"Wait, what's going on? Why am I being arrested? What about my children?" Diamond exclaims as the officers drag her down the hospital hallway.
"Mommy's coming back for you, Aaron. Watch your brother!" Then they disappear around the corner of the hallway.
Safi stands there in shock until she feels a hand grab her shirt. She looks down to see Aaron with tears in his eyes. Safi almost forgot that this little boy just watched his mother get handcuffed and taken away.
"It's going to be okay. We're going to get you back to mommy, okay?" Safi reassures the little boy, holding his hand. She grabs the diaper bag and Aaron's hand and makes her way to Dr. Motts' office.
She lets go of Aaron's hand and knocks on the door.
"Come in!"
"Dr. Motts, we have a dilemma," Safi says walking in with the newborn and the little boy. Dr. Motts looks at her confused, her eyes darting back and forth from Safi's eyes to the baby in her arms and the little boy.
"Um, why do you have these two children?" Dr. Motts asks concernedly, getting up from her desk.
"Their mother was arrested after the examination doctor made a report about Aaron!" Safi exclaims, readjusting the sleeping baby in her arms.
"She was what?" Dr. Motts gets up from her desk and walks over to the Aaron.
"They arrested her for child negligence and endangerment of a child," Safi sniffled. Dr. Motts looks down at the baby and Aaron.
"And the child is mute, so he can't even tell us anything yet. Okay, here's what we'll do. We have to call CPS. We can't let these children stay here. That baby is eventually going to need food and a diaper change," Dr. Motts says shuffling through some papers on her desk. She finds a business card and starts dialing the number on her phone.
"Hello? Bailey? I have an emergency case for you. I'm going to need you to write up a temporary guardianship. I'll tell you all about it once you get to the address I'm about to send you."
Dr. Motts hangs up the phone when Safi sits down in a chair.
"Do you know if the baby is breastfed or formula fed?" Dr. Motts asks looking at the diaper bag on the ground.
"I thought I saw some formula in the bag beside some diapers," Safi replies rocking the baby as he begins to fuss.
"Okay, so here's the game plan. You're going to take temporary guardianship of these children until stuff gets figured out with the mom. You'll receive money from the state to take care of their needs in the meantime. I have some old clothes from my children that I can give you so they aren't in those forever." Dr. Motts says while running around her room gathering her things.
"But....but my apartment isn't suitable for children..." Safi panics looking at the baby and Aaron.
"Don't worry about it. It's only temporary. We'll figure something out, but for now, we gotta go." Dr. Motts takes Aaron's hand and they all walk out of the office and out of the hospital.
They head into the parking garage where Dr. Motts leads them to a large SUV. In the back row of seats, there's a booster seat and some toys on the ground.
"You'll have to sit in the back with the baby since we don't have a car seat. We'll go buy one real quick at the closest store that sells baby stuff." Dr. Motts says with a stern look on her face.
Safi didn't even have time to process any of this, but how do you process something like this?
After strapping herself well with the baby, they take off quickly to the store.
YOU ARE READING
The Anatomy of You
RomanceBeing a black woman in the medical field can be a harsh world sometimes. You've got all the odds against you being black and being a woman, entering a field where there's not many others that look like you. Safiya (or Safi for short) is a young Ken...
