Prologue
“Breathe, dear,” the nurse calmly yelled, “breathe.”
While gripping the nurse’s hand, the woman in labor did just that. It should go without saying that she was in severe discomfort. But thankfully, that discomfort didn’t last long.
“Ready, and — push!”
Right then and there, the woman in labor screamed. Luckily enough, she felt only a little bit of agony, just before the infant finally came out of her womb. And of course, said infant cried immediately afterwards.
Upon holding it in her hands, the nurse gazed at the infant. “It is a boy.”
“What?” the woman (now a mother) asked; she was breathing so heavily that she didn’t quite hear what the nurse had said.
“Your child that I hold in my hands — is a beautiful boy.”
A smile of joy and relief grew onto the mother’s face. She then held out her hands. “Give him to me if you would.”
Without hesitation, the nurse walks slowly over toward the mother. She then gently handed the infant to her.
Upon gently grabbing ahold of the newborn, the mother gazed at the child with the same smile on her face, shedding a tear in the process just before the infant’s crying ceased.
“Have you thought up a name, my dear,” the nurse asked, “or is it too early for that?”
“Nonsense,” the mother quietly answered. “I have thought of a name …”
“What will it be?”
“I thought up a simple name …” the mother elaborated, “Demetri.”
