Leave Me Alone

“What Parent leaves their baby behind!” I wondered. I glanced around and found that no one else was left in the supermarket. Even the cashier had rushed out when the blizzard started. In my forty years, I have never had children, this was a personal choice that I had made years ago and had lived by it. No matter how many times Ma Lona bashed me about me being irresponsible and selfish for not wanting children or how I would die alone without having children around to take care of me when am old, I stayed. No persuasion or guilt-tripping from my mother would make me have a baby. I just did not feel prepared enough for that task and I was okay being a parent to my puppy Jessy and my numerous nieces and nephews. But here I was standing before a baby which needed rescue. What was I going to do? Should I have left the baby there because maybe the owner would come back for it? Would the parents look for it if I took it, or would I be stuck with it for life? So many thoughts rushed down my mind as I stared and the tiny face which had reddened from crying protruding from the woolen sky-blue blanket which had been carefully used to wrap the baby.

           I reached into my pocket to pick my phone to at least call 911 or any authorities which dealt with children. Oh, Snap! My battery was dead. Now I had two choices, no, three: leave the baby there and live with the burden of wondering whatever happened to it after I left, pick up the baby and take it home without knowing whether I would now become the mother I had avoided to be my whole life if the parents did not look for it, or stand there confused as I had been doing for the last three minutes or so. I glanced outside through the misted window and noticed that the streets were almost empty as people hurried to safety as the blizzard worsened. I hurriedly dropped the green polyester bad of items on the floor and picked up the baby. “I will call 911 or childcare authorities as soon as I charge this phone”, I comforted myself. The baby stopped crying as soon as I picked it up. I grabbed my shopping bag from the floor fumbled into my jacket’s pocket for the car key and hurried outside.

           When I arrived home the baby was already asleep. I put the baby into bed, plugged in my phone charger and decided to unpack the shopping as I waited for the phone to have enough charge to be able to make a phone call. When I called, the response was the same. The blizzard had hit the city so hard that most of the roads were now not navigate-able, they promised to come to my premises the following day. There was not much I could have done than wait for the following day for childcare services to come for the baby, and if they would not I would be in their offices sooner than they would expect.

           I decided to warm some milk to feed to the baby when it woke up. After a while, I decided to check on the baby. When I walked into the room, I did not believe my eyes, the blanket was loosely dangling on the edge of the bed and the baby was not there. At first, I did not take alarm as I thought that maybe the baby was at that stage where it could crawl and walk along with things and might have probably woken up and decided to roam about. My bedroom was opposite to a guest bedroom and most of the time I left my door open, so I decided to check the room after I had checked everywhere in my bedroom. There was no sign of a child in the guest room either. I decided to check my bedroom one more time.

           A middle-aged woman I had never seen before was on the bed, trying to cover herself with the obviously way too small baby blanket. Before I could finish wondering how she could fit onto that blanket, she started shrinking, transforming back into a baby. My head felt light. My legs suddenly felt as though they could no longer carry my wait, I grabbed the wooden door frame to support myself, but I missed. Was this a bad dream? a hallucination from a drug I had not taken? My mind became blank, my world dark.

           I woke up in a hospital. “What happened to me? How long have I been here? Who brought me here?” I wondered out loud, the nurse who was about to leave the room turned, stunned, shocked almost. “Oh Hello, glad you have woken up, your neighbour has been really worried. She thought you would never wake up. You have been in a coma for 3 days now”, the nurse explained. Before I could ask one of the numerous questions I had, there was a knock on the door. Mrs Gertrude, my neighbour entered. “Oh, thank heavens you are awake Lona” she rushed to hug me. She explained that she had come to borrow one of my novels when she found the house open and me lying on the floor of the living room, unconscious. “But where is the baby?” “What baby are you talking about Lona? You live alone. I did not find anyone else in your house that morning, just you.” I tried to explain about the baby or the baby woman, but Gertrude was just amused that the painkillers had turned me into such a great storyteller. I was about to repeat the story for the third time while trying to convince her it was real when my sister Suzy rushed into the room. “I came as soon as I heard. Gertrude here called me yesternight.”

           My sister and I talked for a long time mainly catching up because it had been a while since we had seen each other. “This world is really getting crazy day by day. There has been news everywhere about this organization which is committed to kidnap, torture, and experiment of women who are into politics, specifically current government officials.” “Why would they do that?” “Apparently there are people who feel really threatened with the movement these women have formed to ask for equal pay as well expose the mistreatments and discrimination they go through just because they are women.” “That’s terrible”.

           Suzy hurriedly left when visiting hours were almost over and she promised to come to visit the following day. She planned to stay at my place until I was well. I was to be discharged in two days. The next time Suzy visited, she seemed to be in quite a hurry as she kept glancing at a watch. She seemed nervous too, which is a thing my sister rarely was unless things were really bad. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked her. “Nothing”, she quickly said. I gave her one of those looks which said everything I wanted to say even better than my words would. “Okay, but you have to promise me that you will believe me”. “Sure, what is it?” “Do you remember the story I was talking to you about the politicians and that weird organization?” “Oh yeah, it is hard to forget such a horrific story”, I answered. “Well, I am one of the people they are looking for”. “How? Why? You are Biology High School teacher, why would they look for you!” “That’s the thing, I am not”. “Come on Suzy, I am your sister and I know you are no politician”. She just sighed.

“Please don’t panic, just let me explain.” With some hesitation, I gave her a nod. “I am not your sister. My name is Josie Kamoa, I am the governor of Newland…” “Oh lord, please do not send me into another coma. How are you not my sister?!” “The story I told about female politicians is true, I am in danger. The only reason I have been able to escape this long is that I am also a scientist and I have found a way of enabling me not to be detected, at least for a few minutes.” “Which is?” She rubbed her already sweaty hands in nervousness. “I…I…I turn into a baby”. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. “I am really sorry for burdening you on that day, there were CCTV cameras everywhere and I would have been detected if I had stayed for longer as, you know, me. I am able to take the physical body of another person and remain undetected for about 30 minutes, after which I must leave that body and be a baby again.” “How?” “Well, they don’t know I can change form to a baby so that way they cannot detect me. But, once I am someone else, the person maintains their DNA for about 30 minutes, after which it starts to wear out and I gradually become me hence they can use technology like CCTVs and voice recorders in smartphones to identify me.” “This is crazy. Are you for real?” “I am very real, and I have about five more minutes to be your sister…” “So, what now?” “I have to go before it is too late, see you at home”

Suzy or Suzy’s lookalike left, and the doctor came in ready to discharge me. Gertrude came along and explained my sister was busy and she had asked her to come for me instead. As I was at the Lobby, I was distracted by an advertisement on the Screen. It was a missing person’s announcement for Josie Kamoa. “Do you know her?” Gertrude asked. “sort of…” “Excuse me, ma’am, please move towards the counter”, the nurse behind the glass wall said impatiently.