EMT Lullabies

“Where did you say you found her?” Ellis asked.

“On a bench out by the ER entrance. I was running final checks on the ambulance,” Scott said.

The baby girl kicked and squalled, red in the face as Ellis tried to check her over. Ellis tried to maneuver his stethoscope around her flailing limbs, but she wasn’t having it.

“Where’s the NICU nurse?” Ellis demanded.

“Down in the NICU,” Scott said.

“If she’d just hold still --”

“She didn’t start screaming until you touched her,” Scott said. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I’d know if I could just check her vitals.” Ellis leaned in, reared back to avoid taking a foot to the eye. He growled, frustrated, and that made the baby cry louder.

Scott elbowed Ellis aside and scooped the baby up awkwardly into his arms. Then he rocked her gently and began to sing.

Ellis stared.

Scott lowered his head and sang softly, barely audible above the tiny girl’s sobs. But her cries slowly subsided, and Scott continued singing, rocking her to the rhythm of the song.

Ellis blinked. “She...she likes your voice.” Then he frowned. “Is that song really appropriate for a baby?”

Scott glared at him but kept singing, kept rocking her. By the end of the song, she’d closed her eyes and stilled. Scott went to lay her back down on the cot. Her eyes flew open and she squalled some more. Ellis gestured sharply, and Scott scooped her back up, began to sing once more.

(250 words)