“Come here, Sawyer, the baby isn’t going to hurt you.”
I strolled over so slowly, not sure what to make of the baby. I stood in front of my mommy while she stroked a long finger down the sleeping figure’s face.
“See, she’s not going to hurt you.”
I dropped my gaze down onto the slumbering face realizing she was so small; I thought babies were a little bigger.
“It’s a girl!” I cried out, scrunching my face together.
My mom laughed, making her whole face light up. Looking at her made me smile once again. That was when the baby woke up, and her big blue eyes were wide and searching my eyes then to my mom. I put my hand out to touch the baby just as she had. Grinning at my mom, she put an arm around me as I sat down next to her to still be near the new baby.
“It’s a science marvel! What do you think you’re doing acting like it’s one of your children?”
“Oh, Robert, she’s just a baby. Even if you cloned her, she’s just a child. She’s just as human as you are.”
“It’s going to prove-”
“Oh, shush, Robert, I know this is a big deal, but she’s still human.”
“It’s a science experiment.”
“She’s just a baby, she might have been created in this lab, but she’s still a living, breathing human. You’re going to have to treat her as such.”
I just let my parents’ words fly over my head as the baby stared at me. I’m sorry, baby, I don’t know how to help you. I’m just as confused.
“There are big hopes for it.”
“Robert, refer to her as you would to your son.”
“You gave birth to our son just like every other human. This clone was created in a science lab to prove that cloning humans are possible. Think of the possibilities!”
My mom sighed. Her once pretty smile was long gone. I hugged her as she held me tighter.
“What happened to the man I married.”
“What are you yammering on about?”
“You have no real compassion towards this little girl.”
“Do you not get what this could do for our family, Melanie? We could be the richest people ever and-”
“Forget the money. After you created this little girl, what did you expect to happen to her? Were you expecting no emotions or thoughts to cross her mind? That she would grow up and be a thoughtless object that sits in the corner of the room?” She paused and adjusted the baby in her arms as she stood up. “Robert, I’m proud of you for doing this. Really, I am, but honey, you have to think ahead and remember this baby is a living being.”
“I just don’t think you understand the magnitude of cloning and what doors that I opened.” My dad continued.
“I just don’t think you understand to the full extent of what you’ve done.”
My dad rolled his eyes and muttered. “What harm can a baby do? It’s not like I have brought life to a full-grown man corpse-like in Frankenstein.”
“She won’t be a baby forever-”
“Just shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” my father shouted. “Why couldn’t you be like other wives and just be happy about what I accomplished?”
I gripped onto my mother’s leg. He only started to raise his voice more lately. I glanced at the little girl my mom was holding. Were they yelling because of her?
“Is she my sister?”
“No! It’s not part of this family. It’s a science experiment.”
I crawled closer to my mom, and the baby started to cry.
“Oh, please, Robert, calm down. You’re frightening the children,” my mom hissed. She gazed down at the baby and started to bounce her. “Calm down, little one. Everything’s going to be okay.”
My mom headed up the stairs to our house. I ran after her as she rocked the baby.
“Does the baby have a name?”
My mom smiled and opened the door that leads to the kitchen and out of the lab. I hopped up the last of the stairs, scrambling to catch up. My mom sat down at the kitchen table. Once I was at her side, I gripped her leg to stare into the baby’s face once again.
“What do you want to name her?”
“Dotty!”
“How about the name Madeline?” my mom laughed.
“Hi, Madeline.”
She smiled at me and kissed my forehead. Then the baby threw up on me, and I screamed.
I wanted to sleep, so why did Mommy and Dad have to yell so much. I crawled out of my superhero sheets and crept out of my room, holding onto my teddy bear that wore a superhero costume. I stood up high to reach the handle and turned it to look out the cracked door. I didn’t see Mom or Dad as I moved quickly to the room next to mine that Mommy put Madeline in. Dad didn’t seem to like the space.
I slowly opened her door and walked in carefully, making sure I wouldn’t wake her up if she were asleep or step on a toy that we might have left on the floor. With measured steps, I held my Teddy closer to my chest. I drew closer to Madeline. If I moved too loudly, she would scream loudly, then Mommy and Daddy would catch me out of bed. I used my hand that wasn’t holding Teddy to grab onto a bar to try to pull myself up to look at her. Her green eyes turned to look at me. They weren’t blue like they had been that first day. Mommy said that was normal. Madeline’s eyes were wide and glassy. I started to pull myself up on
