Lifer

You know I have no choice but to leave you here, Ben,” whispered sixteen year old Sarah as she gazed sadly at the new-born baby boy cradled in her arms. Then, Sarah gently lay the little bundle on a seat at the bus stop, uncontrollable tears streaming down her face as she kissed the baby goodbye for the last time. He looked so vulnerable lying there still fast asleep.

    An hour later as the first ray of sunlight illuminated the morning sky and commuters started congregating at the bus stop, baby Ben finally roused from his slumber. Miraculously, he had not come to any harm in the one hour since his young mother had deserted him and had continued sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of his precarious plight. It was only when he had attracted the attention of stunned passers-by, who all crowded in amazement around him, that Ben started bawling his eyes out and crying at the top of his lungs.

    The police was finally notified of baby Ben’s presence and he was whisked off to the General Hospital. The next day, an article was published in the newspapers about baby Ben’s situation and the public was urged to come forward with any relevant information about the matter.

    As Sarah read the article and softly touched the printed photograph of baby Ben for the fifth time, the guilt over what she had done finally overwhelmed her and she knew that she would never be able to live with herself, knowing that she had abandoned her own flesh and blood. She turned to seventeen year old David, her boyfriend, and the father of baby Ben, and said calmly, “I’m going to keep our baby.”

    Sarah then went to her totally unsuspecting parents and related to them in detail everything that had happened for the past 10 months. Because Sarah’s father and mother had left Singapore seven months ago for a business trip overseas and had only returned the day before, they had therefore been totally unaware of Sarah’s pregnancy and were stunned speechless over this shocking... [continues]

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