The opening of my next novel:-
He was born in June 20th. Anna was there. She was the one who pressed her fingers against the glass of the hospital nursery as gently as if it was soft, delicate skin of the boy only hours after being born. She wasn’t standing close enough to the glass fog it with her breath, which might not have been there at all for the attention she paid it. Her ears were adorned with long, hanging earrings that glimmered and shifted in her reflection.
A long strung, brass pendant hung between her breasts. She wore a skirt layered on top of another skirt, with a long sleeve shirt covered by dark jacket and adorned with fingerless gloves and homemade scarf.
Melbourne winter had not been kind so far, but the temperature was controlled indoors.
A kindly nurse was smiling at her, the sort of smile that adults working with babies and young children commonly seemed to have. Another day, Anna might have found herself smiling without thinking of it.
Instead, she met the nurse’s eyes, then looked down towards the scuffed linoleum floor. Not into the nursery again. Her fingers dropped from the window, numb. “No,” she said hollowly. “Not family.”
She didn’t wait for the nurse to follow up with another question. Was she a family friend? Picking someone up? Was she visiting someone on another floor? Had she gotten lost?
Looking at her would just show well meaning confusion, so Anna turned away. She didn’t allow herself another look at the child. She didn’t know if he’d be named Peter or Michael, or Shannon or Sam. Those decisions weren’t up to her. She didn’t try to commit the features to memory, try to imagine his first days once at home.
The heels of her boots clacked dully on soft floors. She was in the elevator going straight down before anyone else knew she’d been there.