Alpha and Omega<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stood between the woman\u2019s legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She bore her strength down against<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rotund dome of the gravid belly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nurse looked in from the hall door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Can you take a call? ER on line four.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She will be a while yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The baby is fine. Her strength is good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m not needed here, as yet, or ever…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I nodded to the nurse and stepped outside,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in gown and bloody gloves, “Why me, why now?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I ask the emergency room doctor on the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You’re still the coroner, aren’t you? Well then, you need to know, we had a 20-year-old lady come in DOA. Head-on car wreck, out east of town, we never got a rhythm. No pulse. We tried for 30 minutes. Oh, by the way, she looks pregnant. We don’t know who she is yet. We don’t have a name. We’ll let you know when we do.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How pregnant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six or seven months may be. No heart tones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I step back into this room,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To this woman I don’t know either,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
they grabbed me in the hall to deliver her child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her doctor was unreachable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her smile in the sweaty mist of her effort<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gleams from the ruddy face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her welcoming generous heart is open to me, a stranger<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between her spread legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have wondered if all women love everything they see at this moment,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a programmed imprintable template of acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her work is still downward, but she does it with efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The babe moves down toward the bulging moist spreading lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They part as the wrinkled dome of occiput passes up<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and through<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and out<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and onto her welcoming belly and into her grasping arms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and sobs of joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The baby cries, taking its breath of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its first effort in this world of pain and loss and love<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and a mother’s welcoming breast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I went down to the ER<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her body was sheeted,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gravid belly a white dome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Injuries consistent with motor vehicle trauma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I filled out the birth certificate the next day,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The usual, with a name I didn\u2019t know,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though we\u2019d shared<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The death certificates were there for me too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both mom and babe<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Names I did not know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The boxes now checked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Signature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doing the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cause of Death: Trauma from Motor Vehicle Accident<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manner of Death: Accident<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alpha and Omega I stood between the woman\u2019s legs. She bore her strength down against The rotund dome of the gravid belly. The nurse looked in from the hall door. “Can you take a call? ER on line four.” … Continue reading