978-1572305441

178 A MIND APART
It was at that moment that Greg called, excited. “Well?” he asked.
“We can’t take her. You have never seen a child like this. She is not
a child; she has no soul.”
“What do you mean?” Greg asked incredulously. He could not understand.
Marianne told him how horrible Sophie looked, how she did
not talk, could not walk, and was in her own world. If they adopted her,
they would have to forget all their plans about the future; in fact there
would be no future. They would just be in a prison, caring for this profoundly
damaged child. They would have nothing left over for themselves.
Greg listened patiently, thought for a moment, and then asked,
“Why don’t you take her?” Marianne protested again, describing what
Sophie looked like, the sores, the shaking, the shaved head. “We can’t.
It’s too impossible.” But the more Marianne protested, the more she realized
that she had to take her. “Where would she go back to? Shit, she
would die back in that orphanage,” she said over the phone. Then
Marianne started to cry, heaving sobs, weeping for this poor child, staring
at some pathetic toy on the carpet of this filthy apartment in the
middle of a city on the verge of disintegration, watched over by an interpreter,
who smiled benightedly at this poor strange woman, heaving
with grief by the phone.
Greg whispered, ten thousand miles away, but as close as if he were
beside her, “Just take her. Just take her. Promise me, will you?”
* * *
The paperwork to get Sophie out of Romania was prodigious.
Marianne hired a good lawyer, and they went to court to get the papers
signed. Marianne was interviewed as to whether she would make a good
mother. Sophie was also examined by the doctors. She had not been out
of a crib for her entire life and had hip dysplasia because of the diaper.
The doctors too were concerned, but small bribes were paid to the
health authorities to expedite the process. The authorities signed the final
set of papers and it was done. Time to go home.
* * *
Greg met them at the airport. He was shocked at how tiny Sophie
was. She was hidden in the stroller, covered by a blanket, her head shaking
back and forth, her eyes looking down. She never looked at him.
They packed her in the car and drove home, speaking little, each lost in