Infant At Birth

The rain was pouring down heavily. Not a patch of ground was dry from the spilling water that made tiny pitter patter sounds as it hit the ground with momentum.

A clap of lightning suddenly brightened the entire sky, casting eerie shadows into the nearly pitch black downtown streets of Monstropolis. The drains were nearly overflowing with the entire bash of liquid that constantly poured down into the stanching sewers below. It seemed that no sign of life was going to enter through the dim setting then you were wrong.

Reptile Avenue. The sign read loudly to itself and any monsters who passed by, not if there were going to be any in this weather. Droplets of water ran down the letters, making it look like the ink was used very crudely on the white plastic behind the bold words. Nothing seemed extremely outstanding about this street. The street was named Reptile Avenue, but reptilians DID’NT actually live down the murky streets and meandering alleyways. Other types of monsters did live down this street though. The street name bared in significance that reptilian monsters were having very political disagreements with other monsters. All the reptiles ever got in their lives was disgusting racist comments. Nearly every other monster in the monster world frowned upon they’re species and treated them like vermin. Peace and harmony was one hope for all reptilian monsters… to be treated equally as all monsters do.

The whole importance about Reptile Avenue… was that the Monstropolis Orphanage laid its bearings on this very area. The place where millions of monster children were declared orphans and had to be taken care of in a place with other monster children who them children would probably torment and tease you to the very last strings that you can bare. The place where hearts are broken too often, when a fostering doesn’t go according to plan. Not so much open arms here welcome many habitants every day. No child should go about this world unloved… should they? That’s not the case for the one particular monster that became an orphan on his very birth date… Friday 13th February 1976.

The soaking wet steel covering a very broad looking car pulled over to the side of the road. Their was a few moments pause of smashing rain drops on the bonnet and overhead of the car. Suddenly, a strange looking monster, stepped out of the car. It was far too murky from the wetness to be identified, but the blurred figure looked extremely like a reptilian. Male to be the most distinct feature. He reached his bulk into the inside of his car, resting on the leather seats and pulled out a strange looking basket. Another figure appeared to be in the inside of a car, this time most defiantly female. She handed the basket over to the other monster and sat patiently inside. The reptile started to conclude his way up over to the orphanage’s gloomy looking steps, his body getting soaked from the extent of rain. He peered slowly down at the basket before finishing his journey up the stairway. His eyes became glows of mournful sorrow as he laid the basket down upon the porch to the main wooden latch doorway. “I’m… I’m sorry.” The gentlemen uttered before turning swiftly around to face his vehicle and running back, trying so desperately not too turn around and look once more at what seemed to be a precious item. He finally reached the car, pulled on the gleaming metal handle and slipped inside. Giving one last look at the front porch, a glittering tear ran down his face. The car screeched off to the end of the street and rounded a sharp turn onto Sharpway Alley before it was gone forever.

“What’s going on out here?” shouted a voice from within the walls of the care home. The door opened wide on its hinges and out came a female gecko like lizard. Her face bared utter beauty, with rosy cheeks and a warming heart. Her body was gracefully laid out, with her four limbs, each with three padded fingers on each elegant hand. Her tail was extremely long and curled into a whirlpool like figure. Her face was broad with a tiny pair of ears on each side of her gossamer aquamarine eyes. Her scales were covered in a mint green colour with a light pink covering her underbelly.

“DIANA, COME BACK IN HERE AT ONCE!” Hollered an old screeching voice. It drove her eardrums to beat with pounding effects.

“Yes sir.” She shouted back. She hated having to work for that old bag. Yes, Diana Bridges loved working with the poor homeless children, it was just her boss, her supposed gentlemen of a master who treated her like dirt. She lowered her head in sadness… sick and tired of her life when she spotted it. A small, weaved basket, which looked like it, could hold a couple of loaves of bread. She decided to inspect it closer, since it was very mysterious for a basket to just be left on the orphanage doorstep. A blanket was wrapped around the top with what looked like tiny opening spaces near the edges… ‘Breathing spaces’ Diana thought to herself. Her face made a curious expression and she leant down to take the blanket off. She wrapped her velvet, chubby fingers around the edges and pulled it off. She was shocked to find underneath the blanket a tiny baby.

“Oh my goodness!” She exclaimed quietly! She grabbed the basket instantly after her discovery and rushed back inside, closing the door with her graceful tail. She rushed into the kitchen area of the house and laid the basket down on the cracked tiles. It was then she took a closer look at this little infant. She could defiantly tell now that this baby was the same species as her… reptilian. The tell tale signs of birth were still there! This baby must have been born today! The egg yolk sac was still entangled around the delicate looking figure that was sleeping peacefully in the belly of the basket. That was a good sign… it could breath on it’s own.

“YUCK!” that same screeching voice came from behind her… she knew exactly who it was… Corneil Wazowski, Diana’s main carer and boss. “You disgusting little creature! We should rid of it immediately!”

“NO!” Diana shouted in defendant of the poor helpless thing. “It’s an infant! It’s my job, it’s my call… I’ll take care of it!” Corneil growled defiantly his features becoming visible in the darkness. His massive one eye scrunched up in anger, his mouth curled violently, his amphibian like skin seeming to crawl with frustration.

“Fine…” Corneil gave in, settling his growl but keeping his furious gaze. “Just get it out of my sight!” Diana reached inside and carefully scooped the tiny figure out of the basket and ran off upstairs. Corneil settled himself down and went back inside the living room to watch the rest of his television programme.

Diana wondered upstairs with the infant tucked near her beating heart until she reached the bathroom. She was going to need to clean the baby’s sticky egg sac off. ‘It should’nt be too hard’ she thought to herself. She decided to use the sink instead of the bathtub because of size differences. She filled the sink up very easily with warm water, not too hot, not too cold as to not unsettle the baby. She carefully added a bubble bath mixture and placed the infant inside. Just by his external features, she could now tell that the infant was a male reptilian. She carefully rubbed gently on his scales, easily ridding of the sticky solution that covered them. The baby looked curiously at her, his eyes open for the first time in his life. Diana noticed what a beautiful emerald green they were which filled her heart with happiness. He was covered in beautiful lilac scales, mixed with a deep-sea blue, which also just covered his long tail. Diana chuckled at her thoughts… ‘Blimey, he’s got a lot of spare hands’. You can guess she had noticed that the infant had double the limbs she had, four pairs of limbs, having eight in total to be exact! On his circular head, he had three long fronds, each purple topped with a rosy pink… exactly like Diana’s pink scales. The infant seemed to almost smile at the bubbles rising in the atmosphere. Finally, the small male infant was clean and ready for more examination. Diana carefully picked up the infant once more and carried him downstairs. She once again headed towards the kitchen, careful in her vast array noises not to bother Corneil again. After entering the dirty room once again, she grabbed a very soft tea towel, some weighing scales, a long flimsy ruler and some clear paper work files before placing them all down on the table, also placing the infant onto the piece of cloth. She started to prip and prop the infant around, which didn’t seem to bother him too much; he seemed to like being handled with.

Diana breathed a massive sight of relief. Her paperwork was all filled out for, except…

Name:

Weigh: 3 pounds

Height: 1 Foot 5 inches

Species: Reptilian

She stared carefully at the first cell of her spreadsheet. A name… She suddenly remembered something else in the basket she had seen. Carefully getting up as to not startle the small boy, she raced over to the propped basket and again looked at its contents. Inside was a small piece of paper. The kind used for businesses by the look of it. The only words scribbled onto the paper were: R. Boggs. Boggs? She could guess it was his last name for sure. But it seemed she was going to have to decide the first name. She thought carefully, scrolling the list of names through her clever mind. She decided to use the letter R as the beginning, since it was also scrolled on the paper. She decided to say the names aloud

“Rupert, Rege, Red… RANDALL!” She’d got it! Her eyes perked at the sound of a tiny giggle. The infant! He seemed to like it! Randall. Randall Boggs.

“Randall it is.” She beamed, gleaming happily. She quickly paced over to the files once again, picked up the small pencil and scribbled down on her paperwork for the last time.

Name: Boggs, Randall

Weigh: 3 pounds

Height: 1 Foot 5 inches

Species: Reptilian

She grinned with pride at choosing such a beautiful name, for such a beautiful lizard.

“You better be getting off for a nap!” She exclaimed quietly, as to not bother that stupid uttering Corneil. Carrying Randall very carefully, she grabbed some fresh blankets from the laundry room on the way up the creaking, old floor boarded stairs. She finally reached the lovely, new baby crib. Finally, she placed Randall into the pretty baby crib, carefully lowering the gate as to stop Randall from getting out. He was such a good boy… he hadn’t cried once! She beamed down at him, seaming to glow like the bright Sun, which would come surely tomorrow. Randall fell straight off to sleep. ‘Good boy’ she thought again. She left the room sneaking, closing the door almost soundless behind her.

“Such a good boy.” She sighed in content to herself.

Later that night, Diana searched through every old computer records… anything to find at least a glimpse of hope at finding out who Randall’s birth parents were. She couldn’t find a soul. She sighed leaning down, placing her head on the hard desk. The words kept on flashing through her mind and being repeated over and over again: ‘Infant at birth, infant at birth, infant at birth!’ But its impossible isn’t it? An infant can’t be an orphan at birth! It just seemed to Diana that Randall had beaten the odds…

Author's Note: I extremely enjoyed writing this! All images were flashing in my head the whole time I wrote this and my fingers were going like mad on the keyboard. As a touch typer, I managed to get it done pretty quick.

Of course you must have noticed the movie tie-ins :-). The racism of reptiles comes from Mike's lines. How he always says Lizard Boy, so maybe something in the past happend to reptiles for them to be treated this way. In relation really to the slave trade which happened in real life. Hope we don't make a terrible mistake like that again. Those poor people that had to endure and suffer :-(. Of course you noticed the last name Wazowski. That is actually Mike's father. We never see his father but we do see his mother in the movie, so perhaps he split up with Mrs Wazowski or something like that. I wanted some link to one of the characters in the movie, so I choose Mike because he seems to always torment Randall all the time. Sulley just isn't the talkative type...

It doesn't have to end here if you don't want it too? I've got some good ideas for what else happens in Randall's childhood + teen life. If you want me to expand this story, say soo and I'll take it into acordance. I'm also thinking of drawing some of these scenes, since I've been drawing Randall alot anyway :-).