A Dirge for the Temporal by Darren Speegle

Author:Darren Speegle [Speegle, Darren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Horror, Short Stories (Single Author)
ISBN: 9780974503134
Google: fp9Ezs6OyM4C
Amazon: B00U6QHK7E
Publisher: Raw Dog Screaming Press
Published: 2004-05-14T22:00:00+00:00

I voiced the thought. “How are you going to know if the baby’s healthy by looking at it?”

“Oh, you know,” he said, “...whether it’s plump, colored, that sort of thing.”

That should have been a dead giveaway. In fact I remember thinking—not for the first time in my dealings with this gentleman—that although he didn't have the slick of some of the lawyers with whom I'd crossed paths, there was still this hard-to-define, even askew something about him. Never mind that when he laid his judgmental eyes on me, he was accusing me less of unsavory practices than of being a lost soul. As far as I was concerned, righteousness itself had a funny smell to it. I asked myself a question I had asked myself more than once before. What did I know about the quality of the home into which the child was going? What about their health? Were they a plump couple? Were they colored? Were they that sort of thing? It’s a beast, the living, no doubt about it. The questions abound, but the answers are scarce.

I eyed him, perhaps as openly as he eyed me. But in the end, one concern prevailed. What was I going to do with the baby for the next twenty-four hours?

I bade the gentleman goodnight and took my package home with me. I had nowhere else to take the little guy. The parents of the teenage girl, apparently of some status in the community, had told me quite plainly that they wanted to sever all contact now. I was to do as discussed with the money, and that was that. We did not know each other. We had never had any relations of any kind.

I phoned the doctor in my employ and asked him what I would need for the baby. I’m ashamed to say I was ignorant in that regard. I realize how unprofessional that must sound, considering the line of work I was in, but I was unmarried, an only child, and simply had never had to do the part before. The doctor told me not to be concerned; at that age the baby would be no trouble. He was kind enough to pick up the essentials and bring them to me, so I wouldn’t have to drag the infant back out. I learned changing diapers, preparing formula, burping, a whole new discipline that evening.

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