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The Ugly Baby
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| Life Will Get You in the End: Short Stories by David Satterlee |
from the book: Life Will Get You in the End:
Short stories by David Satterlee
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Read or download this story as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKcnRNY2FuNlNLUTQ/edit?usp=sharingA liberal fable. Not every one can be born to good looks, wealth, or privilege. How should we think of the disadvantaged people we happen to see, knowing that their appearance, condition, or status may not reflect their inner gifts or intrinsic worth?
The Ugly Baby
Little Jenna was born ugly. There’s no getting around the
fact; she was definitely butt ugly. She didn’t have the usual cuddly baby fat
but looked like a bundle of sinew-wrapped sticks. She had a red blotch that
covered her right jaw and went all the way back to her ear. Her left eye looked
kind of droopy. Visitors to the hospital nursery either stared at her or looked
away.
Jenna’s father left when he found out about the pregnancy.
Her mother took a third part-time job but still couldn’t keep up with the rent.
Between her mother’s stress, exhaustion, and poor nutrition, Jenna was
delivered sickly and premature, which didn’t bode well for her future.
Jenna’s widowed aunt eventually agreed to let her and her
mother stay in a spare room. Jenna’s cousin had been brain-injured by a
roadside bomb in Iraq and would never be coming back to sleep there. Jenna’s
mother tried to get her GED high school diploma but, without transportation,
she had attendance problems and dropped out. She tried to get work, but the
economy was slowing and she began drinking heavily. Consumed by anger,
helplessness, and hopelessness, she was an indifferent and inattentive mother
to her ugly little burden. When Jenna was two, her mother disappeared without
even leaving a note.
Jenna’s aunt became the bright spot in her otherwise
physically, mentally, and emotionally-impoverished life. Her aunt, getting past
her initial revulsion and resentment, opened her heart to
