Baby Boy

An Englishman adopts an African baby boy.

 

 

BABY BOY

 

Austin called the baby Duncan for no other reason than it came into his head when he was asked what the baby was to be named. Austin went to Africa on a trip to see his brother who had lived there for many years. Rayner was the elder of the two brothers. Neither had thought of entering their father’s business and had gone separate ways. Rayner was a doctor who loved Africa, instead of having a finely furnished surgery in  London or any other capital he had opted to work in third-world conditions. Austin had never in all his life thought of being a father and yet on that fateful trip to see Rayner he had been handed a tiny boy by his brother with the explanation that he thought Austin would make a good father. After the paper work had been done and the adoption registered, Austin made his way back to England with Duncan in a baby carrier. Rayner had given him instructions on how to feed the child and that was that.

 

Austin and Rayner’s mother lived in a tiny village in the West Country. The house had once echoed to the noise and laughter of her two sons and her husband but in later years the house had become too silent for the widowed lady. She missed the rush and hurry of children and a husband. When she saw Austin enter the house with the baby in its carrier she could hardly believe her eyes. Duncan was a very beautiful dark-skinned baby boy and his adoptive grandmother fell in love with him just as Austin had done.

“Where did he come from?” Christobel asked her son Austin.

“Rayner handed him to me when I was visiting him. Duncan had just been born. The mother was young and didn’t want him. That’s all I know.”

“It’s not usual for a single man to adopt a baby. Do you think it’s Rayner’s?”

“I think it probably is, but I’m not going to ask him. He entrusted me with the child for reasons best known to himself and I have accepted that.”

During Duncan’s first year he did what all babies do: he ate, slept and began to explore the world around him. The two adults in his life were a permanent audience to his activities. The household revolved around him. The lady who went in to help with the cleaning also fell in love with the baby who was rapidly becoming a little boy. The first time Duncan called Austin, 'Daddy', it took his breath away and something caught in his throat. Austin then felt that he really was important to Duncan.

Christobel was, after Austin, Duncan’s biggest fan. When she was alone at home with him there was a permanent one-sided conversation going on, Duncan took it all in, everything his grandmother was trying to tell him. Young as he was, Duncan realised that the two most important people in his life were his father and his grandmother.

 

Teething was new to Austin and Duncan, but as Christobel had passed on that path many years before she was not put out by the child’s dribbling and grumpiness. Austin knew that without his mother he would never have had much success in those areas that were commonplace to mothers. He understood that she knew what to do and that he didn’t, so he let her get on with it and didn’t interfere.

 

Rayner rarely visited and when he did it was for very few days making his work with the impoverished the excuse for leaving so soon. Austin asked him many times, “Why don’t you stay longer? Surely the villagers can wait a little more for you to return. Duncan is fond of you and I don’t understand your reasons for not wanting to be with him.”

Rayner said, “It’s better this way. That’s all I have to say. You and Mum are doing a great job of raising him. I’m very grateful for that.”

“Is he yours?” Austin asked him.

“No, he isn’t mine.”

“Is he part white?”

“Why do you ask? He’s very dark. He doesn’t look part white to me.”

Austin stared at his brother and sensed that he wasn’t being told the whole truth or the whole story. As he loved Duncan so much he made up his mind to never question Rayner about the child’s origins ever again.

 

Once a child begins school, the years pass inside a timetable of schooldays and holidays, with only weekends to have any kind of family life covering a full day. Duncan’s life from the first day he went out into the big wide world of school changed dramatically. For the first time since he had been born he was with strangers. His reactions were to be expected, he cried, and said that he didn’t need to go back there. Austin told him he was going to be in school for quite a number of years which made no sense to the infant. Although his teachers were fond of him, Duncan didn’t behave in accordance but was quite anti most of them. He surprised Austin and Christobel by his independent spirit. At school he refused to eat what he didn’t like. He also refused to sit still if he found the lesson boring. He declared to one and all that he went to school under sufferance. Apart from all these contretemps, Duncan was a happy boy who still reigned as the prince of the house. He made friends and was allowed to take them home with him. His father and grandmother were delighted to receive those tiny visitors after having a silent house for too many long years.

 

On one of Rayner’s sporadic visits, Austin noticed how his brother stared at Duncan as if he were trying to read what was going on inside the child’s head. Like all children Duncan had his off moments but as his father and grandmother made light of them he didn’t persist. All in all the little boy gave more pleasure than grief to his family. Rayner became more interested in Duncan as he grew older and began to show signs of the man he was to become.

 

One day Christobel fell down in the kitchen and was taken to hospital. Austin told Duncan, and the boy said, “Grandma is going to die, isn’t she?”

Austin couldn’t believe his ears, Christobel was eighty-six years old and up till then had enjoyed splendid health. The coming of Duncan into their lives had appeared to give her an extra vigour and the fall was the first sign that there was something amiss. Christobel  was lying very quietly when her son and grandson went in to see her. Austin felt absolutely awful, he had lived with his mother so long he found it painful to look at the person who had always been ready to stand up for him and look after him all his life, even when he was behaving badly, so silent and still.

“Hello, Mum, can you hear me? We’ve come to see how you are.”

Austin took hold of one of his mother’s hands that was resting on the coverlet and gently stroked it. Duncan stared at his grandmother and said, “She knows we are here but she has no strength left in her to say anything.”

“How do you know that? You are only six years old.”

“I know that she's tired and wants to sleep,” Duncan stood by his grandmother’s side and kissed her face.

Austin saw that his son was saying goodbye to his grandmother. He got up from his chair and kissed his mother. Something told him that it was the end. He wondered how Duncan had known.

 

Christobel was buried beside her husband and Rayner went over for the funeral. Austin was pleased that his brother had made the effort. They invited a few people back to the house for refreshment, there wasn’t much to be said. Christobel had missed her husband who had died several years before, and had had a new lease of life with Duncan’s arrival. The brothers sat down in the living-room after dinner and Duncan was in bed and spoke for the first time in ages about their lives and how they had arrived at that place.

“Austin, I’m not interested in the house and asked Mum to leave it to you. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind, in spite of the upkeep. I just don’t understand why you don’t want it.”

“I’ve made my life in Africa for many years, and now I can’t conceive of living back here. Duncan looks very well.”

“Yes, he is. There’s something I have to tell you. When we visited Mum in hospital he seemed to have an extraordinary insight into how she was. I can’t explain it. I was puzzled, but then I remembered how at other times he's had these uncanny feelings and reactions to things, that defy belief. Is there anything you ought to tell me about Duncan? He has excellent qualities for such a young child and is very caring.”

Rayner sat and stared at Austin for a moment that was far too long for Austin’s comfort. He wondered what kind of tale Rayner might come up with.

“There isn’t anything I can tell you, so please don’t pester me with the same questions again,” Rayner said dryly to his brother.

“Very well, I’ll just have to accept what you say, as it’s obvious that either you are avoiding telling me the true story or there is no story. If you are hiding anything that I should know then I don’t understand why you won’t give me even an inkling of what’s going on.”

“I gave Duncan to you because he needed a family and a home. I chose you because you are my brother and Mum always said you’d make a good father, and she was right. Duncan couldn’t have done better than having you and Mum to care for him. Please don’t ask any more questions.”

The subject was never brought up again in the brothers lives. Duncan was allowed to be a healthy boy without any worries.

 

Many years later when Duncan was studying medicine Austin was taken ill. At first Austin said nothing to Duncan about his malady and then he remembered how when he was small Duncan had understood what Christobel was trying to convey on her death bed. Even so Austin decided to let Duncan see him before he said anything to him. Duncan looked down at his father lying in bed and knew that they had very little time left to be together. The young man stayed with his father right up until the end, he was returning some of the love and affection that had been shown to him. Duncan tried not to think what his life would be like without Austin who had always been there for him. He got in touch with Rayner to inform about Austin’s health. Rayner had been pleased when he knew that Duncan had gone in for medicine and had given all the encouragement possible to his nephew.

 

Austin was buried alongside his parents in the village graveyard. Rayner was present with Duncan at the funeral, and the few friends and relatives who were still alive. In some way Rayner felt sad and guilty for having handed Duncan over to his brother. The large house had been left to Duncan by Austin. Duncan kept it up until he had finished his medical studies and then he sold it.

 

One day Duncan arrived back to the village in Africa thirty years after he had left it with Austin. Rayner, now an elderly man but with still enough energy to do his work, smiled when he saw his nephew. As he had foreseen, everything in Duncan’s life had turned a full circle. He was where he belonged. Rayner took Duncan to the small cemetery in the village. He pointed out two headstones.

“Those are your biological parents. Your father was a doctor and a friend of mine. Your mother, who was a very young girl, was his wife. At that time there was a lot of violence, and on the day of your birth the village was in an uproar. Your mother died while giving birth to you, and your father was shot. He gave you to me saying, ‘Please look after him and keep him safe.’ It so happened, at that time, Austin was visiting, and I gave you to him to get you to a safe place.”

Duncan stared at his uncle, “I know you’re telling me the truth. But what I would like to know is, where did I get this strange gift of being able to understand people so well from?”

    “Your father. Your father always knew what was going to happen before it did. Duncan, you are your father’s son. Welcome home.”