The Wail
“Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
They heard a wail from the river bank. A cry had never been so loud to travel through the village and be heard. Scarlett woke up startled from a nightmare. Once she came to her senses, she threw on her coat to find the wailing and make it stop.
Three years ago she had lost her baby to cholera. The horrible wailing from that child was the worst noise she had ever heard. Until one day it abruptly stopped. The baby had cried itself to death. Her and her husband were devastated. She could no longer hear a baby crying without the pain oozing out from her wound. Will it ever go away?
The noise she heard now could not be human, but it made her think of her own personal misfortune. This creature was suffering. Perhaps as bad as she had suffered three years ago. She just wanted to help with the pain she could feel in the howling.
“Franklin. Wake up! Do you hear that? I’m going to go find it!”
He had already begun to stir due to her commotion. “Sit down woman! Let me handle this. This noise is probably luring animals from all around.You don’t know what could be out there.” He yawned and stretched before putting on his boots and coat. He kissed her forehead.
“Please stay here. Don’t wander off. Please, wife,” as if reading her thoughts. She was plotting to leave as soon as he was out of sight from the house. Him pleading with her made her reconsider.
Defeated, “I won’t. I promise” He kissed her again and left. When the door latched, she began to pace around the front room, trying to think of how she could help without betraying her love.
The only thing that came to mind was to sing herself a song. A beautiful, happy little song that her mom sang to her when she was young and scared. She always referred to it as her comfort song. The wailing was not so threatening with the melody of the song in her heart. She felt it was a useless power, but it helped soothe her nonetheless.
You be the sun, I’ll be the moon
Just let your light come shining through
And when night comes, just like the moon
I’ll shine the light right back at you
After what seemed like an eternity, the wailing was cut short. The hair on her neck stood at attention, thinking something had happened to her Franklin. She sucked in a breath, held it in and picked up her pace. Her heart racing, she sensed impending doom. Her last encounter with him, she had been thinking of disobedience. God would never forgive her and neither would she.
As the tears began to stream down her face, Franklin burst in the door with his friend James closely behind him. She finally let out her breath. Franklin was holding a bundle of something wrapped in burlap. The burlap appeared to be dirty, but when she got closer, she realized it was blood.
“Are you ok? It that your blood?!?” she was close to hysterics.
“Calm down, wife. It is not mine or James’. It’s hers.” He opened the bundle to reveal the sweetest sleeping face with blood smudged above her eyes. There was no evidence of where it was coming from. Scarlett gently took the baby to the sink to clean her off. They needed to examine her to determine whether she needed a doctor.
The sink water wasn’t too dirty, but it wasn’t warm. Scarlett dipped a washcloth into the water and gently started to dab at the blood on the baby’s face. The cold water must have startled her awake because she woke and immediately began wailing again. For a moment, the whole house shook.
Scarlett began to sing her the comfort song despite not being able to hear herself. The baby opened her eyes and quieted down. She appeared to be studying Scarlett’s face; all the while Scarlett’s heart was melting. She had never seen such a breathtakingly beautiful face - so angelic and innocent. Who could bare to lose something so precious?
“The blood is not hers. We need to take her to the church; they will know what to do.” James sputtered.
James and Franklin were very strong, powerful men. The whole village respected them and their decisions for the village. But they both seemed to be taken with the baby Scarlet was holding.
“I’m not letting this child out of my sight, James. You can pry her from my cold, dead hands!” she snapped.
Franklin stepped in. “Alright everyone. Calm down. No one is dying on account of this child. We will keep her here for the night. She didn’t come from thin air - she belongs to someone. In the morning, we will ride north to Clemsville. That’s where the river begins and we’ll work our way south from there. Someone has to know something about such an interesting child.”
“Or we can just keep her and raise her as our own. Obviously, someone wanted to get rid of her to put her in the river. It’s a miracle she survived! How could we ever put her in harm’s way again?” Back to being hysterical, everyone in the room knew what Scarlett was saying was true.
“But if the blood is not her own then someone was trying to protect her and failed.” Rarely going head to head with Scarlett, James was just as concerned for the baby’s well-being.
“Then returning her could be putting her back in danger! We are meant to protect this child!” Her breathing had become erratic.
“James, stay in the cot here tonight. I won’t have you back out in the night. Scarlett, we will keep her here, but we will need to figure out the right thing to do.” That was good enough for her, for now.
They still had a crib set up in the corner of the room since she didn’t have the heart to tear it down. She put the angel faced baby in the crib and rocked it until her little eyes drifted off to sleep. When she turned around to go to bed, Franklin was standing behind her. He took her in his arms and held her until he could hear her soft sobs. Not having anything to say that would be helpful, he just let her cry. He knew the wound was still fresh three years after the fact and the events of the night would not help them heal any faster.
Once her shuddering slowed, he picked up her small frame and placed her in bed. He took off his boots and laid down next to the love of his life, not knowing this was the last normal night they would have.
