TWENTY ONE YEARS AGO AT OLGA CHILDREN'S HOME, SOUTHRAIN
Monday...Monday…Ms Meyerton had never liked Mondays. They were always too busy for her. And on that particular Monday, the children were all going for their vaccination at clinic. The de Milo Group of Hospitals had always supported Olga Children's Home, since the time that Roderick took over the running of the group from his late father. On that Monday, all the children were to be taken to the clinic for vaccinations and regular check-ups, as part of the donations by Roderick de Milo. Ms Meyerton did not like the hassle that came with transporting the children. She had always hesitated but she really wanted to ask if it were possible for the hospital to send in their staff, instead of them having to go there. What made it worse on that day was, their bus was not moving. So they needed numerous cars to pack the children and head off.
Ms Meyerton tiredly crept out of bed and threw her morning gown on top of her night dress. She headed to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. It was still early; the clock showed 4.32AM. Ms Meyerton walked out of her room and slowly headed to her assistant's door.
"I'm sorry to wake you up," she said as she knocked.
The woman from the other side of the door answered, "I was already up, please come in, Ms Meyerton."
She walked in and said hurriedly, "Good morning. Today we're going to the clinic. I don't know…are our cars ready? Do you think we should hire a bus?"
The assistant yawned and stretched her arms. "The big truck is not working!" she said in a mumbled voice.
"What? Why wasn't I told about this?"
"Well, the driver only told me late last night. When he was coming from his daily errands, it stopped moving right at the gate. If I understood him well, he couldn't make it to the parking lot. That truck is still out there at the gate."
"I can't believe no-one told me about this!" Ms Meyerton stormed out in disappointment and rushed back to her room. She grabbed the truck keys, for she had her own set of keys for all the cars at the home. She grabbed a torch; not that it was dark, but still she just grabbed it, and marched angrily towards the gate.
Sure enough, the truck was parked outside the gate. The security guard swiftly unlocked the gate and Ms Meyerton quickly opened the truck. Before she got inside, she walked around it, scanning its wheels and whole body.
A low sound, like the mew of a cat, caught Ms Meyerton' attention. She stopped in her tracks and looked around. What was that? Could a cat have found a home in the truck, and slept in there? She stood on her toes and peeped inside the back of the huge truck. There was nothing. The sound came again.
Ms Meyerton listened carefully, and she could tell that it came from somewhere near the huge rock. At the gate of the home, there was a huge rock around which were planted beautiful flowers. On the rock, it was painted "OLGA". Starting to get worried and scared at the same time, Ms Meyerton walked slowly towards the rock. She picked a small stick and geared herself to attack whatever animal it was that was scaring her from behind that rock.
The sound came again, louder. No. It was not a cat. It could not be a cat. How come it sounded like a baby? Ms Meyerton' heart pounded so hard that she thought it was going to pop out and run off; far away from her. She kept moving. The rock stood near the stone wall of the home, so there was a small space between the wall and the rock. After having scanned around the rock and seeing nothing, Ms Meyerton had no other option but to check in that crevice in between the wall and the rock.
A small bundle lay there, neatly folded and fully covered. As she looked closely, the bundle moved a bit, followed by the sound of a crying baby. Ms Meyerton got very scared. She took another step forward, and she called to the security guard to come closer. The man came and looked in astonishment.
"It is a baby!" he wailed out.
Instinctively stuffing the truck keys in her morning gown pocket, Ms Meyerton threw aside the stick and torch that she was holding, and bent slowly to uncover the towel. A cute little face, which had turned blue from all the crying, appeared before her. Probably hurt by the light, the little one refused to open his or her eyes, but cried out in a loud and hopeful voice. The child opened their mouth, in search of food.
"Call the police! Call the police now!" Ms Meyerton ordered the man.
She slowly and carefully picked the little one. A yellow shirt cut in half was placed on top of the child. She walked quickly back into the home, headed straight to the kitchen where she ordered someone to prepare some milk for the little one. Some of the staff were already up to prepare porridge for the children.
Ms Meyerton called for her assistant; and together they closed the door in one of the baby rooms. The air conditioner was put on high, and the child was brought close to a heater. The child's little limbs were freezing cold; there were ants roaming around the little one.
"Bring me some warm water and a towel," Ms Meyerton instructed as she stuck a feeding bottle into the baby's mouth. The little one sucked hungrily and once she was done feeding the child, she held the little one on her shoulder to burp the infant.
Carefully, she unfolded the Minnie Mouse towel, removed the fluffy white suit and the bright green t-shirt that the child was wearing. The child did not even have a diaper on.
"It's a little girl!" Ms Meyerton smiled.
Soon the police had arrived, and after dressing up the little one in warm clothes; Ms Meyerton went together with the police to the hospital.
It was Roderick de Milo himself who attended to the child. He scanned through the child, asked a lot of questions and said that he was going to call in a pediatrician.
"She looks fine," he spoke. He called to a nurse and asked her to issue a birth record card.
"What are you going to name her?" the nurse asked Ms Meyerton.
Realizing that she had never thought of a name, Ms Meyerton looked around and immediately a thought flashed in her mind…"her name has to start with the letter A"
"Why is that?" Roderick asked, amused.
"She came dressed in a little suit with the letter 'A' written all over it." Ms Meyerton responded.
Roderick nodded. "OK. So what shall you name her? Abigail? Amanda? Anisha? Alicia? Or April? Seeing she's born in the month of April, you might as well name her April."
Ms Meyerton thought for a while and then smiled, "I guess I like the name Anisha. Anisha means continuous; eternal and everlasting flame. This girl is an everlasting flame; a light that will never die. Her flame will live on, even after she herself is gone. This girl will do great things. She fought for her life out there in the cold, with ants crawling all over her. She didn't let her flame grow dim, or die. The name Anisha suits her. She's my little everlasting flame; all good things will continuously follow her. She will always shine bright, and brighten any place she goes to… Please make my surname the temporary name until she gets adopted or the police manage to find her real parents."
Ms Meyerton looked admiringly at the little one, who by then had already fallen asleep.
"She is so beautiful. I wonder how a mother can dump such a cute little thing" the nurse said.
"She is beautiful," Ms Meyerton agreed.
"Looks like she was born in the early hours of the morning." The nurse said. "What a sweet little thing." She kissed the child's forehead and proceeded to fill in the birth record card:
Name: Anisha Meyerton
Gender: Female
Date of birth: 11 April
Back at the home, Ms Meyerton washed all the items that the child had been wearing, including the half yellow shirt. She ironed them and folded them neatly. Placing them right at the bottom of her gym bag, she promised herself that one day when the child was grown up enough to understand, she was going to show her these items. The clothes that the child's birth mother had picked for her. During that same week, Ms Meyerton folded a small blanket and added it to the gym bag contents. And as the years went by, Ms Meyerton continued to stuff the gym bag with other things which she deemed important. For example she put in her graduation gown in there. She hardly ever used the gym bag, it was just one of the things gathering dust in the house. She gradually forgot about it, but when Olga Children's Home was closed and Ms Meyerton left Southrain, she had been very sick. She was not there when her clothes were packed, but still, the men who packed were faithful enough to throw in the gym bag together with everything else. It was there in the house, in Ms Meyerton' house. The bag that held the bright green t-shirt with the words written in red: THIS IS WHAT AWESOME LOOKS LIKES; the little fluffy trousers, jacket, mittens and hat, all of them embroidered with the letter 'A', the Minnie Mouse beach towel with bright colours, and the yellow half shirt.