Our Baby Clarabella

Picking Pairs and Bringing on the Babies

"Kalila Matthews and Earl Umniy, you've got a boy," Mr. Jennings starts off his list, yelling the names of the pairs out loud to make sure no one misunderstands or doesn't hear him. I don't pay much attention as he reads and trust that I will notice my own name, as I always do.

Soon enough, the time comes. "Stella Clareman and Benjamin Brendans, you've got a girl," Mr. Jennings says tiredly. Benjamin Brendans? There's a Benjamin in this class?

I stroll over to the desk with the bag of babies (even the sound of it is disturbing) and watch for this "Benjamin" that I will be working with for the next month.

I notice a tall guy with nicely-tanned skin and straight brown hair with bangs slowly and coolly making his way to where I already stand.

Mr. Jennings taps his fingers on the desk impatiently. "Alright," he says when Ben finally arrives. "You will give her a name now, so you can really feel that whole 'real child' vibe." Wow. He isn't even trying to sound interested. "So, think of a name or something..."

Without giving it a second thought, I shout, "Clarabella!" Mr. Jennings gives me a surprised look at my sudden volume and Ben shoots me a confused glance. I immediately feel embarrassed, my cheeks' warmth increasing by the second. Did I just embarrass myself in front of my husband? "I just thought... well, I... cause my last name is Clareman, and my name is Stella, and his name is Ben, and I thought Clarabella was a mix of all of them and..." I try to explain. Benjamin just nods coolly. Then we're handed a box of various baby-care items and a plastic stroller with a plastic doll lying peacefully inside of it and take the stuff back to our spots in the gym.

The first thing I do is take a good look at her. She's a strawberry-blonde/redhead with teal eyes, and in really good shape too. I think all of the babies are new. I heard that too many were lost and broken last year so they had to get a new bunch. I guess we got a new one.

"So, uh... your name is Stella Clareman?"

"What?" I look up at the tall, skinny-ish guy that is supposedly my husband. "Yeah, yeah... I'm Stella."

"I'm Ben."

"So I heard..."

Benjamin laughs, then looks at me with a shy smile. I stand up after tucking Clarabella under the doll blankets we were given. At full height, I only reach Ben's chin. I observe his face nervously, unaware of what to do or what to say. I notice him eyeing my entire body, kind of like a scan machine, and I suddenly feel self-conscious. I resist the urge to turn and walk away.

"You look kinda uncomfortable," he comments. Is it that obvious? "Are you cold?"

At first I open my mouth to say no, but, "yeah, a little bit," comes out instead. I guess my mouth has a priority over my brain. But it's all in my favor because I realize that now I don't have to tell him why I feel so awkward.

Benjamin takes off his jacket and wraps it over my shoulders. I feel my skin burning slightly at his contact. I feel incredibly awkward. Like, it isn't even funny.

"Is that better?" Ben says with a little bit of concern.

"Yeah. Thanks," I smile. We stand awkwardly until I finally decide to break the silence. "Thank goodness I didn't get paired with someone careless," I blurt, spilling out the thought that has been running through my head. "You're... you're nice."

"Yeah," he says shyly, just a snippet of a smile escaping his lips. "You too."

Gosh, why do I feel so tinkly?!