illustrated short story (2026)
One day, the queen gave birth to a baby diver who came into the world clad in a wetsuit of thick waterproof leather and a metal helmet with a round window. The umbilical cord grew into an intricate system of breathing-feeding tubes that circled the baby’s body. The shocked doctors wailed, the midwife swooned, and the distraught king locked himself in a broom closet and wouldn’t let anyone in. However, the baby’s cries were loud and only slightly distorted by the suit’s sound system, so everyone had to carry on. The king came out of the closet, the midwife was given smelling salts, and the queen had to contend with the umbilical cord remaining as it was, connecting her to the baby diver.
The baby diver was named Sasha and included in the official portraits of the royal couple. By the time the portraits gathered a layer of dust hanging in classrooms and post offices, the disbelief and excitement had faded, and Sasha went to kindergarten.
The suit was hardly what caused the most awkwardness; after all, Sasha was a pleasure to have around on rainy days when puddles wanted measuring or when a child on a walk dropped a toy into the river. It was that the queen had to closely follow her child everywhere. By now the cord had stretched somewhat, giving them both a small degree of privacy, but it was still measured in feet.
Because the queen was claustrophobic and aquaphobic besides, a career in the navy—so beloved by the members of the royal family—was closed to Sasha. The diver became a librarian and a good person, kind to those who made loud noises in library halls and to old books.
The queen had grown older and frailer by the time medical researchers announced they had found a way to attach Sasha’s tubes to someone else. It would need to be to a woman who had just given birth herself. And that’s how Sasha married Rose, a pregnant college security guard whose boyfriend had fled to lands unknown.
The day the diver was attached to Rose, Sasha also became a parent to a baby boy.
Rose was short-tempered, harsh with her words and later with her fists. Sasha was attached to their son, and Rose was attached to Sasha through the cord, so nobody could escape anyone else. Rose started drinking, and the alcohol would flow into the diver’s system. One day, a police report was filed, an investigation took place, and the boy was taken to Rose’s parents. Sasha could only see him through the layers of glass.
The diver’s days passed quietly in the library with bitter Rose nearby. She continued to despise Sasha for the closeness, but neither one of them asked for the cord to be severed. Sasha died in 1873, his metal head making a dull boom when it hit the desk. Rose was asleep in the nearby armchair and didn’t wake up until much later.
The diver was buried at sea.
