THE MOMENT
Agnes fiddled with the golden band around her wrist as she waited. It was a nervous habit that was easy to develop as she grew up. The ever-present band had been with her as far as she could remember. And, the soft material had somehow always kept its sparkling golden color throughout her childhood and even as she became an adult. Not even mud could hide the fact that she was meant to be a ‘Supporter’.
That didn't mean the path she was destined for was guaranteed to be easy. She still had to work hard to get the position she had now. Theoretically, Supporters could work at any hospital or clinic, but her dream was to work with newborns. And, she'd finally made it. She was waiting to start her very first shift in the nursery.
She was already clocked in and ready to go, but the few babies already there were sleeping, and she hadn't been given any larger directives yet, her boss was supposed to come in and talk to her about it at some point. But, until then, she was perfectly happy to be where she was.
The nursery was laid out like a hexagon with her desk in the center. She was surrounded by six distinct sections defined by their colors. Green, gold, black, blue, purple, and red. Each bassinet was also color-coded to the appropriate sections, and each child had the same band around their wrist that she did.
She could have been seated while waiting, but she preferred to stand ready. And, it allowed her to check on any of the babies with a glance. Then, a nurse rushed in with a new, white bassinet she was unfamiliar with. It was bright, clean white with a barely visible red scissor logo on each corner.
“Mundo said not to do anything with this one yet, she'll be right in to talk to you,” the unknown nurse nodded at Agnes as she left the Bassinet.
“Thank you,” Agnes nodded. She appreciated being surrounded by gold-banded supporters. They didn’t waste time with pleasantries when there were people to take care of. Once she was alone again she decided to peek in on her new charge.
“Let's see what you'll be doing for society…,” she giggled as she reached down to free the infant's wrist. Then, she gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth to keep herself quiet.
“That… shouldn't happen. Who are you?” she whispered at the barely conscious child. She realized it explained the white bassinet, but that didn't actually answer any of her questions.
“Good to see you, Agnes,” the woman jumped in surprise as she looked up. Mundo walked in. She was a heavyset woman with green hair and wearing a white lab coat.
“Dr. Mundo!” Agnes felt like she was caught doing something, but Mundo only tilted her head with amusement.
“Doctor?” she giggled. “Just because I'm officially your boss now doesn't mean you have to get all formal on me. Just stick with ‘Mundo’,” she said.
“Right, yes, of course. How can I help you?“ Agnes tried to position herself between Mundo and the unknown child in the vague hope that the doctor was there for something else. She didn't know a thing about the baby, but, she knew it wouldn't have an easy, or lengthy life if people discovered it was born without a color. Her Supporter instincts were kicking in and she wanted to keep it safe.
“Well, there's a last bit of training that we do here once you're actually on the job. This isn't included in the school curriculum. The training is dead simple; but, the instruments are prohibitively expensive. It’s easier to just skip it until a candidate actually makes it to this level,” she said.
“Let's start with this little bundle of joy here.” She tried to move past Agnes, and the younger nurse held firm. “Is there a problem?” She asked. The question made Agnes realize she didn't have a plan. What was she going to do? Run out of there pushing the baby?
“No, sorry. Just kind of… Excited!” she said with an exaggerated giggle. “Don't know what to do with myself,” she moved out of the way
“I can understand that,” Mundo smiled. “So, this little guy was just born not too long ago,” she said as she reached down to pick up the child. “And if we check his color…,” she brought his tiny arm out of the blanket and Agnes watched Mundo intently for her reaction. “... We see he doesn't have one yet,” she said.
“WHAT!?” Agnes’ first instinct was to pretend. But, that was before she realized Mundo didn't seem the least bit surprised.
“Yeah, that surprises a lot of people,” she chuckled.
“Wait! Why doesn't he have one? What's going to be his role in society?”
“Well, he was just born,” Mundo shrugged playfully. “We’re still at the hospital.”
“But…,” Agnew glanced at her own golden band, then at Mundo's. “Everyone in the world is assigned a specific color at birth! He was born without a color, what's going to happen to him?”
“We give him one,” Mundo answered. Of course. Agnes should have known better, Mundo was a Supporter like her. And she'd worked in the hospital a long time. It only made sense that occasionally a child was born without a color, and the most obvious answer was that Mundo covered for them.
“Oh, I see,” Agnes nodded. “At least that way he has a chance for a normal life.”
“How so?” Mundo asked. The comment seemed to genuinely confuse her.
“Well, if word got out he was born without a color, who knows what he might go through? Bullying at the very least, I imagine.”
“Why?” Mundo asked. Subconsciously, she pulled the baby boy closer, as if Agnes might start bullying him then and there, though neither one of them noticed the subtle action.
“Because he was born without a color assigned…,” Agnes answered softly, unsure why Mundo didn't see the possible troubles.
“Uhuh,” Mundo nodded. “So were you, and everyone else born on Earth,” she said.
“But..,” Agnes had to pause and check her thoughts to be sure. “It's accepted common knowledge, isn't it? Everyone is assigned a specific color at birth, determining their role in society…. Right?”. Had her whole career been a lie? She did like helping people. Had she been conditioned to help people? Or to like it?
“That's right,” Mundo nodded. “That's our job.”
“Wait… we do that?”
“Yeah,” Mundo nodded. “This little guy was just born on your shift, and I’m going to teach you how we assign him a color… if we can get to it.”