Wandering Highway: A Desperate Journey Home

by Ike Warren

  “Did you know that epidurals are toxic?” Her sister-in-law had told her which had filled Jennifer with fear until she went online and found a website that debunked the myth.

  Her sister-in-law would inform everyone of the dangers of modern medicine and that receiving medication to dull the pain was selfish of any mother. Her sister in law would then go on to brag about how wonderful natural child birth was for her and her baby.

  Jennifer always wanted to respond to her by saying, “Did you know that you can have a natural child birth and not brag to the world about it?” But she always held her tongue and asked questions as was expected of her, disinterested as she was.

  An intense wave of pain rushed through her body. “That bitch!” Jennifer screamed.

  “What are you talking about?” Allan asked.

  “My sister-in-law who thinks she’s better than everyone because she had a natural childbirth. Well I’d like to see her give birth outside in the heat and dirt like this!” She yelled in anger.

  Her pain intensified and it felt like her insides were ripping apart and Jennifer screamed louder than ever. Suddenly it felt like she had been hit in the chest with a baseball bat. The baby’s legs were pushing hard against her lungs and she began to gasp for air. In a panic stricken moment she reached out and grabbed the collar of Allan’s shirt and pulled him down closer to her and in a faint whisper she demanded, “Get this baby out of me!” She released his shirt and she felt as if she was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen but immediately the baby repositioned his legs and her airways opened back up and she was able to suck in a giant breath of air.

  It seemed like the labor went on forever but in fact the birth of their son had only taken a couple of hours. By the time the baby arrived Allan was no longer nervous or shaking but he was instead focused on what he needed to do. The baby’s airway was partially blocked and Allan used his pinky finger to reach into his son’s tiny mouth and he removed the obstruction and then the baby breathed his first breath. Allan thought back to their conversation earlier about the Alien smelling the Earth’s atmosphere and he wondered what his son’s first sensation of air smelled like to him. The baby immediately let out a whimper and then a terrific cry and Allan looked up and smiled to Jennifer, “He said the air stinks.” They both giggled.

  He placed the baby on Jennifer’s chest and she smiled with tears in her eyes. “He looks like you.” She beamed. Allan had heard that comment so many times in the early days with Samantha and he always wondered what people saw in her to say that she looked like him. He didn’t see the similarities between him and Samantha at first but sure enough, after a few weeks once Samantha got her natural color and opened her eyes she became a spitting image of him.

  Allan looked down at the newborn’s face and noticed how it was swollen as most newborns are after birth. His skin was an unusual reddish purple color and his eyes were clinched shut. “His face is puffy and he’s got purple skin and he looks like me?” He asked.

  “You have to look past that Allan. His color will return to normal soon. You remember how swollen Samantha’s face was after her delivery? It eventually returned to normal. Don’t worry about it.” She reassured.

  “Oh I’m not worried at all. He’s wonderful and perfect and because of that, of course he looks just like me.” He smiled and this time Jennifer laughed.

  “Well in that case, maybe he looks more like me.” She said as she touched the baby’s face and made little kissy faces to him. The baby unclenched his fist and revealed five tiny fingers as he reached into the air, perhaps to stretch or perhaps to acknowledge his mother’s touch.

  Chapter 16: My Place Is Here With Them

  A new wave of pain crossed over Jennifer’s body and she handed the baby back to Allan. He grabbed his white undershirt and began to wrap the baby in it when he realized that the umbilical cord was still attached and he had no way to cut it. Moments later Jennifer passed the placenta and Allan lifted it off the ground and placed the bizarre looking organ that was still connected to his son next to him in the swaddling shirt.

  “How is he doing?” Jennifer asked exhausted.

  “He’s great, but we need to find a way to cut the cord.” Allan replied.

  “We need to tie it off as soon as possible. Find some rope or string or something that we can use.” Jennifer instructed. Allan’s eyes darted around frantically searching for something to use. In his mind he imagined a discarded piece of trash that had been tossed aside by a railroad engineer long ago that would be the perfect solution. He just needed to find it. He began scratching the rocks that lined the railroad with his shoes hoping to uncover the hidden item.

  “What are you doing?” Jennifer asked.

  “Looking for something to use.” Allan answered.

  “Just use the shoelace off a shoe.”

  Allan snapped his fingers. “Good idea.”

  Allan removed the shoelace from one of his shoes and held it over the baby. “Where do I tie it?” He asked.

  “Pull the chord up just a little and tie it off near the base of his tummy.”

  She was so knowledgeable and Allan wanted to just hand the baby over to her and say, “Here, you do it” but he knew that she was too exhausted. He tied the cord as best as he could, guessing that he was doing it correctly, all the while the baby cried objections at Allan. When he was finished tying off the umbilical cord he held the baby in front of Jennifer for inspection.

  “Looks good.” Jennifer said. “Now you can cut the cord.”

  “With what?”

  “You don’t have a knife or anything?”

  “I don’t have anything.” His eyes started searching amongst the railroad rocks again.

  “You’re not going to find a knife in the rocks.”

  “I know that.”

  “Then what are you doing?”

  “I’m nervous. Alright?”

  “It’s going to be ok. The hardest part is over.”

  Allan breathed a sigh of relief. She was right. The worst part was over. He had successfully helped his wife deliver a baby and they did it all by themselves. “I’m going to see if I can find someone on the road who has something to cut the cord with. Will you be ok to hold the baby?”

  Jennifer nodded and he handed the baby over to her and then he ran to the highway where he came upon a woman who was carrying a small dog in her arms. As he approached the woman she shrieked and jumped back and Allan put his hands up to indicate that he was not a threat to her. “It’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “Why are you all covered in blood?” The woman asked.

  Allan looked at himself for the first time. His hands and arms and bare stomach had dark red stains obtained during the birthing process and he realized that he looked quite frightening. “My wife just had a baby and we need something to cut the umbilical cord with.” He said.

  The woman just glared at him as if he were speaking a foreign language.

  “Did you understand what I said?” Allan asked.

  The woman appeared to snap out of her panicked state. “I don’t have anything to help you.” She said as she continued stepping backwards. Allan approached a couple of more strangers but they all had similar reactions. Finally he saw an elderly man who seemed to walk hunched over himself and walking with a noticeable limp. From a distance it looked like the man was wearing a toupee as the sides of his head were covered in thin white hair yet the top of his head had a thick brown covering.

  “Sir, my wife just had a baby and we need something to cut the cord with. Do you have anything on you? A knife or anything?” Allan pleaded.

  The old man turned his head to reveal that the brown covering was actually a brown glob of dried mud that had been placed over a big bald spot on top of his head. The man dug into his pocket and produced a small folding knife. “What do you intend to do with it again?” The old man requested.

  “My wife just had a baby and we need to cut the umbilical cord.” It felt like
Allan had repeated the statement a hundred times. The old man looked down at his knife curiously as he contemplated sacrificing his knife for such a cause.

  “It isn’t very clean and it’s pretty dull.”

  “It will have to do.”

  The old man held out his hand to give Allan the knife but he held his grip for a moment as he realized just how valuable a knife was under the circumstances.

  “I'll bring the knife right back to you sir.” Allan assured.

  “I was just thinking, I don't think I'll want it afterwards. Why don't you just keep it?” He said and he placed the knife in Allan's hand.

  Allan smiled and as he darted off to head back into the cover of the trees he stopped and turned back to the old man. “Sir, what’s with the mud on the top of your head?”

  “It’s to keep the sun from burning the top of my big bald head.” The old man grinned. “I figured if it works for the pigs who wallow around in the mud all day to keep cool, it ought to work for me.”

  Allan nodded and ran back towards the woods and the old man scratched the mud on the top of his head and he continued limping down the highway.

  Allan unwrapped the baby’s swaddling shirt and pulled out the rest of the umbilical cord and the placenta. He put the knife against the umbilical cord and began to cut at it, two inches from where he had tied it off with the shoelace. The umbilical cord was thicker than he had expected. It reminded Allan of a piece of steak and he had to saw back and forth with the knife just to cut into it. The baby cried fiercely and Allan stopped and looked at Jennifer, “I’m not hurting him am I?”

  “Just keep going, but be careful.” Jennifer replied as she looked on intently.

  When he had cut through the cord he tossed the placenta into the overgrown trees. “That thing is so nasty.”

  “What are you doing? We need that!” Jennifer exclaimed. Allan looked at her terrified as if he had done something wrong and then he jumped up to retrieve it. “I’m just teasing. But did you know that some cultures eat the placenta as part of their tradition?”

  “That’s freaking nasty.” Allan retorted. As repulsed as he was he was glad that Jennifer seemed to be doing well enough to joke around with him.

  “Help me up please?” Jennifer asked.

  Allan looked down at her with a stunned look on his face. “Are you sure you’re ready to get up?” He asked.

  “Yeah, I gotta get off this dirty hard ground.”

  Allan held onto both of her arms as she slowly stood up. Her back was hunched over like the old man who had given him the knife and it took her a couple of minutes to fully straighten her posture. Allan saw that her shirt was just long enough to cover half of her bottom. “Here’s your underwear.” He said as he reached down and held them out for her to step into.

  “I’d like to clean up first. I feel icky.” She replied. “Hand me the baby and then go down to the water and get your shirt wet for me?”

  “Sure.” Allan replied and he unwrapped their son out of the swaddling shirt and he handed the newborn back to Jennifer. The baby immediately began to dig his face into her chest in an attempt to suckle.

  “He’s hungry.” Jennifer smiled and she pulled down the neck of her shirt and offered her breast to the baby.

  Allan took his undershirt down to the water’s edge and wrung it out to clean it as best as he could. He washed his arms clean of the blood and splashed the muddy water on his face. When his skin was as clean as it was going to get he sloshed the shirt around in the water again and then lifted it out and headed back to join his wife and son. The saturated fabric let loose fat rain drops as he walked and Allan held his hand underneath it to capture as much water as he could just as he had done the day before when he was carrying the water soaked shirt out of the church by the highway.

  Jennifer washed the baby’s skin and then she washed her tender body as best as she could and when it became apparent that she was having difficulty reaching certain spots Allan assisted. When she was clean he helped her into her clothes and then he walked back down to the water to rinse the shirt out once more. This time he rung the shirt out to remove all the excess water and when he returned he draped the shirt over the bike to allow it to dry out. He looked at Jennifer and saw that she had one hand holding the baby as he fed and her other hand was pressed against the small of her back. Jennifer looked up and saw him looking at her.

  “What I wouldn’t give for a bed right about now. A chair, a stool, anything.” She said. “My back really hurts.”

  Allan looked around and saw that the base of one of the big oak trees only had a few small shrubs under it. He pointed to the spot, “If I can clean out those bushes I could lean against the tree and you could sit in my lap and lean against me.” He suggested.

  “We could try it.” She replied.

  Allan went to work cutting the undergrowth around the base of the tree with the pocket knife. As he cleared the small bushes he began to see the bridge in the distance through the leaves and he wondered what the scene down at the water was like now. He wondered how many people had made it out alive and he prayed for those who had perished. He could still see people moving about down near the water and when the wind blew just right it would carry their sounds towards them and he could hear muffled shouting. He thought how if the circumstances had been any different he would have gladly taken part in a rescue effort, and though he knew that he was not going to leave his wife and child, his mind still questioned if he should be doing more to help.

  Should I be down there helping those people at the bridge? There might be people down there who need my help, who need me to save them like I helped save the young man who was trapped under the car the other day. Jennifer is fine. She can manage the baby. He thought. No. I can’t leave them alone. I promised her I wouldn’t leave her and especially not now with the baby here. My place is here with them.

  He dismissed the thoughts of helping at the bridge and continued working to clear the base of the tree and soon he had created a clearing that was big enough for them to sit in and he sat down and leaned against the tree. The bark of the old tree was jagged and it dug into the bare skin on his back but he ignored the discomfort and extended his hands out and carefully lowered Jennifer and their infant son down into his lap. She wiggled into a comfortable spot and he gently wrapped his arms around her to help her support the weight of the baby. Jennifer buried her head into his shoulder and the baby resumed nursing.

  “I’m sorry.” Allan said.

  “What are you sorry for?”

  “Sorry that this all happened here. I feel like I caused it.”

  Jennifer lifted her head with confusion and then she remembered her words that he had been a little rough on her the night before. “What was meant to happen, happened. Now we have beautiful baby boy to introduce to Samantha when we get home.” She said.

  “That reminds me.” Allan said. “When we introduce him to Samantha what are we going to tell her his name is?”

  “Oh my God. I forgot all about his name. I had so many names picked out in my head before.” She paused as she forced her mind to remember and finally she let a chuckle in disbelief at her lack of memory. “Now I can’t seem to remember any of them. What are we going to name him?”

  “Well, we could wait and discuss that with Samantha and see what she thinks.”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea, just as long as we get the final say. I don’t want her picking a name like Booger and that become his name.” She chuckled. The baby let out a tiny whimper in objection to the movement of her laughter and Jennifer began to gently rock him in her arms while making shushing sounds. Soon the tiny infant was fast asleep.

  “What are we going to do about diapers while we’re on the road?” She whispered.

  The thought had never crossed Allan’s mind. “I guess we’ll have to use my catch-all undershirt.” He replied and he regretted taking off the towel that had been wrapped around his leg back at the bike warehouse. “The to
wel would have been great if we still had it.”

  “Why did you take it off again?”

  “Because it got in the way when I was trying to pedal the bike.”

  “You should have handed it to me. It would have really come in handy now.”

  “Hindsight is 20/20.”

  “Yes it is, but we have to start thinking more resourcefully. We can’t afford to just discard things like that anymore.”

  Allan nodded his head in agreement. He imagined all the things that he had tossed away in the trash back home just within the last week. He figured that the majority of the items in their trashcan could be repurposed somehow and he marveled at how wasteful they and everyone else was in modern society.

  “At least we’re making good use of my undershirt.” He smiled.

  “That shirt has been through hell.” She said and then she paused to think and after a moment she spoke again. “What are we going to do after the baby soils the shirt and we’re away from the lake and we can’t wash it out?”

  “Well, we’re getting close to the rural farmlands. We can rinse it out in a pond I guess.”

  Terrifying images of getting shot at by an angry farmer for trespassing passed through his mind but he neglected to mention that danger to his wife. His response seemed to settle her immediate concern but her mind continued racing. After a few moments she whispered again, “You’re going to get so sunburnt without a shirt on.”

  “I have a plan for that. Just wait until tomorrow when we leave and you’ll see.”

  Jennifer sat up surprised. “We’re staying here until tomorrow?” The baby let out another tiny whimper.

  “That’s what I figured.” Allan replied.

  “But I want to get going. I’m ready to get home.” She objected.