Lost and Found

     It was crying. Mia blinked. It was still there. Its tiny voice rattled in the Central buzz, its mouth stretched wide, tears bubbling from its eyes. It was a baby Aisha, wrapped in a blanket, sitting in a basket that was placed on an empty bench. Mia looked to her left and right. No one else seemed to notice the baby.

     She clutched the handles on her brown paper grocery bags and walked towards the child. She leaned towards it. Her. Those were definitely eyelashes, pressed against her face with the moisture from her tears. She was such a tiny little thing, barely bigger than Mia's paws placed side by side.

     Unsure, Mia set her groceries on the ground and tentatively lifted the baby into her arms. Her blanket was torn and stained, and it had a scratchy feeling.

     "Shhh, it's okay," Mia said, "Now where are your mama and papa?"

     The baby didn't answer, of course, but she did blink a few times before crying some more. Mia looked around helplessly. Surely her parents would be back soon. They couldn't have gone far...

     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Two hours passed. The baby had buried her face in Mia's shirt, soaking it through completely. The sun was setting. The streets had thinned, and the frantic pace of the shoppers had slowed. No one looked in Mia's direction. It was getting cold.

     "Who would've left you out here," Mia asked aloud. She bit her lip. She couldn't just leave the poor thing out here alone. But she couldn't just take a baby that didn't belong to her. She contemplated her options: baby-leaver or baby-stealer. A sudden breeze caused the Aisha to shiver in Mia's arms.

     "Alright," Mia said, "I'll take you home for tonight, and tomorrow morning, I'll report a found child to the Defenders of Neopia. They'll know what to do."

     The baby didn't respond, but nuzzled herself deeper into Mia's fur. Carefully, Mia carried the baby in one arm and her groceries in another. She wobbled awkwardly to the door of her Neohome. After struggling to unlock the door, she stepped inside and turned on the lights. The living room was exactly how she'd left it. A book lay open on the coffee table. A blanket hung haphazardly over the couch. She lived alone.

     Mia gently placed the baby onto the carpet.

     "Stay here for just a second," Mia said. She opened her closet, which was stacked with useless items that she couldn't bring herself to sell. She rummaged through the piles until she found a medium sized wicker basket. She took the basket to the kitchen and pulled a seat cushion from one of her chairs. She put the cushion in the basket, grabbed the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around the edges of the basket.

     "Ta-da," she said, "A crib fit for a... well... someone your size."

     The baby wasn't crying loudly anymore, but instead sniffled quietly on the floor. Mia lifted her and gently placed her in the basket. She took the baby's dirty blanket and set it in a pile to wash. She watched it sit atop her blouses and pants and realized how out-of-place it looked.

     "Poor dear. You miss your parents, don't you," Mia said. The baby looked to her, almost as if she could understand.

     "Do you have a name," Mia asked. "What should I call you?" The baby hiccupped.

     "Hmm, well, you're an Aisha. Maybe a name that starts with A, since Aishas wear an A around their necks. Abby? Amy? Annie? Allie?"

     The baby hiccupped again.

     "Allie? Do you like that? It can be your temporary name until we find your parents," Mia said.

     That particular task, as it turned out, was much more difficult than Mia had anticipated. The next morning, Mia had gone to the Defenders of Neopia, who were no help at all.

     "No one has reported a missing baby Aisha," said the grumpy Chia at the front desk. "But since the pet hasn't been officially abandoned, it's up to you whether you want to keep it or take it to the pound."

     "The pound?" Mia said, withholding a shudder. "But what if her parents..."

     "Ma'am," the Chia said, "if its parents wanted it back, don't you think we would have heard from them by now?"

     Thinking back on the conversation, Mia winced. She was mashing bananas in a bowl at her kitchen counter. She had done the same last night once she realized that she didn't have any food for Allie. The bananas were the only thing soft enough for her to eat, and though she didn't seem to enjoy them, she at least swallowed. Allie was sitting in the makeshift playpen that Mia had constructed out of some low book shelves and bathmats. She wasn't crying this time.

     "Allie, it's time for supper. Sorry, but it's bananas again," Mia said, even though she knew that Allie couldn't understand her.

     She lifted Allie onto her lap and sat on the couch. Mia used her smallest spoon to scoop the bananas into Allie's mouth. It didn't take much to fill her. She was such a little thing.

     Afterwards, Mia filled her turkey baster with Kau Kau farms milk and squeezed it like a bottle for Allie. Allie felt heavier and heavier the longer she drank, and soon she was fast asleep in Mia's arms.

     Mia brushed her paw along Allie's forehead tenderly before placing her in her basket. She stared at the empty turkey baster on the coffee table.

     "I really need to get some bottles," Mia said.

     Over the next few weeks, the shadows under Mia's eyes grew darker and darker. She spent her days putting up fliers to find Allie's parents. She emptied her wallet buying supplies to take care of Allie while her parents were gone. Allie cried all through the night, threw up when she tried new baby food, and filled more diapers than Mia thought possible.

     It was after three weeks, when Mia was scrubbing behind Allie's ears in the bathtub, when Allie uttered her very first words.

     "Mama," she said, her eyes on Mia.

     After that, Mia stopped putting up the fliers.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     "Mama," Allie said, "do you have my backpack?"

     "Right here," Mia said, holding the purple book bag packed with brand new school supplies, "I sharpened your crayons for today."

     "Thanks, Mama," Allie said. She smiled. Such a bright, sunshine, smile.

     "Now I want you to be good on your first day of Neoschool, okay?"

     "I will!"

     "Good girl," Mia said, patting her gently on the head. Oh how she'd grown. She was still such a little thing.

     Allie took her backpack and fit her arms into the straps. She was wearing the clothes that Mia had sewn for her and sporting her favorite ribbons. Mia leaned down and gently kissed her forehead.

     "Mama, I'm not a baby anymore," Allie said, pulling away in mock disgust.

     "No, you're not," Mia said. "You're just my daughter."

     She watched Allie walk to the end of the street. She gathered with the other young Neopians in the neighborhood and they vanished from sight together.

     No you're not a baby anymore, Mia thought, you're just my daughter.

The End