Raincoats | The Umbrella Academy

A Bizarre Beginning

On the 1st of October, 1989, a miracle occurred in the Cafferty family. The day had started off normal enough. Mr. Cafferty woke early, pulled on his muck boots, and stepped into the chilly fog to feed their animals. Mrs. Cafferty brewed a strong pot of coffee and began cooking breakfast. Their only daughter, Anna, helped her mother set the table and do the dishes after their meal.

Anna was a young thing. Nineteen as of recently, out of school, but with no plan. As her parents grew older, it became increasingly clear that she would most likely have to take over the farm soon. But for the time being, Anna would be happy to help out with the more difficult tasks. Her mother sent her into town for groceries around noon with a list as long as her forearm.

She wrapped herself in her coat tightly as she walked down the narrow roads of their town. It was a little early to be getting a cold front, but mother nature made her own rules. Anna's bright hair stood out in the dreary mist, red against the dull grays of the buildings surrounding her. It was a fairly long walk to the grocers, but the warmth of the market was worth the wait.

Taking her time to collect each of the items written on the list, Anna began to feel a tightness in her chest. At first, it could easily be waved off as heartburn. She did recall hearing a family friend telling her about how bacon could cause it, which she had eaten for breakfast. The longer she walked the aisles though, the more the burning sensation increased. Not much time after she checked out with her things, her abdomen began to feel heavy and bloated.

As she struggled to balance her bags in her arms, there was a stabbing pain in the middle of her spine. Anna dropped the paper packages, cans of food rolling onto the sidewalk outside of the grocers. Her sensible kitten heels betrayed her then, forcing her to balance on the side of her ankle when another wave of pain washed over her. She gasped when liquid began to run down her leg, wetting her spandex.

Anna's water had broke.

The girl collapsed to the damp cement, just barely catching her head before it hit the ground. The pain was all throughout her body now, worse at her back and abdomen.

An older woman spotted her on the ground and stepped over the cans as quickly as she could to get to Anna. "Oh, dear!" The elderly woman cried, hands placed gently on the girl's narrow shoulders. "Are you alright?"

She couldn't respond with anything other than a pained shriek. Her woolen coat had fallen away from her stomach, revealing a shocking sight. Her lower half had swelled up like a football with too much air, resembling a pregnant stomach.

Only Anna wasn't pregnant, or hadn't been when the day had started.

The birth went surprisingly swift. Anna's screams had attracted a crowd of people from nearby shops, but there wasn't enough time to move her. Two men sacrificed their coats to help with the cause and somebody from a nearby barber shop lent some clean hand towels to dab the sweat from the poor girl's forehead and neck. In a final scream of agony, Anna gave birth assisted by the elderly woman, right there in the middle of the sidewalk.

The infant was immediately wrapped in a shawl, it's little face as cute as it could be as a newborn (and if you have ever seen a newborn, you would be lying to say that they are actually cute). "It's a lass!" The woman announced to the crowd, who cheered.

The only problem was that the baby had yet to wail (which, again, if you have ever seen a newborn, you would know how loud they are in their first breaths). This brought a deep scowl to the woman's wrinkled face. She pulled the baby's foot out from the bundle and flicked at the sole of her foot. The infant flinched and wriggled away from the contact, scrunched up hands reaching for its own smushed face.

She was alive, alive and well, thank the Lord. The baby was placed atop Anna's still heaving chest.

As one can imagine, that trip to the hospital was awkward. Anna simply hadn't been pregnant. She would have known, would have felt it, but she hadn't and that was what the young girl couldn't get over. There had to be something wrong with that baby. That thing had been generated out of nothing but air. Anna never kissed anybody before, let alone put herself in a situation where she could have gotten pregnant.