Apart from the baby, there was not much in the box. A blanket was wrapped around the child and inside its folds there was a piece of lace. It was identified at a later stage as a Hamsa. It was a charm in the shape of a stylised hand which was supposed to protect one from the evil eye. Someone had cared about this baby.
In good health, the child was delivered into the hands of nursing staff. The boy was named Anthony by one of his carers. Social services were already lining up foster parents to care for the baby whilst the police searched for his parents. The hospital staff fussed over him, trying to compensate for his sad circumstances.
Anthony had suffered no ill effects from his brief stay in the box. He was only a day old when he was left outside of the shop. He accepted his milk and made little fuss, rarely crying or making any kind of noise. The nurses who cared for him found the quiet, expressionless baby a bit unnerving and were worried that he might have some sort of developmental problem.
The child would respond to sound and would look at whoever was talking to him. Anthony did not like being picked up. He would squirm and frown until he was put back into his cot. Once he was released from a carer's arms, he would settle down and either sleep or look at what was happening around him. He would make some noise when he was hungry and that was about it.
The usual television appeals and coverage in the newspapers, brought no one forward to claim the child. No one legitimate anyway. Lots of people wanted him, but for now he was treated as an orphan.
The baby was given to experienced foster carers who catered for all his material needs. Their attempts at amusing and engaging Anthony were not particularly successful. He made eye contact and he made the odd sound to indicate when he required something. There was the occasional epic tantrum punctuating the calm, as if to keep them on their toes. At the age of six weeks he delivered a first smile that could only really be described as sardonic.
"Is it just me or is there something odd about Anthony." Jan was examining the child.
"Define odd." Terry was not ready to reveal his opinion yet.
"I know its not possible, I mean he doesn't even know how to have those thoughts, but I'm sure that he doesn't like us. His expressions range from bored to angry. The smile he dredges up is grudging. Tell me I'm wrong."
"He is definitely the strangest child we have fostered. I've wondered if he is mentally handicapped, but the doctor doesn't seem to think so. I doubt that he can remember being abandoned in a box, so that can't explain it. Maybe he will change as he gets older."
"I think that you are being hopeful, Terry. He's just not normal. That thing, you know, where a shiver runs down your spine and you turn around and he is staring at you. Freaks me out."
"I was looking at the photos we have taken of him the other day. He's glaring in most of them. In one he is not so much smiling as sneering. The best ones are the pictures of him sleeping."
"Well, he will be someone else's child in a few months."
"Oh God, here we go, that little frown means he's going to have one of his temper tantrums. Come on, Anthony, don't cry. Terry can you get some toys. He will keep crying until he gets what he wants."
"Okay, let's start with the teddy, that settled him last time. No, he doesn't want that. How about the lamb. Do you like the little lamb, Anthony? No."
"Jangle your keys, he likes that sometimes."
"That's not working. Blanket? No. Toy car? No. I'll make a bottle."
"Thanks, love. He shouldn't be hungry, but who knows with him. I think I'm going to have to get some ear plugs. Nothing wrong with your lungs, is there Anthony."
Returning clutching a bottle, Terry passed it to Jan, who then waved it in front of the baby. Unimpressed he screamed even louder. After 10 minutes of rage, his foster parents were running out of ideas on how to calm him. Terry tried the teddy again and Anthony smiled and took it.
"You know what. I think I've just been given the run around by a baby."
"I told you he was odd."
Anthony progressed as a normal baby would. He could roll over when he was four months old. He started to crawl when he was seven months old. He would occasionally bestow his crooked smile on his foster parents and had also laughed a few times. The courts were satisfied that everything had been done to try to trace his mother and they now gave their consent for him to be adopted. Jan and Terry were happy that Anthony would be going to a new permanent home.