185 Special Delivery

The stork knew he was busted.

"You called me, sir?" he asked.

Mr. Natal looked up. "Yes." The stork waited uncomfortably. Finally, Natal spoke. "You delivered the wrong babies to the wrong couples, Mr. Stork. It wouldn't be so bad, but one's a girl and the other's a boy. Wrong babies, wrong genders--wrong everything!"

"When?" the stork asked, incredulous.

"April 20."

"Oh," the stork remembered. "Bad day. But who cares? They'll never know. No one knows the genders till I drop the little tykes down the chimneys."

"I'll know," Stork. "Two couples have each other's baby--and the wrong gender, at that. And one couple's got no business raising a baby. It was my understanding that baby was on hold. How the hell did that go through? Finally, it's not the way we do things."

"I see," Mr. Stork said. "Can't we fix it? Swoop down, swap the little urchins to the right couples?"

"I wish it were that simple, Stork."

"Why don't I try?"

Natal wasn't sure. "Lemme think about it."

"Sir, every hour we wait--"

"I know! But I just hate the thought of any couple having a baby and then it's snatched away. I know for a fact the Goldsteins have been trying to get pregnant for years. Now they have a little daughter--unrelated. Wrong baby, wrong gender."

"They're happy with her?" Stork changed course. "And...the couple you said had no business raising a baby?"

"They're quite eccentric--religious fanatics and--"

"Same religion, sir?"

"Not even close, Stork!"

"OK. Any reason the Goldsteins should not have their girl and the other couple their boy? Sir, I know it's a crime, but we really should consider just brushing this all under the rug."

"Stork! Have you lost your mind?"

"Sir, it can't be undone and everybody's happy with their babies, right?"

"With their wrong babies, Stork!"

"Yea, yea. I get it. But, like I said..."

Mr. Natal swallowed hard. Finally, he looked at Stork and said, "OK, Stork. Cover it up."

"Yes. This way, sir, nothing can go wrong. The world's set right."

"I suppose," Natal intoned, "the Hitlers should be able to raise a fine boy."

"Indeed. I'll cancel the bris, sir."

"Good call, Stork."

__________

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

For Tuesday, July 3, Day 185 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge

366 WORDS (without A/N)

Title-accompaniment photo was AI-generated but the Schicklgruber was not!

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There are currently three surviving Vocal writers still participating in the insane 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator

• Rachel Deeming

• Gerard DiLeo (some other guy)

Read them. Support them. Pray for them. And watch out for the storks with droppings from above.