The oral narrative: the abandoned newborn and the jailed father

pivotal · 14 Nov YDAU, ~2200h

• When: 14 Nov YDAU, ~2200h, unspooling across the walk (event 2) up to the moment of the snatch
• What: Over the walk, Ruth's story emerges. She was remanded to Ennet House by D.S.S. and Family Court after her newborn was found in a Braintree MA alley "swaddled in WalMart advertising circulars" (whose Harvest Moon Value Specials had expired 11/01). She had "rather unshrewdly" left the hospital I.D. bracelet — carrying the D.O.B., her own name, and her Health Card # — on the discarded infant's wrist. The baby is now in a South Shore hospital incubator, tapering off the Clonidine [n.285] it received for in-utero addictions. The child's father, she reports, is in Norfolk County Correctional custody awaiting sentencing for what she repeatedly describes as "operating a pharmaceutical company without a license."