It is the end of October in Leeds town centre, it appears to be night but is actually morning. In under an hour the sun will rise again and either shine brightly and change in temperature or be hidden under a thick layer of grey cloud. All is quiet except for the screech of an owl, which has perhaps lost its way from a nearby park.
" Ssh, my baby. Don’t cry,’” a nondescript woman says to the bag she is carrying.
The language she speaks is not a language heard in these parts. It is not usually heard in this country. It appears as if the woman has noted the presence of the owl and is looking to it for some direction or possibly reassurance. The woman tries to walk in the shadows as much as possible, zigzagging to prevent passersby from detecting anything unusual about her.
Her appearance is not odd for someone of her age, but there still seems something different about her. If anyone was interested in looking at her, they would understand that this woman did not belong in this area of town or perhaps not anywhere in Leeds.
The peculiar woman glances around her to discover if she is closer to her destination. She is becoming tired. The bag she is carrying is heavy. She is not used to walking for so long carrying such a heavy bag. The bag is slightly open so that one of the items in the bag is able to breathe properly but not too much so that the said item would get too cold. It is a cold autumn morning in Leeds and because of that the stranger is dressed very warmly because she is unaccustomed to this weather. She keeps glancing over her shoulder and scanning the area as if she doesn’t want to be spotted or she is a criminal about to commit a crime. A sound like a kitten meowing escapes from the bag again.
" Hush my little one. We are almost there. Once you are inside you will be nice and warm,” again she says in a language not known by the locals. It doesn’t sound like the Yorkshire dialect. It is an entirely different language to English.
The meow-like cry stops as if it understands the words being spoken. The lady smiles but is glad that she can see the hospital before her. She had researched the hospital thoroughly before she decided that this place would be her final destination. She even knew which entrance was the best entrance for what she had to do. At last the sign shows that she was almost near Leeds General Infirmary. Thankfully, there is no one around so the woman continues towards an entrance that isn’t used by the public.
When she reaches the hospital door, she puts the holdall near the door and takes a folded piece of paper from her pocket and unzips it a bit more and places it on top of the wriggling baby inside.
“Sorry my little one. This is to keep you safe. You wouldn’t be safe with me,” the woman sighs, "I have left people to watch over you and keep you safe.” She rings the doorbell and runs to a place hidden from the hospital door. She wishes she had been able to find an invisibility cloak before she left but time hadn’t been on her side, and she had to leave quickly without detection.
*******************
The girl sitting at a desk of the hospital’s mail department jumped as she heard the doorbell ring. It usually rang when the postman brought mail for the hospital or if they were expecting delivery of hospital equipment. It was seven o’clock in the morning, the mail never usually came at this time. Even couriers usually came later. Her supervisor, who had just gone to make a coffee, hadn’t mentioned a delivery today either. Sally knew it was better to check rather than believe that no one would deliver equipment at this time.
The blonde haired girl went out of the mail room and headed to the door. When she opened the door, there was no one there. All Sally could see was a brown leather holdall. It reminded Sally of an old fashioned doctor’s bag or nurse’s bag. Expecting it to be empty she lifted it up and found it quite heavy. The zip wasn’t completely closed, and she decided to see what was inside, as she opened it Sally almost jumped out of her skin.
Inside was a beautiful baby, she’d never seen such a beautiful baby in her entire life. It seemed to radiate beauty from it’s pores. Sally realised it had been abandoned and was wondering if the mother was somewhere close by. She couldn’t see the woman, who was watching her from a distance, the older woman had concealed herself well.
" Well beauty, let’s take you inside. I can’t see your mother anywhere. Let’s get you inside. It’s cold. I’ve never seen such a beautiful baby as you. You take my breath away,” Sally said, taking the baby in it’s bag inside, " Your mother left us a note but I’ll take you into the mail room before I read it.”
“Sally, Sally! Where are you?” she could hear her supervisor say from a distance.
“I’m coming, we had a special delivery today,” Sally replied.
“There aren’t supposed to be any deliveries this morning. Anyway, it’s seven o’clock in the morning. No one usually comes at this time-,” Sally’s supervisor said, staring at the brown bag Sally was carrying.
“It’s a delivery by the stork, this one. Look ’ere. It’s a bairn. I’ve never seen such a beautiful baby. There’s a note as well.”
" What’s going on here then?” said Frank, Sally’s colleague in the mail room.
“Morning Frank! I found a special delivery outside the door today. I was just about to read the letter left with it” said Sally, unfolding the note. Sally scanned the paper, and looked back up at Frank and her supervisor.
" Jill, it says here that the mother didn’t want to give the baby up but she was desperate and didn’t think she could look after it. Her name’s Lily,” Sally said. Frank looked into the bag and was shocked to see an unbelievably beautiful baby.
“Did you see anyone who could be the mother when you opened the door?” Jill asked.
“No, there was no one there and I had a good look round to see if there was anyone watching from a distance,”
" Okay, we’ll call the neonatal services. They have procedures to handle situations like this. Frank, get them on the phone and explain what has happened.” Jill said.
