A Human Element Read Free

turned back to his patient. After hours of thrashing about in pain and blood, she rested. He felt for a pulse and found none. Her chest no longer rose and fell. The blood that had pumped from her now dribbled at a slower rate. He would wait until he cleaned up to call the time of death. He got a fresh sheet to pull over her face but before he could do it, his gaze rested on the soft, peaceful face.
    Sarah…oh, Sarah, he whispered to himself, while the baby wailed. He allowed himself to say her name again. Her damp hair draped around her young, narrow shoulders. Her slender hand drifted off the bed as if letting go of something precious. If they had only gotten her to a hospital in time for a cesarean operation, she might have had a chance.
    But he would never be more than a poor country doctor unless he saw this assignment through. Still, he set his hand on her womb, that organ that time and time again amazed him with its capabilities. He was struck by the fact that this mother had been young enough to be his own daughter.
    That's when he felt movement beneath his hand. He pulled it away, in shock, then felt again more purposefully.
    "There's another one!" The nurse had just finished cleaning and wrapping the pale, deformed newborn, still showing off the capabilities of overdeveloped lungs. She jerked around at Doctor Britton's voice and almost dropped the child.
    He had to work fast to deliver this other child who had remained hidden for so long. With an urgent need to preserve what life remained, he reached both hands inside the birth canal and pulled loose the remaining child. A girl. Small in size, not quite five pounds. Her enormous twin had taken over and hoarded the nourishment for himself. He immediately wanted to protect her. She squirmed in his hands. A perfect, normal baby in every way.
    "Welcome, Laura."
    She whimpered through her ruddy skin and wrinkled her smooth forehead where tufts of brown hair grew above. He laughed in delight and held her out toward the nurse. Even she looked less arrogant by now.
    "Just look," he said. "A perfect girl!" He cut and tied the umbilical cord and handed yet another crying baby to the nurse. "Clean her up quickly. We haven't much time."
    As he finished cleaning up the still mother, his mind strayed far from the task at hand. He quickly devised a plan. He would deliver the boy to the man outside. Then, he would tell the Armstrongs Sarah died due to complications and that the adoptive parents changed their minds and weren't taking this baby girl. The Armstrongs need never know about the boy, and may want to keep the baby girl themselves. Being God-loving people, they would accept Sarah's fate. Sarah's daughter would console them.
    His generous government benefactor need not know about the girl. One baby was expected, not two.
    He smiled again as he finished his work over the young mother. Her vessel rested, now at peace. Her children would each find purpose in life. And he was satisfied God had given him a chance for redemption.
     
    The man in black waited at the facility's back door holding an envelope and a small bundle wrapped in a ragged towel. His long coat kept his muscular girth dry from the storm's deluge. His wide-brimmed hat slung low over his jagged face, as water poured off its edge in a steady stream. This weather did not bother him. He waited patiently in the chilled spring night to deliver his packages and receive one in return. The door opened, spilling fluorescent light onto his feet. A plain-looking nurse held a crying bundle in her arms.
    The man could hear the child's bellowing cries coming from underneath the blanket covering it. She pushed the child into his arms as if eager to be rid of it. He reached down and hung his head lower, to shield the bundle from the rain and his own face from the glaring light. He took the bundle and handed the nurse his packages. The nurse grabbed the envelope but quickly placed the lump on the ground as if the contents were