The Monkees had no problem staying at Adriana’s place, but now that she had to stay at their home, it was an awkward situation at times. Different problems arose, but nothing that anybody would admit too. The guys were on their best behavior; almost as if they were afraid to act like Adriana was no different from them, but, in fact, she was.
So, one afternoon in mid February, after a small birthday celebration for Adriana, the two were walking along beach, looking for potential apartments that they could possibly move into. They searched for most of the late afternoon and into the evening, but still nothing seemed to fit.
When they finally returned to the Pad they found something very different waiting for them at the door.
“Micky,” Adriana asked, pointing to a small basket with a white sheet covering it in front of the Pad’s door, “what is that?”
Micky approached the mysterious object. When he bent down to examine it, something beneath it moved beneath the sheet.
“Ah,” Micky exclaimed in his best medium scare.
“What is it,” Adriana asked again, walking up beside him and bending over to look at the basket. “It moved,” he said astonished.
Suddenly an odd gurgling sound escaped from under the sheet.
“Oh my gosh,” Adriana whispered in shock, “it’s a baby!”
“A baby,” Micky asked, leaning back a bit, “what’s a baby doing here?”
“I don’t know,” Adriana said, wondering if she had somehow gotten herself into the classic sit-com “baby episode, moving to uncover the child. “Who would leave a poor, helpless little baby like this?”
“What do people on TV shows always do in situations like this,” Micky mused to himself. “I know! Maybe there’s a note or something.”
Adriana picked the baby up, who was wrapped in a soft pink blanket, and fished around in the large basket for some sort of sign.
She could hardly believe it when she found a blue slip of paper with scrawled lettering that read:
To whoever finds this child:
I don’t want to do this, but I have to. I’m 16 years old and I became pregnant with boyfriend’s child. I am so ashamed. I’m not even sure who the father is! I ran away from home to escape my parents’ wrath. It has been a very difficult nine months, living on my own. I stayed at a commune in San Francisco until I delivered my beautiful daughter on October 15th, 1966.
Due to an argument that I had with the people I was living with, I was forced to leave San Francisco. The only place I can go back to now is my parents’ home and I know they will not accept this baby. They didn’t even know I was pregnant! I can’t take her with me. She deserves better.
I have decided to leave her here. My grandfather used to own this building, and if my memory serves me right, before he died he sold it to some ladies who were retired nurses.
I hope you will forgive me for doing this, but I believe I am leaving my Rosalynn in capable hands.
Sincerely,
A.R.
“Wow,” Micky breathed after reading the note over Adriana’s shoulder.
"Retired nurses,” Adriana questioned.
“Hmm,” Micky pondered, “this A.R. must have had building wrong. The Ladies’ Aid group used to live in a building about a block over. Until it burned down in ‘65.”
“I don’t know, Micky,” Adriana said, looking at the innocent face of the not more than three month old child in her arms, “what are we going to do with her?”
“I guess we should call the police,” he suggested, reaching over to feel the smooth skin of baby Rosalynn’s face. “She’s so adorable.”
Adriana looked at the baby once more. She never claimed to be good with children, but she did look after her nieces and nephews back home every so often. In fact, as much as she loved her nieces and nephews, she always felt awkward around children. Like she didn’t know what to say or do. She didn’t even feel like a kid when she was a kid.
“Yeah, she is,” Adriana said, in spite of herself, as the little hand reached for her own.
“A baby,” Mike questioned as Micky explained the situation to his friends after they brought the baby in, “we don’t know anything about babies. Those little things take a lot of work…”
“Cool it, Mike,” Adriana said, walking into the living room with Rosalynn cradled in her arms. “I just got off the phone with the police. I also talked to a lady from child welfare. I gave her all the information, and as unorthodox as it seems, she recommends that Rosalynn stay here with us. She said that mothers who abandon their babies nine times out of ten come back a few days later feeling regretful. If the mother doesn’t come back by the end of the week, and if they still haven’t found her themselves, the child welfare people will come and put Rosalynn in a foster home.”
“Poor baby,” Peter said, walking over to where Adriana stood with Rosalynn, “you can stay here as long as you need to.”
“A baby,” Mike questioned again, keeping his distance, “how are we going to take care of a baby?”
“Well, at first I wasn’t sure either, Mike,” Adriana said, “but welfare people are going to drop off some supplies for her, so we won’t have to think about what to get her. And I do have three nieces and three nephews, so I know what I’m doing...hopefully.”
Rosalynn began to giggle and gargle as Davy stepped over to where Peter and Adriana stood.
“Wha’ a pre-e li’l girl,” Davy cooed, stroking Rosalynn’s cheek, and admiring her light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and brown hair. “You’re definitely going ta' be a looka' when you grow up.”
“Come on Mike,” Peter coaxed, smoothing the baby’s hair. “Come over here and look at her. She’s gorgeous.”
“I don’t know man,” Mike said doubtfully, fingering his tie, “a baby? At the pad?”
“It will be okay,” Micky said, putting his hand on Mike’s shoulder, “Adrian knows what she’s doing…hopefully.”
Micky and Adriana exchanged a “look”.
Just a little while later, the guys were standing around a spot on the couch where Adriana had laid little Rosalynn. After watching the baby for about an hour, even Mike began to warm up to the idea of having her around for a few days.
Rosalynn was not fussy at all and the guys had a great time the rest of the night playing with her. Child Welfare had dropped off enough supplies to last a week, along with a bassinet, stroller, and highchair.
“Isn’t her face just so cute when she scrunches it up like that to laugh,” Mike asked his friends as they all headed off to bed that night.
“Why, Michael, I do believe we’re cracking that hard exterior of yours,” Micky said, bopping his friend on the back of the head as they walked upstairs.
“Don’t push it, shotgun,” Mike said with a laugh.
“WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,” a piercing wail resounded throughout the Pad later that night.
“Uh-huh, no problem. No problem at all,” Adriana said sleepily as she got up from the cot she slept on in the living room. “I know what I’m, uh, doing.”
Walking over to the bassinet, she sighed and whispered, “Shhh,” to Rosalynn as she picked her up.
The crying became quieter, but still loud enough to warrant some attention. Adriana checked her diaper and offered her some milk, but nothing seemed to make her stop crying.
“Now I know why I never wanted to have children,” Adriana said to herself quietly, which then spouted another series of wails from Rosalynn.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Adriana said, taking a seat in one of the wooden chairs in the living room. “I wish I had a rocker. Whenever I couldn’t sleep as a little kid, my mom always used to rock me to sleep.”
“Maybe we can improvise,” suggested Adriana. She tipped the chair back against the wall a bit and was able to make a slight rocking motion with her foot against a nearby table.
Soon Rosalynn’s cries began to get even quieter, but still not stop. “My mom used to sing to me too,” Adriana whispered, smiling down at the baby in her arms, “it’s embarrassing because my brothers would always tease me about the song Mom made up, but it always worked.”
“Rosalynn, Rosalynn. Sounds like a Spanish name,” Adriana said, laughing to herself as she looked at the baby’s distinctive Latino features. “Of course, you already know that.”
Rosalynn quieted even more as Adriana spoke, “It’s not that I don’t like children. I love children. I’ve just always had a pessimistic view of bringing a child into such a messed up world. How will I know if my child will be okay here? I mean, things are not getting any better as far as the world goes. I went through a lot of junk growing up. Why would I purposely create someone to go through that?”
“Plus,” Adriana confided in the softly crying Rosalynn, “I guess I’m a little bit scared”
“Besides,” she continued, “I don’t think I’d be a very good mother.”
“I wonder how Micky’s going to take this,” she thought as she looked at the baby in her arms. “I’m sure he wants to have kids. Just look how much he already loves you.” “I guess we’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it,” Adriana said, shaking the thoughts from her head, quickly changing the subject.
“Let’s see,” Adriana thought, “hmm, how about a Spanish song.” Only one song came to mind. It was of lullaby quality and it came from one of Adriana’s favorite albums, “Canticle of the Plains”, a beautiful musical set in the old west by Rich Mullins.
She slowly rocked Rosalynn as she recalled the words of the song, and quietly sang them to the baby girl.
She smiled, and looking down at Rosalynn, continued singing,
“Would you look at that,” Peter said adoringly as the four guys stood in the kitchen watching Adriana and Rosalynn.
“What a great song,” Mike mused, “I’m glad we came down when we did.”
“ ‘ope she doesn’t mind us eavesdropping on ‘er like this,” Davy whispered, "I couldn't sleep with all that crying."
“That’s okay,” Peter said jokingly, “Micky was already down here spying.”
“Yeah,” Micky laughed half-heartedly. He had been downstairs watching Adriana and Rosalynn ever since Adriana made the makeshift rocker. He had heard her not wanting children speech. The guys then joined him not too long after she started singing the lullaby.
“She’s going to make a great mom, man,” Mike said, patting Micky on the shoulder.
“She sure is,” Davy agreed, nodding, “I can see li’l Mickys running around everywhere. Wait, that might actually be kind of scarry.”
Peter just smiled and nudged Micky’s side and said quietly, “Lucky, man.”
“Yeah, lucky,” Micky said quietly as he watched Adriana and Rosalynn sleep, missing something knew he realized he might never have.
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