A rather predictable tumble

Everyone knew this would happen. For once, you may have read it right. 

    The unnamed social worker stood in the middle of a crowd of cops clutching a small bundle. The crime scene tape was up, the evidence labelled. It looked like the scene of a twisted case on CSI. The only difference? There was no body. They were lucky. 

    The small bundle she was clutching hiccuped once and began to cry softly. She was alarmed to see that the pale blue of the baby's cheeks had barely faded. Steeling her nerves, she pushed her way to the front of the crowd. The commissioner of police stood in front of her, caterpillar mustache and all, glaring. 

    "Just where do you think you're going with our biggest lead?"

    " To my car. Unless we get some heat and formula your 'biggest lead' will develop hypothermia." 

    Grudgingly, they let her pass under the tape. Ignoring the mob of reporters surrounding her, she hid the infants face and dashed to the car. Inside, with the heat blaring and the baby nestled under layers of blankets, she allowed herself to remember what had happened that night. 

    It had been a druggie to find the baby, nestled in a small wooden cradle. He called the cops about a ufo crashed into a tree. The dispatcher sent out one car, to arrest him and bust whatever party he was coming from. It wasn't anything special. There was no caravan of cop cars. Just two caffeine fueled cops on the graveyard shift. 

    They arrived just in time. The small wooden vessel had begun to rock gently in a sudden breeze. It grew harsher, and faster and the cops could hear a baby screaming inside. Suddenly, it fell. The nearest cop stretched his arms out and caught the baby just before it hit the ground. The cradle was smashed in an eerie preview of what could have happened. 

    She shook her head in disgust that somebody would leave a newborn baby alone like this, up a tree in the middle of October. It must have been somebody with a sick sense of humour though, because the gentle rocking would have soothed the baby at first. But when the bow broke, the cradle would fall and down would come baby, cradle and all.