Oldie but goodie pt.1

Even to this day the phenomenon is too much for me, and I'm not really sure whether that's because I view it as a headache or it's just too emotionally exhaustive. I suspect it's a combination of the two. The child was delivered 26 years ago next week, no one in the room at that point having any idea what they were in for. From what I've cobbled together of those first few moments they're pretty much what you would imagine, filled with hysteria, fascination and disbelief.

This, from delivering physician Walter Kopp's personal notes:

"9-28-83: Child born today to parents Roger and Kim Denton, name Angelica. Birth normal, child of consistent weight and measure, initially no physical abnormalities. I was startled when several colleagues burst into the room, doing little more than standing and staring with their jaws agape. The child, Angelica Denton, is visible through walls. I wouldn't believe it had I not stepped down the hall and verified myself. The child is visible to the furthest distances of human sight, like a bird flying in clear blue sky. A panic immediately ensued, the police being called in to protect the child's well-being. It's now 8 hours past delivery; I'm exhausted. I've no doubts about the media circus that will soon arrive."

Charles Watson, patient, in interview:

"I was down a couple rooms from them, pointed directly at the delivery room. I was watching TV, something about sports. I'd broken my leg real damned bad on the job and was watching all the sports I could, pissed as hell at the news that I couldn't play softball that season. All of a sudden I see a baby popping through the goddamned wall, body covered in blood and fluids like some sort of little demon. I fucking lost it man. Pure hysteria. Do you know what that's like? Have you ever seen how ugly a baby is after birth? Shit, man. I thought it was the living end. I've never been the most religious guy, but seeing something like that is like a lightning bolt to your core, you start thinking of all them stories they tell you as a kid about the devil and think you may have screwed the pooch by not going to church a couple times more...
...and the quality of my stay really went downhill after that; good thing I wasn't there for very long. All the staff seemed pissed and overworked, I'm sure it wasn't an easy scene."

Cheryl Rollins, nurse:

"It was the weirdest thing, I can't imagine anything weirder. I don't want to imagine anything weirder. The staff was frazzled for Angelica's stay, but I think it's what happened afterwords that had the impact. As time passed, we realized that this was what would define us. For Dr. Kopps, me, the other people in the room, this event would make it's way into our obituaries. For the people who were in the Hospital at the time, it ruled our social lives for such a long time. The interviews, the TV appearances. People wanted to know us just so they could get close to the phenomenon, get close to the story.
To be honest, it was hell. A lot of the people liked the attention, but I got worn out so quick. You can't imagine the media scrutiny, that feeling you get after being asked the same question over and over and over and over again. Your life becomes a broken record. I applied for a transfer after about 6 months, I couldn't take it. Of course I got it. I wanted out of San Francisco, out of that big city media network, so I applied at __________ hospital in ________, Iowa. They flew me out for the interview, and I could tell from the second I looked them in the eye that they wer just waiting to ask me about Angelica.
I know a lot of people who transferred to other hospitals, none of them lateral moves. There was this magic that surrounded anyone at San Francisco General that day, it gave them this air of medical accomplishment or celebrity for what was essentially a fluke. I'm not saying it wasn't a miracle, but we played no part in what was so amazing about it. It was pure chance. The sensationalism that surrounded it, I suppose it was warranted but I don't think the celebrity by association was. Lord knows none of it ever stopped, though."

Within hours of the birth, notables in various applicable fields were called in for consultation and to determine the degree of research the child was to be subjected to. I'll confess that I had a strong desire to examine and contemplate the nature of the child, but it was more an effort of the academic institution I was at getting me onto that initial list than it was my own expressed desire.

I arrived on the 2nd day, and the scene outside the Hospital was absurd. Media vans and personal vehicles were everywhere, to the point of it affecting the safety of incoming patients. You can't just shut down a hospital overnight, and so the zoo outside just had to be weathered until we, the academically blessed, could go in and figure out a course of action. Police vehicles were stopped in the street with their lights on as the officers stood wherever traffic could flow, trying to direct the circus. Antennae rose up from the broadcast vans like totems to the Gods, all manner of artificial light surrounding an event which was quite real.

Tents were set up for personal use, tropes of the religious coming out in support and condemnation of the child. Their signs bobbed and weaved like the heartbeat of a living cancer, ranging from calling Angelica the "Second coming" and "proof of God's work" to a lecherous satanic creature, proof that God hated "fags", minorities, the federal government, etc. The various groups represented there would scuffle at times, but the police would quickly break them up.

Death threats were already coming in at this point, but that was to be expected. Once the national guard arrived things were more restrained, better managed, but the wake of disbelief and shear strangeness that emanated from the hospital those first few days spread deep into the surrounding area, making it like a Hoover-town that was bereft of common decency or civility.

The bulbs that flashed as I entered the hospital were just awful, my knees knocking and my mind absolutely focused on not letting my legs give out. They'd already devised badges for those allowed entry, some fancy microchip security that went far beyond my very basic understanding of computers. The media and other interested parties (some of them dangerous and most of them untrustworthy) had already been trying to gain entry by dressing in lab coats, delivery uniforms and other predictable forms of espionage. What a scene. I imagine it's what surrounds movie stars and scandal-embroiled politicians, but I've never seen anything like it. Having lived through it's constantly mutating form ever since, I can say with absolute honesty that you have no idea the relief I'd feel if I were never forced to experience it again. It's probably better not to dwell on romantic scenarios like that.