Chapter 12: Four Cries

They didn't wait for a stretcher.

They unlocked the wheels of my bed and ran it down the hallway with me in it.

The ceiling lights went by in white stripes.

Leo ran beside the bed until a nurse stopped him at a pair of double doors.

"Scrubs," she said, and shoved a folded blue bundle into his chest. "Hurry. Go."

The operating room was freezing and full of people.

There were four little warming beds lined up against the wall, each one with its own team standing ready.

Four teams.

I started shaking and couldn't stop.

Someone put a needle in my back. My legs went warm and then went away.

They hung a blue sheet in front of my face.

"Where is he?" I said. "Where's Leo?"

"Right here."

He was at my head in blue scrubs and a paper cap, his mask pulled up.

He took my hand.

His hand was shaking too.

"Talk to me," I said. "Say anything."

"Okay." He bent close. "The crib. The first one. I still think it was fine."

I laughed, a wet, wild sound.

"It was a parallelogram."

"It had character."

Behind the sheet, I felt pulling and pressure.

"Baby A," the doctor said. "Boy. Seven-thirty-one."

There was a pause.

Then a cry, thin and furious.

Leo made a sound into my hair.

"Baby B. Boy. Seven-thirty-two."

Another cry, deeper, louder.

"That one's big," somebody said. "Three pounds easy."

"Baby C. Girl. Seven-thirty-two."

She didn't scream. She made a little huffing noise, and then a small, offended wail.

"Baby D. Girl. Seven-thirty-three."

Nothing.

I waited for the cry.

There was no cry.

Across the room, the fourth team bent over the fourth warming bed.

All I could see was their backs.

"Leo," I said.

"I'm here."

"Why isn't she crying?"

"They're working on her." His voice was very steady, which is how I knew he was terrified. "They're right there with her."

Nobody said anything for what felt like hours.

Somebody said a number.

Somebody said, "Come on, little bit. Come on."

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