Kay (Part Five)

STOP: if you have not read the beginning episodes of Kay’s Story, please do so now.

Kay’s Story

• Kay (Part one) (thinkinlikegavroche.wordpress.com)
• Kay (Part Two) (thinkinlikegavroche.wordpress.com)
• Kay (Part Three) (thinkinlikegavroche.wordpress.com)
• Kay (Part Four) (thinkinlikegavroche.wordpress.com)

Over the following days, Kay found herself loving the baby more and more.

She got up each morning and when to work, talking amiably with customers and scanning their purchases just as efficiently as she ever had. But something had changed. It was as if a new sort of life and excitement had breathed into everything she did. At odd times of the day, she would find herself smiling and forget for a moment why she was so happy, just to remember with a little leap of her heart.

As soon as she finished her shift, she hopped into her beat up dusty blue VW Beatle and drove over to the hospital. The staff all knew her on sight by now and greeted her warmly as she practically skipped her way to the hospital elevator.

Kay was especially excited tonight. The nurse had told her that she could feed Kay her bottle and it was practically all she had thought about since. The infant had shown such improvement that she had been transferred out of NICU and no longer had all the cumbersome tubes and wires attached to her.

“Hey Makayla!” Kay was pleased to see the nurse who was quickly becoming her friend. “Any news on our little bundle of joy this evening?”

“Kay! Right on time I see. Well, she seems to be doing perfectly. She’s gaining weight, still breathing on her own, and showing all the landmarks we look for in an infant her age. It’s amazing, if I didn’t know her story, I’d think that she was just a normal infant waiting to be taken home.”

The two of them made their way into the room, chatting the whole while. Soon Kay found herself holding the warm bottle and listening to the soft sounds of the infant suckling.

Suddenly, a frown creased Kay’s forehead. “Makayla… what happens next? I mean, where will she go, once she is released from here?”

Makayla suddenly busied herself with something on the other side of the room. After a long space of silence, she turned back towards Kay.

“They have tried to identify the mother, and so far, they haven’t found anyone. Even if they did, she will be facing criminal charges for abandoning her child. In cases like this, the baby becomes a ward of the state and is usually placed in foster care until a permanent home can be found.”

Kay leaned back and closed her eyes. She had known all along that this routine couldn’t last forever, but she had been avoiding reality, pushing the truth away and enjoying the moment. This was why Officer Waters had warned her not to get attached that first day.

But one very important question was bubbling inside her. A question she was terrified to ask.

“Makayla, do you know what the process is for becoming a foster parent? Do you know if they accept single women like me?”

To be continued…

While Kay’s story is completely fictional, you should know that “…it has been estimated that there are 57 babies abandoned daily across the United States-that adds up to over 20,000 babies a year.”

Click here and here to see how you can get involved. Remember: one person CAN make a difference!

Click here and here for true accounts of abandoned babies like the one in this story.

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