The Birth Of An Angel

It was a week or two after the birth of my niece, before they took the child to their church to tell everyone about the new baby. Mary-Beth held tight to her new child. For a new mother, there was a deep sadness in her eyes, instead of joy. She smiled shallowly, as everyone oooed and awed over the baby, but rarely did she allow anyone else to hold the child. Of course that didn’t stop Lorne. He took the child from it’s mother and passed the baby around to everyone.

Mary-Beth stood beside me, her eyes filled with tears, silently pleading with me for help. I walked over and asked to hold my new niece, then returned the child to it’s mother. Lorne didn’t dare take the child again as long as I was standing there, but he certainly took notice. Any chance he got, he made sure to take the baby from it’s mother and pass it around, then turn to smirk at me.

It was not long before Mary-Beth had to go back to work, and leave the baby with Lorne. At first it didn’t seem all that bad, but it did not take long before it became painfully obvious that the baby didn’t seem to be growing much, and often had a rash. Apparently Lorne had been wrapping the baby up in blankets and just leaving it alone in the crib all day. Lorne rarely changed the baby, or fed it while Mary-Beth was away at work. Lorne’s neglect of the baby got so bad that Mary-Beth had to quit working full-time in order to take care of the baby.

With the loss of income, and Lorne's spending habits, they had less and less to eat, and often Mary-Beth had to hide the baby food from her husband. When Mary-Beth would try to feed the baby, Lorne would steal the baby’s food right off of it's plate. Eventually, Mary-Beth began to feed the baby in secret. She would hide food from her husband, then chew up the food for the baby, instead of running the food processor, which would attract Lorne's attention. As spring arrived, feeding the baby became easier. Wild strawberries grew in the ditch, and other berries she scavenged from the bush. Perhaps one of the worst things was that the odd time she would collect road-kill.

The abuse of children is a heinous crime that should never be overlooked. How can the government continue to allow the evil practice of “monogamy” to continue?

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