I opened my umbrella as I stepped outside of my office building. The rain which had been just a light drizzle this morning had grown into a torrential downpour. Thick drops hit the pavement around me as I took care to avoid the many puddles strewn about. What sun we had was now covered by the dark grey clouds overhead. I pulled my jacket close to me, trying to avoid getting soaked in the huddled confusion of others around me. I enjoyed the weather but admittedly I preferred to experience it from the dryness of the indoors. It was days like this that I liked to cook a spicy meal and curl up on the couch with my smurfs while we relaxed.
Eager to get home, I tucked my head down and walked absentmindedly towards the car park. My trip home was cut short when my attention was caught by a sudden noise which cut through the crowd. Walking slower now, I looked around trying to find the source. The people around me paid no mind, continuing their paths undisturbed. I would have brushed it off and gone home but I heard the sound once more. It was enough to cause me to step to the side and stand so I could better hear it. There was something about the familiarity of it which had stuck something within me. When I heard it again, my heart began to race as I suddenly realized what I had heard, the cries of a smurf.
It was soft, more like a whimper than anything, yet it was unmistakable. I walked in the direction of the sound, trying to follow it. I turned at a corner and then went into an alley. The cry was now barely audible above the crowds pounding footsteps. Going further into the alley, I could only see a rusted metal fire escape and a grimy dumpster. With my heart now in my throat, I continued further. I thought of Gus and Daisy and how beside myself I would be if they were on the street. I couldn't leave with a good conscious without doing something. I walked past the dumpster and, looking down, came to the source of the crying.
Down below me in a wet and dirty cardboard box was a shivering baby smurf amidst some old newspaper. It huddled its body to the floor of the box with its hands over its head as it gripped itself. The leaning cover of the dumpster had caused a small stream to fall off it and directly onto the poor little things head. With its face firmly planted downward, its soft whimpering caused ripples and bubbles in the dirty water. Every so often a quick gust of wind would hit it and it would cause the naked little infant to shiver violently. As I came next to it, I placed my umbrella over it, giving it some much needed escape from the rain. Its crying started to subside but it paid me no attention as it continued to whimper and rocking itself. I reached down and rubbed a finger on its back, feeling how cold its skin had become. It jumped at my touch and raised its head to me. I was shocked at what I saw.
The little creature had a swollen eye with bruises all over its face and body. What ever had happened to it before I came across it must had happened recently because its skin was still red and puffy. Getting a closer look, I saw that it had a nasty scratch on its back which went from the nape of its neck to the base of its tail. What was more surprising however, was that underneath its tired aching body…was another one. Two big bright eyes stared at me from underneath the bigger one on top of it. If the big one was a baby, then the little one had to be more recent, maybe a couple of days at tops. As the bigger one shifted to sit, I could see that the younger clung to its chest, looking around in bemusement as it sucked a thumb. Kneeling down over the box, the bigger one rubbed a tear from its eye as it backed into a corner. It held the smaller one close as its body as it eyed me with suspicion, rocking itself slightly.
Thinking fast, I rifled through my pockets, hoping I had anything on me I could use as a bribe. As luck would have it, I still had a smurfberry treat in my pocket from the other day. Holding out the dry biscuit, I clicked my tongue as I tried to signal that I was friendly. Despite the baby smurfs doubt, its hunger and need for comfort won out in the end. The baby smurf reached out a hand and took the biscuit from me, breaking it and feeding it to the smaller one and then itself. I shielded it from the wind and rain as it ate. When it finished, it shuffled forward to me and looked up. Raising an arm and giving me a soft hoot, I knew that I had won it over.
I took them both in my arms, trying to not further injure the big one as I removed my scarf and used it to swaddle the two of them. They looked up at me from the folds of cloth as I then opened my jacket and held them close to me for warmth. I could feel them shiver as I walked back to the sidewalk and to my car. I blasted the heater as soon as I entered, trying to warm the smurfs as soon as possible. They squeaked and squirmed in my grasp as I picked them up and held them up to be warmed. Once they felt the warm air they relaxed and allowed me to hold them without complaint. I cleaned the water and grime off them with my scarf and used my jacket to make a small nest for them on the passenger seat.
Pulling out onto the street, I called Dr. Folme's office and told them that I would be coming in. I knew that it was not going to be cheap to bring them in on such short notice but it was an emergency. I had one hand on the steering wheel and let the baby smurfs hold my other one. They clutched at my fingers, squeaking and purring as they looked out the window at the fast shapes that past us. I rubbed their ears as I drove, trying to keep them calm. I turned onto the highway and stepped onto the gas, not willing to let a second be wasted.