Chasing the Ambulance: A New Year’s Eve Adventure

It was about 2 a.m. on that exciting New Year’s Eve when we all finally went to bed. But only a few hours later, I woke up to hear my mom screaming in pain. I quickly jumped up to grab her bag because I had practiced what to do in this situation before. My uncle and aunt decided to follow us in their car.Dad was still sleepy as he drove our old Peykan, but when he heard an ambulance siren behind us, he quickly switched lanes and started following the ambulance. He smiled and said, But just two intersections later, another car—a Zhian—came speeding across the road and hit our back door, even though Dad tried his best to avoid it. Mom screamed as the car skidded to a stop. The Zhian spun, squealed, and almost flipped over before crashing into a magazine stand on the sidewalk. Papers flew everywhere, but the driver quickly got out and ran to check if we were okay.Our car was badly damaged, with the rear wheel blown out and bent underneath. The ambulance kept going, and we could hear its siren fading away as my uncle finally caught up with us. He helped Mom into his car, while the driver of the Zhian was concerned about a bloodstain on our backseat. He asked me if Mom was okay.Irene never spoke a word…At the hospital, they rushed Mom into the maternity ward, and a few minutes later, Irene was born. It was around 6:00 a.m. on the first day of January. I can tell you this because I was there from the noisy New Year’s Eve to this early morning hour. Right now, everything is rewinding in my head very fast…I can see and hear many sing-along songs on New Year’s Eve. My bazooka rocket blasting high in the sky; the ambulance with its ear-piercing siren; the KABOOM of our accident on the way to the hospital, and the blowing out of our car’s tire–as well as the other car that crashed into us, skidding, swerving, and knocking down the magazine kiosk.To tell you the truth, that was the noisiest night I ever remember, but Irene was born quietly. She added no more to the sounds we had already had, even that birth cry I had heard about–but I wished she had.My mom said: I laughed, but I had to ask her something. She caressed my hair, I didn’t know what she was talking about, but if she was okay, it was fine by me.About an hour later, we had someone we all loved to look at. My very own tiny, little, cute sister! We almost died that morning, but Irene was not crying at all while they were cleaning her up.I was so glad that everything was fine, and I got to hold her for the very first time when the nurse carefully handed her over to me. For a moment, I was not sure whether I was holding her right. She didn’t move much, so I thought I was doing okay. Little by little, I felt her little heart beating near my chest, and I felt so happy holding her that I didn’t want to pass her on to dad.Irene stared into my eyes and then put her lips together, making the shape of an “o”. Then she chirped like a bird. She was actually singing: and I was tempted to continue her song: The nurse said, I looked at Mom, but she didn’t know what to say. I thought Irene was very peculiar! I guess everybody did.They had to place Irene in a glass crib under a blue light in the nursery because she was anemic. We went behind the window. Somehow Irene knew we were there. She was still doing her favorite thing; putting her lips together like a fish and saying, Mom said Irene must have been a fish in a past life! I said, Mom agreed.This is part of the story in the book Irene, the Music Lover.