Free Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata Page A

“About Bahytzhan. We have some questions we need to ask the director.”
    But he didn’t get a chance to ask questions, because a scrawny woman came in carrying a scrawny baby. The woman held out the baby casually, almost like it was a stuffed toy rather than a real person. Though the weather was warm today, the baby had two or three outfits on. The scrawny woman yawned and spoke to Akerke, after which Akerke said to Penni and Steve, “Thirteen months old. Boy.”
    Jaden, Penni, and Steve stared at one another in surprise.
    The woman spoke again, and then the director came back in. Akerke translated: “Motor skills below normal. Kidney . . . kidney is not so good . . . mother had syphilis . . . no sign of disease in child.”
    Then everybody turned to Penni and Steve.
    â€œWait, are we—we’re deciding now ?” Penni sputtered.
    â€œYes, of course,” Akerke replied matter-of-factly.
    â€œNow, let’s slow down here,” Steve said. “We wanted to converse first about our referral. Are you sure Bahytzhan has been adopted? We were specifically told we had a referral for a specific baby. We gave his information and picture to a doctor in America to approve. That’s who we came for . . . whom.”
    â€œYou must move on from Bahytzhan,” Akerke said, her voice firm.
    Jaden wondered how you could “move on” from something like this. How do you move on from a child you felt you already loved? He could see Penni and Steve were stressed. Even he was starting to feel stressed. The woman with the baby hurried out, and another woman with a different baby replaced her. The new woman had a scarf covering her hair and smiled at Jaden and held the baby close to herself. Penni’s mouth fell open. Jaden glanced at Steve; his mouth was open too. Akerke spoke with this new woman.
    â€œIs eighteen months old boy . . . does not crawl yet but will crawl soon . . . otherwise healthy.” Akerke seemed to add of her own accord, “Is beautiful baby.”
    This baby had a lot of black hair and was chubby and cute. His face was blank, like he didn’t see anything at all as he stared into the air. Still, as far as Jaden could tell, he was a good baby. But he didn’t really know how to judge what a good baby was.
    And choosing now? Things were moving too fast. It was all so unreasonable, it had started to feel surreal to Jaden. He didn’t see how you could decide something important like this after seeing a baby for a minute, if that long. By now Penni was digging her nails into her upper arm like she did sometimes when she was extremely tense or upset.
    But the woman was already leaving with the cute baby. The director spoke to Akerke, who spoke to Penni and Steve. “Another couple has passed that boy in hallway last week and would like to adopt him, but director has said you have first choice because other couple has already started bonding with different baby. How is my English?”
    â€œWe comprehend,” Steve said.
    The first woman came in with yet another baby. She held it in the air as if she didn’t want it close to her. This baby was also bundled up, and he or she was wearing a beret.
    â€œFourteen months old girl . . . walking . . . talking . . . is healthy baby.”
    But Jaden thought the baby looked wrong. She wasn’t symmetrical. Her right eye was noticeably higher than her left eye, and her right nostril was noticeably higher than the left. But was he being unfair? She was also blank faced.
    When Penni and Steve met eyes but didn’t speak, the woman rushed out. Akerke said, “Next will be last baby. Is one more baby to show you.”
    Jaden looked around the plain office again. Here was this completely generic office, and yet lives were being changed in here.
    The final baby was brought in. The baby’s head was falling to the