A - The Beginning of Thyme

"Karen, it's time for the girl to be fed."

"So take her to her mother. I'm buried in
paperwork here."

"Then she'll have to wait."

The nurse went about caring for the other babies in their bassinets,
readjusting blankets, picking a fussy one up to calm him with gentle
bouncing and sympathy.

"What is with you and that kid?" Karen asked, looking up from the pile
in front of her. "She's not contagious or anything." Disgusted, Karen
got up and moved to the smaller than normal girl.

"She doesn't like me."

"Now that is just plain ridiculous." Karen picked up the tiny bundle
and held her close. "You're imagining things."

"I am not! Any time I get near her, she shrieks like a banshee. She
never does that for you."

Karen was smiling at the sweet, soft green eyes that held hers so
firmly. "Maybe she can tell you don't like her."

"I never said that. I don't treat her any differently than you do. But
she doesn't like me."

Karen brushed past April on her way to the nursery door. As their
shoulders met, the child's face changed. The beautiful eyes closed and
the mouth opened in a quiet cry.

"See, she doesn't want me near her."

"It's a baby. She doesn't know anything but comfort and discomfort. And
she's not comfortable right now; she's hungry. I'm taking her to her
mother."

"Go ahead. That woman is a freak anyway. She keeps lighting that
incense - it's awful. Poor kid."

The doctors thought it was too much "experimentation" by the aging
hippie parents. Not tracking like other infants, Thyme's eyes would
settle and fix, seemingly glazed. They never realized the truth.

Thyme could see, really see, to the depths of whatever she gazed at.
Maybe it was too much "experimentation", but the surface would
dissolve, and she would see the truth underneath.

The television held no interest for her, nor did other children. Three
before her parents heard her speak, she had unsettled hundreds of
people. No one can have their soul viewed in comfort.

Of course, they didn't know what was happening, they only knew it was
"eerie" or "creepy", and got out of her sight as soon as they could.
Others would laugh at their reaction to a toddler, at least until they
encountered Thyme themselves.

Then the jokes stopped.