Destinies

In the summer of eighty-two, Janice McCain was stricken with an infection that almost cost the nine-year-old her life. The bacterial assault ravaged both organ and limb, blackened three of her fingertips, and came close to costing her an ear. For twenty-two days, Janice hovered in the region between life and death while parents and doctor wondered if she would survive. On the twenty third day, a turning point in the medical war for the young girl’s soul drifted on the path towards the living. There would be days of tension filled panic but slowly, day by day, Janice got better and after seven weeks of hell the little girl woke up and gave those in the room a smile.

The parent’s pleading and tearful bedside prayers appeared to have panned out. The only lasting casualty was the amputation of the top portion of Janice’s right index finger. For everyone it was a cause to celebrate. Another doctor though, would sit Janice down a few years later and break the bad news that there had been an additional cost in that war. The reproductive organs had been ravaged and scarred rendering the now teenage girl sterile and bare. The physician stated it bluntly, Janice would never have a baby; she would never have a little girl to call her own. The fourteen-year-old held her composure till she got to the car and then once inside Janice took a shuddering sobbing breath, threw her arms around her mother, and cried.

Janice grew to accept her childless future. She was a career minded woman and most of the men she met were looking to start a family. The others had commitment issues that were impossible to deal with. She did have an on again / off again boyfriend that would drift in for a few months at a time. He was pleasant enough to be around but emotionally was bankrupt and Janice could only tolerate his presence so much before deciding it would be another year or two before seeing him again. In the end though, when she was alone and on the phone with her mother, the deep-seated pain of her sterility would manifest. All Janice had wanted was to be a mother and that dream simply wasn’t going to happen.

In the beginning of October, on a cold dismal day, as Janice was driving down the road to her parent’s house, she happened upon a beaten-up Nissan parked in the middle of a bridge. A tall anorexic man was standing to the side waving a moderately sized revolver in the face of a petite young woman that was cowering at his feet.

Janice crept her car closer.

The man glared and began yelling obscenities at the woman huddled on the ground. Pointing his revolver at her stomach, he fired a shot, and then walked to the back of his sedan. The man pulled a brown box out, went to the side of the bridge, and muttered something to the profusely bleeding woman that made her come alive. She lashed out and began clawing his pant legs begging for him to stop. The man made a flippant hand gesture before pushing the box over the side and into the river below. The woman tried to pull herself up, but he kicked her and sent her sprawling back down. Satisfied, he gave Janice a passing glance, mumbled something, and then ran to the driver's side of the Nissan sedan. Janice said a prayer of thanks as the car speed away.

Janice had never considered herself brave but now found herself running to the young woman. Upon reaching her, the woman grabbed her shirt. “My baby. He put my baby in the box. He said he was going to mail her. I was waiting. I didn’t think he would throw her in the river. My baby is in the box. She’s in the box…”

It took a second for Janice to comprehend and then realization set in. She pushed a towel on the growing spot on of red and then placed the young woman’s hands on top of it. “Keep the pressure on,” Janice said while looking at the spot where the box had gone over.

Darting to the side of the bridge, she could see the box floating in the lazy part of the river. Its paper covering was drenched, and Janice imagined the cardboard box was already becoming waterlogged. Climbing over the rail, she didn’t hesitate to leap into the water ten feet below.

The shock of the rivers cold took her breath away. Coming up, she sputtered and gasped for air and began looking for where the package had gone. There was a squalling high-pitched scream from a few feet away and Janice could see that the box was perilously close to going under. It took only a few seconds to swim to the box and push it back on top of the surface. The brown wrapping tore and Janice pondered on the multitude of postal stamps as they drifted away. The underside was soft, and she could feel the hard squirming bundle inside.

The water was sapping Janice’s strength and the rivers current was growing stronger. Pushing the box ahead of her, she swam franticly for the shore. As her feet contacted the gravel, the box tore apart revealing the pink blanketed baby stored inside. Janice’s feet lost their grip. She floundered to stay afloat, and the baby slipped under. Renewed with panic, she flailed outward and finding the babies arm lifted both baby and blanket into the air. Again, the current threatened to drag her back into deeper waters, the freezing temperature and exhaustion was taking their toll, and just as her head went under, she found one last hidden reserve and pressed forward until she was standing on the bank. Gasping and shivering, she collapsed to her knees and with trembling shaking hands examined the prize.

The baby had gone silent and blue. Besides a little jagged fog of a breath the little one was lifeless and cold. Janice forced herself back to her feet, charged up the riverbank and then onto the road. Stumbling and staggering, her eyes focused on her still running car. Another vehicle had come, and two people were tending to the woman lying on the side of the bridge. Opening the car door, she placed the baby on the passenger seat, pointed the vents at the infant, and cranked the heat to max. She then reached behind the rear seats and dragged the old blanket that lay there to begin drying and rubbing the baby down. Janice would remark to her mom that it had been years since she had prayed to God and on that day that would be the second time she had done so.

The car drove off leaving one of its passengers to care for the injured woman. Janice continued to work on the baby and after a few minutes its bluish tint changed to pink. The eyes opened and though the baby jaws still chattered it reached up and grabbed Janice’s half amputated finger. Janice sighed. She allowed herself a moment of respite before standing up and changing into a pair of dry clothes that she had brought for the weekend visit to her parents.

Janice picked up the baby and wrapped her in the battered blanket. Checking the infant over one more time before walking to the woman lying in the street. A rugged but gentle looking man gave her a casual nod and told her that his buddy had gone to call it in.

The petite woman glanced up and stared at the squiring bundle that was in Janice’s arm. “My baby?”

“Right here. She’s safe.” Janice knelt so the woman could see.

“Baby?” The other guy looked puzzled.

“Yeah, the guy shot her and threw the baby into the river. I got her though. I got her.” Janice placed the infant next to the woman’s arms. “See, she’s right here.”

“What? Really? What kind of sick…”

The young woman grimaced. “He was screaming saying we had to mail her. Threatened me with a gun. He put her in the box, wrapped it, and then put a bunch of stamps on. Was talking crazy, said things were coming for her. I put a few holes in the top. He was so angry. I’ve never seen him that way. She wouldn’t stop crying so he stopped and began beating me. He shot me. Here.” She pointed at growing scarlet stain that had was tainting the ground around her. “It hurts.” She gasped. “My Anabel. I’m sorry.” She stroked the infant’s hair and then looked at Janice. “I need you to take care of her.” Her eyes closed and there was a single solitary gasp and then the petite young woman chest rose no more.

Janice and the man, who called himself Ray, waited for the police and answered all their questions. She offered to care for the baby for the time being and gave them the address of her parents. They thanked her and said they would be in touch. A call came through that the suspect was cornered behind the next towns gas station and a deli. As Ray helped Janice put the baby into her car, the suspect had lifted the gun to his head and took himself out of any future prosecution.

The next time the police showed up they told Janice that the gun man’s family had made it clear that they didn’t want anything to do with that no-good son of theirs and that included his daughter. The officers also did their best to try and find the petite little woman’s next of kin but had come up empty on that too. The next week Janice petitioned to be Anabel’s permanent foster mom.

Ray continued to visit and after the fourth time Janise asked him on a date. A few dinners and a park walk later, Ray talked about how he had taken a pitch to the groan during a High School game eleven years prior that left him unable to have children of his own. Janice reached over, gripped his hand, and told him her story of that illness long ago.

A year later, Janise and Ray found themselves at court as husband and wife. Together, they petitioned the State to adopt Anabel. The Judge took just a moment to overlook the couple and then gave his approval.

When Anabel was fourteen, they went to the center of the old bridge. Janice pointed to the place where their destinies had crossed. Anabel laid flowers down, said a prayer for her birth mother, and they hugged. Together, they stared at the river and for a second Janice swore she could see box drifting down the current all over again. Going back to the car, Janice gave Ray a kiss and Anabel slid into the backseat while giving a last backward glance at the spot where Janice had crawled out onto shore with a baby in her hands. They went on to the next town and stopped at the deli to have lunch. Ray filled the car with gas and took a sideways look at the alley that ran behind them both. He then got into the vehicle, sighed, started it up and continued on down the road.