The infant twitched and fell silent for a moment, as if it had sensed the warmth in her voice. “Boy or girl?” she wondered. Lifting the blanket, Christina saw that it was a boy. Her heart ached with understanding: completely alone, without a name, without a mother.
Neighbors were passing by; some stopped and peered curiously when they saw the scene. Christina called out:
“Everyone, please help—can someone take off their jacket to cover him? It’s drafty in here!”
An 18-year-old girl pulled off her windbreaker:
“Wow… What a tiny one. Here, take it, cover him.”
“Thank you,” Christina nodded.
While waiting for the ambulance, an elderly woman ran over, flailing her arms: “Oh, monsters! Who abandons a child!” Her questioning only added to Christina’s mounting panic. A man in a tracksuit suggested, “Maybe we should take him into the apartment?” But Christina feared unnecessary movement: “In case the doctors need to examine him on the spot.”
After about 15 minutes, the siren wailed in the courtyard. Paramedics with a stretcher hurried to the entrance. Christina was trembling as she held the little one close, trying to warm him. A doctor, a middle-aged woman, touched him and raised her eyebrows:
“He’s alive but weak. He needs to go to the hospital immediately. Who are you—the mother?”
“No, I found him…” she swallowed bitterly. “It seems he’s been abandoned.”
