May Allgood had witnessed the miracle of birth countless times while on the job. With her husband, she traveled to dangerous, remote locations across the globe to study and photograph rare – and frequently dangerous – animals, gathering information for wildlife conservation organizations. So once she learned she was pregnant, and after seeing how so many different species handled the process, she figured she knew exactly how her delivery would go.
Returning to her hometown of Canterlot to give birth had been a mildly disconcerting experience – it had been years since she spent more than a couple days at a time in an urban environment. The bigger shock had been that the actual delivery was significantly more painful than it appeared to be for the animals in the wilderness. But aside from that, her first foray into childbirth had been free of any major complications or surprises.
Exhausted but happy, she lay reclined in the hospital bed, her new baby nestled quietly on her chest. After an overwhelming introduction to the wide world outside the womb, the newborn girl quickly found comfort with her mother, had her first feeding, and spent some time simply taking in the faces of her parents. For the past hour and a half, the tiny child had been asleep, secure underneath her mother’s hand.
Watching over mother and daughter from the side of the bed was the baby’s father, Snap Shutter. Out of deference to being indoors, he had removed the crocodile-banded hat he usually wore, and the slight stubble that could usually be found around his cheeks had grown out to a thin beard during the trip to the hospital and the delivery process. But seeing as his primary contributions to the birth itself had been enthusiastically offering encouragement and giving up a hand for May to crush in her grip, he had recovered more quickly. He looked proudly at the few wisps of hair on the newborn’s head, a lighter purple than the plum-colored hair he sported.
Having gotten confirmation that the family could receive visitors, two women entered the room. The first to speak was Snap’s older sister, Holiday.
“She’s beautiful,” she said to the new parents.
“She has her mum’s eyes,” Snap said, his down-under accent slightly more prominent than his sister’s.
“How does it feel?” asked Lofty, whom Holiday had been dating for more than a year. She softened her naturally forceful, raspy voice so as not to wake the baby.
“It’s just starting to feel real,” May said. “Realizing that I’m going to be spending all my time at home watching over this little tiger cub.”
“So you’re going to be a full-time mom?” Lofty asked. “I was wondering how that would work with your job.”
“We’ve saved up so May can take the time off she needs,” Snap replied. “She’ll stay home while I travel back out to the jungles and forests to keep up our work. I’m going to miss having her with me for a while.” He reached over to hold the hand of his wife that wasn’t caressing the baby.
“I’m going to miss you too, and the work,” May said. “It’s going to be tough staying away for the next six or seven years, but I’ll be back in the wild soon enough.”
Lofty looked at Holiday.
Holiday looked at Snap, who hadn’t reacted.
So his sister asked the question aloud. “Why six or seven years?”
“Because,” May said, “that’s when she’ll be able to take care of herself.” Snap nodded in agreement.
Lofty began to exclaim something but restrained herself. Holiday was able to maintain a neutral expression.
“Children can’t take care of themselves when they’re seven years old,” Holiday said, doing an admirable job of sounding concerned without sounding condescending.
“Sure they can,” Snap said.
“That’s the average age a chimpanzee is capable of independence,” May said.
“But you aren’t chimps,” Lofty said. Holiday nodded in agreement.
“Chimps are the closest living relative to humans.”
“But you aren’t chimps,” Lofty repeated. “Your parents didn’t let you live on your own when you were seven.” She looked at Holiday. “Right?”
“Of course not,” Holiday said.
“Yeah, but that’s ’cause mum and dad insisted on us staying home ’til we were eighteen,” Snap said. “We’re going to raise this one right – teach her how to survive in the world. Might even let her set out a year early if she catches on quick – being out in nature’s in her genes, after all.”
“Baby brother,” Holiday said, putting her hand on his shoulder. She had to reach up to do so, as he was nearly a foot taller than her. “You can’t leave a child on their own that young. It’s illegal.”
“You sure about that?”
“Positive.” She nodded, and Lofty nodded along with her. “Because no child is mature enough to take care of themselves at that age.”
“But in the wild—”
“It doesn’t matter what happens in the wild. You aren’t animals that can just abandon your daughter while you go back out into the jungle.”
“Then how long you figure she’s supposed to look after her?”
“Eighteen years, just like home.”
“Eightee—?!?” He stifled himself as the baby stirred.
May calmed the infant down, although she also looked concerned. “I can’t stay home for eighteen years,” she said. “I can’t be away from my job for that long.”
“Well, why don’t we start bringing her with us once she gets old enough to not cry and spook the animals?”
Holiday jumped in again. “She needs an education,” she said. Before Snap could respond, she added, “A school education, in all the different subjects. She also needs friends. Her own age. Socialization is important, right?”
Snap was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I reckon you’re right,” he finally said.
“But I don’t see how we can give that to her,” May said. “Not for that long. I need to get back out into the field.”
“You’re right, too,” he said. “I need you with me. It’s what we were born to do.”
For about a minute, the room was silent while the parents thought.
Eventually, May spoke. “Maybe it’d be for the best if we give her up for adoption,” she said. In response, Snap nodded solemnly.
Both Lofty’s and Holiday’s eyebrows shot up.
“After everything you just went through,” Lofty said, “you want to give her up? Just like that?”
“We don’t want to,” May said. “But better to do it now, before she can imprint on us too much. It’d be a lot worse if we waited a few years.” She looked at her husband. “And it makes sense. Western chimpanzees sometimes adopt orphans that aren’t related to them.”
“You aren’t chimps!” Lofty said, as forcefully as she dared without waking the baby.
“Chimps are wild animals,” Holiday said, slowly and clearly. “You’re civilized people. I don’t care how close our DNA is – chimps aren’t people. You shouldn’t be thinking like chimps.”
“For one thing,” Lofty said, “don’t chimps sometimes kill their babies? You wouldn’t do that.”
Holiday grabbed her partner’s arm. “Lofty,” she said through clenched teeth. “Don’t put ideas in their head.”
But Snap dismissed them. “Of course we wouldn’t,” he said.
Holiday released her grip. Lofty rubbed her arm.
“Usually, the only reason a chimp might kill a baby is if it belongs to a competing male,” he explained. “This is our child – we’d never hurt her.”
“That’s why we’re trying to figure out what’s best for her,” May said. “And if she’s going to need someone to watch over her for the next eighteen years, we can’t give that to her.”
Holiday said, “Okay, but that’s an awfully sudden decision. Why don’t you take some time to—”
There was a light knock on the open door. Without waiting for a response, a nurse entered the room.
“How are mom and baby doing?” she asked.
“I feel all right,” May said. “She’s still asleep.”
“That’s normal,” the nurse said. “She’s just been through a lot. We’ll need to run some standard tests and give her a couple shots soon, but that’ll all happen in here, with you.”
“Before you go,” May said, “I have a question. It looks like we’re probably going to have to give her up for adoption. Do you know how we’d go about doing that?”
A shocked sound came from the back of Holiday’s throat. Lofty audibly said “What?!” Snap didn’t object – he simply waited for the nurse’s answer.
As this was the first indication anybody in the hospital had received that the couple was considering adoption, it took a moment for the nurse to process the question. But after a couple of seconds, she responded.
“This hospital is a safe haven, so if you want to give up your child so she can be adopted, we can make those arrangements. We’d take care of her while we contact child services, which will take legal custody of her and begin the process of finding an adoptive family. If you choose to do that, you won’t be responsible for any part of her upbringing, but you’ll also be forfeiting your parental rights. You’ll remain anonymous and no one will try to contact you for any reason. You won’t be able to follow up with her afterward, but considering the waiting list for newborns, I’m sure she’ll quickly be placed in a loving home.
“On the other hand, if you want to be able to select the adopting family, or if you want an open adoption where you maintain some form of contact with the adopting family, we can instead put you in contact with an adoption agency, and they can explain additional options. Were you leaning in a particular direction?”
“The second choice is more what I had in mind,” May said. She looked to her husband. “What do you think?”
“Yeah, if there’s a way that lets us stay in her life, that’d be best,” he said. “I don’t want to miss seeing this cute little joey grow up just because we’re out in the wild.”
“In that case,” the nurse said, “I’ll go get the contact information of an adoption agency we work with. And if you want to be a significant part of your daughter’s life, I would also suggest you think about whether any of your relatives or friends would consider adopting her. The agency can help you with the paperwork for that, and it would be easier for you to stay in contact.”
“Will do – cheers, mate,” Snap said. The nurse turned for the door.
Once the nurse had left the room, Holiday spoke up again. “I can’t believe you’d commit to adoption so quickly.”
“You’re the one who said I’ll have to go back to my job before she can be left alone,” May said. “Better to give her a stable home now than relocate her seven years down the line.”
“And I like what the nurse said about rellies and friends,” Snap said to his wife. “You think anyone we know would be up for adopting her? They could raise her and we could keep in touch while we’re on the other side of the world.”
He looked at his sister.
“Not to spring this on you, but have you considered having a kid?”
Holiday gave him a look. “Not to spring this— what else would you call what you’re doing?” Lofty rested a hand between her shoulder blades while she held up a finger and took a couple of calming breaths.
“Okay,” she said after a few moments. “Just as a discussion – not saying yes or no – I’ll admit, when we found out May was pregnant, we had a conversation about whether we wanted kids. I said that someday – someday – I’d like to be a mother. But Lofty…”
“I said I’m not completely against the idea, but I’m also not… well, I’m not sure right now. I don’t know the first thing about being a mother.”
“So we aren’t exactly ready to dive in. Especially on less than a day’s notice.”
“I suggested we see how it felt being aunts – maybe that’d tell me whether I’d make a good mom.”
“Aunts?” Snap said, drawing out the S. “You two getting hitched?”
“Not yet, and this isn’t the time to talk about that,” Holiday admonished him. “Or the place.”
“The point,” Lofty said, “is that I wanted to ease into it. Get to know your daughter. Maybe she could stay at our place if you both had to be away for a little while. But I’m not ready to jump in with both feet. Not right now. Not when I don’t know how I’d handle a helpless little baby.”
“But now,” Holiday said to her partner, “if she’s put up for adoption, we won’t get to find out at all.”
Lofty looked at Holiday. Then at Snap. Then at both of them. “You’re really putting me on the spot here.”
“I’m sorry, love,” Holiday said, gently rubbing Lofty’s lower back. She then turned and glared at Snap. “You’re really putting us on the spot here.”
“We’re just trying to figure out what’s best for her,” he said, tilting his head toward the still-sleeping baby. One of the baby’s ears was against May’s chest; May had gently placed her hand over the other ear.
The nurse walked back into the room with some papers. “Here’s the information from the adoption agency,” she said.
“Do we have to make this decision right away?” May asked.
“If you want to be covered by the safe haven law, you only have a short time,” the nurse said. “But it sounds like going through the adoption agency is what you want. If you do that, there’s no specific deadline.”
“I already planned to stay home and raise her for a few years,” May said. “I want to be her mother. So why don’t I do that, and you two can see how you get along with her. Maybe in a year or two, you can try watching her for a few weeks if Snap needs me for a short assignment. We’ll make sure you have everything you need. And if that goes well, then we can discuss having you formally adopt her when she gets a little older.”
Holiday took a moment to think about it. “If that’s the plan, would we even need to adopt at all?” she said. “We could just look after her while you’re away. I don’t want to take away you being her mother.”
All four of the adults looked at the nurse.
“I’m not a lawyer, but if you all agree to it, it sounds reasonable to me. And you don’t have to make the decision today.”
“Then let’s plan on that for now,” May said.
“In that case,” the nurse said to the parents, “I’ll make sure your names are listed on the birth certificate.” She left the room again.
“Crikey, we still need to fill that out, don’t we?” Snap said. “We don’t even have a name for her yet. Out in the field, we let the animals show us who they are before we give ’em a name.” He looked at the sleeping infant. “How about you?” he asked her. “Who are you going to be?”
The adults all looked at the baby as May gently caressed her head. After about a minute, the baby slowly opened her eyes, made a small noise, then quickly scurried down May’s chest for another feeding.
“Ha! Look at ’er go!” Snap said. “One quick scoot-a-loo, and she’s there!”
May looked at her husband with a smile.
“Ah, that does fit her, doesn’t it? Well, it’s settled, then. Welcome to the family, Scootaloo!”
Scootaloo was too preoccupied to pay any attention to him.
“You’re a real adventurer, aren’t you? I can’t wait to show you what your folks do for a living.” He looked at his wife. “Hey – I’m doing a presentation at the Canterlot Zoo next month. She can come help me feed the crocs.”
Holiday winced. “Yeah, she’s definitely going to need us to look out for her.”
Author's Note
I just couldn’t name a human character “Mane.” I know that by changing it to May, it becomes less of a reference to Jane Goodall, but it’s the best I could do. If you’d like, you can pretend her middle initial is N. (In my mind, May’s middle initial is B., but that’s because I’ve gone on record as not being a fan.)
