Robyn
Part 3 of the 'Lily' series and part one of the 'Robyn' series.
He awoke suddenly from his sleep. He heard it. The sound was strange, somehow he recognised it but couldn't pin point in his memory what the sound came from. It seemed to be coming from the surface; cautiously he climbed up the pipe, the sound grew louder the closer to the surface he got. Eventually he reached the hatch and slowly pushed it up feeling weary about what he would find when he looked out.
He stepped out of the pipe and climbed down the ladder leading to the hatch. The sound was louder now and seemed very close. Looking around for where the sound was coming from he was surprised to see a small bundle wrapped in a blanket. He crept over to it to get a closer look and when he saw what it was he stepped back a few steps in surprise.
It was a baby.
On the baby's stomach lay a small piece of paper folded in half. Robbie cautiously picked up the piece of paper and read it. All the paper said was two words 'keep it'. The handwriting was unfamiliar to him but he knew already who had left the still crying infant on his doorstep. Robbie didn't know what to do; he hated children and had never encountered a baby before. His knowledge of them was very limited except he knew that babies crawled so he thought if he left the infant long enough it would give up crying and crawl away.
Robbie turned away from the baby and started to climb the ladder up to the hatch. The noise the baby was making had given him a headache and he was tired, it was the middle of the night after all.
"Hurry up and go already." Robbie said to the infant, when it didn't listen to him to stamped his way down the ladder and over to the infant.
"I'm going to count to five and if you're not gone by then I'll eat you!" He threatened.
Still the infant didn't listen.
Robbie had counted to five three times but still the baby hadn't moved from where it had been laid. Robbie's patience was more or less stretched to the limit; he didn't know what to do with it. He thought of asking someone to give him advice about it but who? Everyone was still asleep and he'd have to leave the baby to find someone and who knew what mischief it would cause in his absence?
Finally sighing in exasperation Robbie decided that he'd have to wait until morning for any help with the baby. Awkwardly he bent down and with a great deal of trial and error lifted up the baby. Something inside him told him that when picking a baby up its head must be supported and he did this. It wasn't until the baby was in his arms that Robbie realised how small it was. The blanket had made it look bigger but that had come off in his struggles to arrange his arms properly while lifting it. He was surprised that the baby stopped crying almost the instant it was picked up and he smiled. He didn't know where the smile had come from and whether or not it was a good or bad smile, he also didn't care. He snapped out of whatever day dream he was entering.
It wouldn't do stand out in the cold air of the night for too long as either himself or the baby would sick. He started walking towards the hatch and very gently laid the infant on top of it before he climbed the ladder. Taking the baby up in his arms again he tried to get the hatch open with one hand but it wouldn't budge. Robbie laid the baby on the hatch again and went over to fetch the baby's blanket; it looked as if they were going to spend the rest of the night outside. He wrapped the blanket carefully around the baby and leant against the ladder almost instantly falling asleep with the baby in his arms.
The sun rose over the mountains to the east and cast its brilliant light on all it could see. Robbie was awoken by the brightness. It took him a few seconds to remember why he was outside and he looked down at the baby that was still safely ensconced in his arms. It was sleeping peacefully. Sniffing the fresh air of the morning his nose caught the scent of something that wasn't as fresh as the morning. He sniffed again and grimaced. He lifted the baby closer to his face and very cautiously sniffed. He retched at the smell; it seemed that the baby had done what nature commanded.
Once again Robbie looked around helplessly; he didn't know what to do again. Answering instinct he unwrapped the blanket from the baby and tried to find a way to undo the one piece baby suit it was wearing. The mess the baby had made had leaked from its nappy so Robbie discarded the suit and nappy and wiping the baby with a clean patch of its suit he started to wrap the baby back up in its blanket. While wiping the dirty bits he'd noticed it was a girl, something inside him hoped she wouldn't grow up to be like her mother.
What was he thinking? Was he going to keep her?
He didn't know the first thing about babies and had nothing for it. Half of him wanted to send the poor helpless creature away to live with someone that would know what to do with it and half of him wanted to keep this precious treasure he'd been given. He finished wrapping the blanket round the baby girl and lifted her up again. He stared into the girl's eyes for what seemed an eternity; she was a very beautiful baby and had light blue eyes just like her uncle's. The girl gurgled, happy with being sufficiently clean.
"You feel better now, do you?" He asked the baby as he smiled inanely at her, "Let's see what we can do for you."
Making sure that she was safely in his arms and wouldn't fall off, he stood up and headed for town.
