Jacqueline Druga - Wasteland

“Well, the vike is heavy. I would think it would be easy to blow it up first and then put it on.”

“Maybe you’re right. Can you grab the pump from the back of the vike?”

“Yes, sir,”Josh said.

“Daddy?” Lilly called out.

“Yes, baby,” falcon answered without turning around.

“Can I have more water and beans, please?”

“Wow, you must be hungry.”

“Not really,” Lilly answered. “But she is.”

“She?” Falcon thought and turned his head slowly to peer over his shoulder. When he did, the tool fell from his hand.

Lilly sat with a baby, a girl, he supposed, no older than three. The tiny tot was filthy, her hair was splotched and she was bone thin. Her eyes were sunk in and her complexion was pale. But despite all that, the girl licked the red sauce that was on the beans off her fingers.

“Josh!” Falcon called out. “Forget the pump. Grab me water and some granola. Hurry.” He ran to his daughter. “And a fresh rag!” he instructed Josh.

“She’s hungry, Daddy.” Lilly said and handed the little girl the spoon.

The child hadn’t a clue what to do with the spoon. She reached for the plate.

“She ate the whole plate before I even knew it,” Lilly said.

“Lilly, where did she come from?” Falcon asked.

“I don’t know. I was just sitting here and she walked over after Josh went to you and grabbed my plate.” Lilly answered. “Isn’t she cute, Daddy? She smells but she is cute.”

Falcon crouched down to the little girl. Immediately the child scooted toward Lilly.

Lilly giggled. “She likes me. I tried to give her water. She doesn’t know how to drink it.”

“She needs water.” Falcon said and grabbed Lilly’s cup. He showed the cup to the toddler who did nothing. The Falcon held his finger up to the girl and made Lilly take a drink. “See?” he said to the baby and then extended her the cup. He put it to her lips and tilted the substance into her mouth.

She choked at first but then finally drank.

“Good girl,” Falcon said. “Good girl.”

“Dad,” Josh approached. “I got the stuff you… whoa, a baby?”

“Yes.” Falcon answered. “Pour me some water on a cloth, Josh.” While Josh did that, Falcon grabbed granola and handed it to the baby. “Eat.” He put the food in her mouth.

Josh handed his father the rag. “She’s the thinnest baby I’ve ever seen. Not like I’ve seen many, but I ain’t even seen a baby that was just skin and bones.”

Lilly added. “But she’s got a big belly!”

“That’s because she is starving.” Falcon said. “She isn’t eating.”

“But she’s just a baby, Daddy.” Lilly said. “How is she living if she isn’t eating? Where’s her ma?”

“I don’t know.” Falcon proceeded to wipe off the child. He needed to really see her skin color, to see her face. Her hair was falling out, a sure sign that she hadn’t eaten properly or much in a long time. She wore a shirt, only a shirt, and it had a black substance on it. It was the same substance that was on her arms. It smelled badly and Falcon couldn’t place the smell. It wasn’t human waste. He tried his hardest to clean her, then asked Josh to find a shirt of Lilly’s in the Vike.

The child didn’t cry or react; she was hungry, and she opened her mouth for anything. Falcon was careful not to feed her too much.

“Can we keep her?” Lilly asked

“No.” Falcon said. “She has to have a mother or father somewhere.”

“But where is she?” Lilly asked.

“I don’t know.” Falcon stared into the big eyes of the baby. It was frightening for him to see a child like that. He had seen children at the bathing stations and transient children, but never a child so pathetic, so frail and boney, a human skeleton with skin. There was nothing to her, absolutely nothing.

He instructed Josh to sit with Lilly and the baby while he finished the tire. The family of the baby had to be around somewhere and Falcon was certain they were frantically looking for her.

‘Keep an ear out,’ he told the children, in case the mother or family was calling out.

He finished the tire and it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. It seemed to work; it wasn’t the same size as the others, but they didn’t have much farther to travel to get home. He hoped it would get them there.

Lilly had taken to cleaning the baby obsessively and the child was smiling. Falcon brought over a cloth and made a diaper for the baby as best as he could. When he lifted her an ache grew in the pit of his stomach. She was like air.

“I’ve been giving her water,” Josh said. "She’s been sipping it, too.”

“That’s good.” Falcon heard the words but felt that child in his arms. He wanted to hug her and he did, but was ever so gentle about it.

Falcon’s lips puckered and felt tight. He fought with his emotions of how badly he felt for the child and for the family as well.

Holding Lilly’s hand and with Josh close by they began to scout out the area. The child couldn’t have made it too far from her camp. There was so much rubble and no way had she crawled over it alone.

There was a mound of bricks and debris and Falcon asked Josh to carefully climb up to see if he could spot anyone.

Josh obliged but only made it halfway up the mound before he stopped. Appearing defeated, he looked back at Falcon.

“What’s wrong?” Falcon asked. “Are you scared? Come hold the baby, son, I’ll do it.”

Josh shook his head and then climbed down. He walked up to Falcon, lowered his head and without looking, pointed outward.

“Josh what is it?”

“On the other side of that car,” Josh said and pointed.

Falcon turned his head to the right. He spotted the red car, it wasn’t that far from them, and Josh had gotten a glimpse into it on his climb.

He made his way over to the car and saw what Josh had seen.

“Ma!” the baby held out her hand. “Ma!”

Falcon felt sick, he handed the child to Josh. “Take the baby, Josh, over there.”

“Yes, sir.” Josh took the child and immediately the baby wailed the word ‘Ma!’ over and over.

Falcon tried to block it. He walked around the car. He should have known. Check the cars. People always used cars as part of camps. Abandoned cars also provided safe shelter in case of stray animals. And there it was. In a make shift tent made out of an old curtain was the body of a young woman. She lay on her side on top of a sleeping bag. He eyes were open and flies buzzed about. Her skin was bloated from the heat and had begun to stretch and ooze. Covering his mouth, Falcon walked to the woman and discovered the source of the black substance that was on the baby’s shirt.

Falcon immediately fought the vomit that crept up his throat.

It was coagulated blood and body fluids. The woman must have died in her sleep next to the baby and the child had diligently waited for her mother to awaken.

How hard that child must have tried to wake her.

She must have been shaking her every day, calling to her, grabbing for her. That was evident by the tiny hand indentation in the woman’s decaying flesh.

Falcon took the curtain that was used as a tent and covered the woman’s body.

He returned to his children, grabbed hold of the baby and simply told them all, “Let’s go. Let’s go home.”

They were close.

It wouldn’t take long. Another day… maybe.

With the search for the tire and finding the baby, they were in Louisville longer than Falcon thought.

Lilly named the baby girl Belle. Mainly because she thought it would be easier for the baby to say. And Lilly tried diligently to get the child to speak.