the blizzard cleared up.

The baby girl cried again. “Okay, okay, I’ll pick you up.” I told her. When I was rocking her this time, I gained a vision of a young girl watching a muscular man holding a rifle. He pointed it towards a restrained cow and fired. The girl screamed and the vision cut away back to the baby girl before I could see the end result. I was sure I recognised the girl, just like I recognised this baby’s eyes. Again, I was not sure why. I noticed the baby was shivering so I took her over to the baby aisle and wrapped her in a blanket, pulling the tag off. I could pay checkout girl for it later. It was her fault anyway for not being around. Such irresponsible parenting from her. I checked my phone again and there was still no reception. I guess I could be responsible for baby a while longer. As I looked down again at baby though, I saw instead a bird’s eye view of an adolescent girl sleeping in her bed. The door opened and a man walked in. I knew immediately his intentions were far from good. I wanted to shout to the girl. To warn her. To get her to scream and make a fuss and tell people. Keep telling till someone believed her. But instead, the vision left me as the man got into bed with her and I was once again staring down at the bundled baby girl. “Don’t stop telling people, you hear?” I said. But I was not sure as to whom I was referring to. The child seemed to nod and I was taken this time to a hospital with the girl from the last vision being prepped for an operation. She was crying. The nurses seemed almost impatient with her. “Stop making a fuss, you’ll be fine.” The phrase did not appear to be uttered in a supportive manner. I wanted to slap the nurse for being so nasty to someone who was basically a child. She went to sleep and then I realised what the operation was. This child was not ready yet to have a child herself. It seemed her family had decided this was the best course of action for her. But why did the staff have to be so hard on her? It wasn’t her fault she got pregnant, it was that man’s…

A bright light flashed and I was staring right into the baby’s eyes which had a look of concern. Could babies even be concerned when they knew nothing about the world? I realised then, tears were dripping down my face. It was then I knew why the baby and the images were so familiar. Before my eyes, the baby girl was no longer a helpless infant but instead the checkout girl whom I had seen earlier. “It wasn’t your fault.” She took my hands. The next vision was deja vous to me. A woman wearing a professional blue pant suit leaving the office on her lunchbreak to go to the chemist, making sure nobody followed her on the way. She had tried to deny all the signs, they had been so careful. But nature seemingly finds a way. She hid the box in her briefcase and dodged glances from co-workers. Reading the instructions, she did what she had to do. Watching the painful minutes go by to see the result. It was not what she was wanting. And what would Daniel think? And the boss was difficult enough in his attitude to leave without adding a complication to the mix. But having this sweet young girl, pleading with her eyes to give the next one a chance. I nodded at her. “Okay, I’ll do it.” The girl gave me a hug and I knew this child was never going to know the pain I felt. The betrayal from those who were supposed to be looking out for her. 

“Wake up!” I heard someone shout. “I don’t pay you to sleep on the job!” I looked up and saw my boss in place of the checkout girl. I realised I was sitting in my cubicle in front of my computer. “Sorry.” I murmured, despising this man even more than I already did.  I looked at the time, still another hour left in this hell hole. “Sir, I’m not feeling that well, can I leave early?” He rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky I’m feeling reasonable today so whatever, I guess. Just don’t make it a habit.” I thanked him and left for my car. I rang Daniel. “How would you feel if I cook you some steak?” I thought I heard him gasp over the phone. “Really? Sure, that sounds great. But only if its not too much trouble for you.” I smiled. “No trouble at all dear, love you, I’ll see you soon.”

With Daniel’s belly filled with his favourite meal and alcoholic beverage, I knew I had set the scene for making him more agreeable. I kissed him. “Daniel?” He shrugged. “What is it baby?” I took a deep breath, it was now or never. “I have something to tell you…”