Samantha heard the distant wail of an infant. She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned. Most nights she would be the first one up to tend to the crying child, whether it needed a diaper change, a bottle of milk, or just some gentle rocking. Nights like these, when she was just too tired, she feigned sleep, waiting for Miss Brigham or Prudence to get up and take care of the baby.
The baby's cries became louder and more insistent. Where were they? It wasn't fair she had to almost always get up and tend to the babies. After all, she was still just a little girl herself. Miss Brigham was the one the reverend had brought here to change stinky diapers.
With a frustrated grunt, Samantha finally opened her eyes. Then she saw the fire in front of her, its dim glow just enough to allow her to see the ruins of the dormitories. She put a hand to her temple and sighed. It had only been a dream, or perhaps a memory from five years ago, shortly after Reverend Crane had died. For the first two years, Samantha had to spend many late nights comforting a crying baby despite being just a child herself.
Before she could go back to sleep, she heard the baby again. The cry was even closer this time. That didn't make sense; they didn't have any infants left on Eternity. Unless someone had gotten into the fountain water.
With a start, Samantha realized Uncle Hector wasn't by the fire. She remembered how he'd wanted to go see the Fountain of Youth. Perhaps he'd wanted to go so badly that he'd looked for it himself and fallen in. No, she thought. That couldn't be. She couldn't lose him already.
She leaped to her feet and then hurried away from the fire, towards the sound of the baby's cries. If it were Uncle Hector, how could he have gotten so far from the fountain on his own? Nothing made any sense.
On the path ahead she saw a bulky silhouette. The baby's cries were almost on top of her. "Uncle Hector?" Samantha called out while she wished she'd thought to bring something for a weapon.
"Lucy?" Uncle Hector said. Samantha let out a joyous sigh.
At last she got close enough to see him carrying an infant wrapped in a torn bit of cloth from a gray dress, the kind the girls on Eternity wore. "Who's that?"
"It's Molly," he said. "I'm sorry, Lucy."
"Molly? You mean that's Miss Brigham?"
"I'm afraid so, kid. She fell into that fountain of yours. I barely pulled her out in time."