1

He considered it tricky at first. But soon he realized it was something that he could deal with. All he had to do was talk to Adonis and this whole problem would be solved. It was a matter that Albert had spent the entire day thinking about, from the moment he fixed his morning cup of coffee and scrambled some eggs, to when he sat down at the kitchen table and read the morning paper.

Government confiscates another infant, the headline at the bottom right of the front page read. Confiscate was the nice way they put it for the readers, but what they really meant was taking a baby away for termination. The world had changed much in the last ten years. New legislation had been passed, new laws hit the books, and across the country police burst into countless homes to snatch up each illegal child and arrest the men and women violating these new rules.

“I feel bad for anyone with an illegal newborn,” Albert had told Adonis over a year and a half ago. They had been sitting on Albert’s front porch drinking cold beers and watching familiar cars cruise down the street.. “I really do.”

“Just don’t have a baby then,” Adonis said. “Contraception. That’s all a person has to use. It’s not complicated. Just don’t stick your dick into a girl unprotected.” He had taken a drink of his beer, swallowed, and added, “Now, if you’re going to come and you don’t have protection at least pull out. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for someone to do that.”

And he had a point. Why would it be so hard for a person to pull out? But it always seemed simple until you were the one in the throes of passionate sex and then...things changed a little. Suddenly your mind was locked inside a whirlwind of intense sensations, smells and energy. You were more susceptible to being controlled by sex than the mind. Sex temporarily altered the mind, numbed it. Then you were suddenly lying on your back and gazing up at the ceiling, the girl that you liked or loved lying next to you, wondering what happened.

Albert had told Adonis all of this but he had said it was just a cop out.

“If I knew someone stupid enough to have a kid,” Adonis said. “I’d just go ahead and leak the information. Shit, I’d do it anonymously so the person I was leaking the information about would have no idea that I was the one responsible for the government coming in and taking their baby.” He had suddenly grown excited and looked Albert dead in the face. “Do you realize they have a ten thousand dollar reward for anyone that can provide information that leads to the confiscation of an illegal baby?”

“Confiscation,” Albert had said quietly. “I don’t like that word. That makes babies seem like they’re some type of product or something.”

Adonis nodded, took another drink of his beer then set it back down on the cement porch. “Yeah, I don’t like that name at all.”

He was looking across the street and beyond the chain-link fence. It ran parallel to the street Albert lived on, and beyond it were woods.

“I think it’s a law they need to change,” Albert said.

“Well, shit. I think it’s a law they have to change too. Don’t think that I don’t. We can’t have a sustainable government if they’re going to be sending out soldiers to collect babies for the incinerator.” Then he said more quietly, “I hope they at least put them out with something before they do that.”

Presently, as Albert sat in his modest kitchen with his soon to be extinct newspaper, he shivered.

Incinerator, he thought. Was that really what they did?

He didn’t know, but it was something he tried not to think about. Besides, it was time to get up, shower, and head out to his favorite eatery and hotel. He might even stay awhile. He knew that Adonis was over there, perhaps sitting at the bar, having a drink. Yeah, it was too early to be having a drink, but Adonis was sort of an alcoholic. Not something that Albert ever wanted to say to his best friend’s face though.

Albert headed down the hall to his room, grabbed the clothes he was going to wear out his closet, and threw them on the top of his bed. He headed out the room and into the shower next, finished washing up in twenty minutes, then threw his clothes on and headed out the door. He’d have to walk to the bar because he didn’t own a car, but that was okay. The bar was about an hour walk away and located in the woods, but he enjoyed the walk and seeing nature.

“It’s a beautiful morning for a stroll to the bar,” Albert sang quietly, stepping out the front door and locking it behind him. He started to walk, wearing a light jacket that might not be enough cover a few hours from now, and singing a made up song with made up lyrics. But the sun was out, there were a few scattered clouds, and the day was merely cool, not cold.

9

About a year ago...

They had made love on the third date. A month and a half later—with quite a few lovemaking sessions in between—Nikka had shown up on Albert’s front doorstep wanting to talk. Albert had let her into his house and she had told him the news before they even managed to get into the living room.

“I’m pregnant,” she said, and burst into tears. She put her hands over her face as she sobbed in front of him, as if too ashamed to let him see her cry.

Albert took a step back from her as if she was sick and catching. He plopped onto the kitchen chair and after a moment of staring at Nikka dumbstruck, he turned and looked at the living room television.

“We’ve been using protection,” he said, no emotion in his voice.

“I know,” she said.

He lifted his hand and slammed his fist on the kitchen table, causing the coffee cup and spoon on its surface to clatter. Nikka jumped.

“We used protection, Nikka! What the fuck!” He slammed two fists on the table this time. “What the fuck!”

“I don’t know, Albert! I have no idea how it happened!”

“Oh, you know how it happened! One of the condoms must’ve been defective or...shit, I don’t know. But we were using good brands. I was using the right size and...shit, I was being careful! We were—”

“I want to move to Canada,” she interjected. She was speaking rapidly now. “I don’t really have the money and with the way the job market is it isn’t easy to just get up and go, but I could start preparing. I’m not asking you to come with me or anything, I just want you to know that that’s what I plan to do.”

“So you want to keep it,” Albert said. He clenched his fists. “Really Nikka! Knowing everything you know you want to keep it!”

“I’m about to be twenty-eight,” Nikka said, wiping a trickle of mucus from her left right nostril. “And I come from a family that doesn’t believe in abortion! I’ve never believed in abortion and if this happened, even with all the precautions that we took then that means it happened for a reason. Now, I’m not stupid! I know that I can’t stay here and keep my baby safe. And I know that if I try to make it into Canada and the border patrol finds out I’m illegally pregnant they’ll arrest me and force an abortion on me, but I’m willing to take the risk.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Albert said. “Why don’t you just abort it, go to Canada and have another one there?”

Nikka took a huge breath and let out the air in a giant rush. “Like I told you, I don’t believe in abortion. That’s not the way that we do things. Don’t look at me like I’m one of those crazy pro-life advocates because I’m not. This is the way that I am. If I can make it into Canada and remain under the radar until the next US election—which a sane candidate is already likely to win—I’ll be fine. I just have to make it a few years, Albert. I don’t need anything from you. I just...I just wanted you to know.” She broke down in tears again.

“Christ,” Albert said, scratching his head. “Do you know how much money you’re going to have to have to make it into Canada and lock down an apartment. Stuff is priced differently and not in the way Canada’s always been. Prices have shot through the roof with everyone moving there.”

“I’ll save,” she said. “And I’ll starting putting on heavier clothes when I think I’m starting to show.” She touched her stomach then, as if she was already showing, and this bothered Albert.

“You’re going to need to save enough money to have a private doctor deliver your baby and you’re going to need enough to live on while you take care of the kid and search for another job.”

She nodded, wiping at her eyes now. “It’s our baby Albert. And yeah...I know.”

“Actually, how are you going to make it across the border if you’re showing? Because by the time you have the money to move to Canada you’re going to look full on pregnant. Ain’t gonna be easy to hide.”

Nikka shook her head slowly, looking down at the floor, her hands fidgeting with each other. “I don’t know, Albert. I just don’t know.”

“That’s a problem, Nikka. You have to understand how serious of a problem that is.” Silence fell over them for a few moments and Albert took the time to consider everything.

A kid, he thought. A kid in this situation. Christ, there’s no way that could work.

“Nikka,” Albert said gently. He spoke as slowly as

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: J.M. Barber
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 03.06.2016
ISBN: 978-3-7396-5865-0

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