Arlo

1922 Spring, Bozeman, Montana

The steam train's whistle blew shrilly as it approached the crossing.Approaching the same intersection at a furious speed, a faded black Model T Ford creaked as it twisted along the dirt road creaking the bumper was splashing mud from the forehead.As the car reached the tracks at the crossing seconds before the locomotive, its passengers shouted and whistled, leaning out of the train windows.The train continued to blow its whistle as if it were angry.

There was applause and pandemonium on the train. "The horseless carriage has won again!" someone shouted.

The driver of the car, Roy Corbin, was driving with passion. His wife, Sarah Corbin, was clutching her seat as they jumped up and turned toward the train station.This was not a Sunday trip. She looked at the child wrapped up in her arms. He was the reason for their journey.

Sarah Corbin remembered the doctor walking into that bare hospital room two years ago.His fatherly tone could not hide the cruelty of his words."Ms. Corbin, unfortunately your child was born with certain birth defects."

Sarah was breathless, the words she had just heard drilling into her brain. What did he mean by flaw? "It's not healthy, is it?" she asked, trying to understand.

The doctor paused. "Sorry, just get some rest. We'll talk later."

"Doctor, what do you mean by 'flaw'?

"Miss Corbin. Please... you

"I want my baby. He is my baby!" Sarah interrupted the doctor harshly.
""I carried him in my womb for nine months, now I have the strength to hold him in my arms. Bring my baby... now!"

The doctor shook his head sadly."Okay, wait a minute."

A little later, a nurse in a starched shirt brought the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and dropped him awkwardly into Sarah's arms.My baby, my baby, thought Sarah as she hugged him. She reached out with her weak arms and lifted the blanket.As soon as she lifted it, her lower lip trembled. "No, it can't be!" She was able to say.

The baby's expressionless face was like a cartoon superimposed on his tiny, distorted body. His eyes were two small brown globes, staring dully from their sockets, and his lips were tight, as if they had been bent under some secret pressure.A dull, eerie emptiness filled the room. Sarah wrapped herself in the swaddling clothes, hoping that the silence would go with the distorted image of the baby.

The nurse was waiting patiently. "Please leave us alone," Sarah said, her voice breaking with her heart.

As the nurse's footsteps echoed through the halls, Sarah looked back at her son.Where were the chubby little cheeks? And the cherry lips? The inkwell nose? Aren't all babies supposed to be perfect? Sarah fought back the nausea in her stomach as she studied the baby's misshapen expression. Her husband, Roy, was supposed to be there, too. But they hadn't expected the baby to arrive so soon. Roy was busy bringing back a herd of cattle from Miles City.

Sarah held the baby to her chest and cried into the nothingness that surrounded her. She wanted to curl up in the fetal position and be a little girl again.She wanted a mother to hug her, to wipe her tears, to kiss her and erase all her pain.But now, at thirty-six, she knew that she was the one who was Mother and no one could erase the doctor's terrible words with a kiss.

She and Roy had decided that if they had a son, they would name him Arlo.
Now Sarah was trying the name. "Arlo," she mumbled. The name sounded strange. "Come on Arlo," he pleaded But the baby's stillness had spread throughout the room.

***

The car the shock brings back other memories too.The doctor would not back down from his diagnosis. "Children like this rarely respond to treatment," he said.