Chapter Text
"Robb, where do babies come from?"
The question caused Robb to go still, the hand holding the worm stopping in mid-air above the nest.
"…What?" he asked, turning to look at Seymour and entirely ignoring the chicks’ protests and they kept peeping and trying to to stretch their necks high up enough to reach their food.
Still crouching beside him, Seymour shrugged. “I was just wondering. I mean, we all must come from somewhere, right? But no one ever really replies to the question.”
That was true, Robb had to admit. He had heard the question going around the orphanage for a while, but none of the adults ever answered. Some of the older boys - who were rarely older than maybe thirteen, because most just left before they turned fifteen and the orphanage kicked them out - claimed they new, but they wouldn’t share any information, so Robb just thought they knew nothing and just wanted to act all adult and stuck-up around them.
Of course, that didn’t stop the kids around their age from trying to guess or share whatever they heard on the subject.
"I think Scab said babies are found under cabbages, but Scab is an idiot," the said, finally giving the chicks their worm and frowning in thought as two of them began to tug at it from both ends, trying to pry it away from the other’s beak. "No one likes cabbages anyway. Shouldn’t we like cabbages if we come from one?"
"Marcel likes them."
"He also picks his nose and eats the stuff when he thinks no one’s looking," Robb pointed out, dropping another worm on the nest.
"Eew."
"See? He doesn’t count."
Seymour made a face before speaking again. “Then where do babies come from?”
Robb tried to think back of something else he heard at some point, then he grinned. “Hey, you’re gonna like this one! Corine says babies are brought by storks!”
"Storks?"
"Yeah. It’s weird, but maybe it’s true. Corine is smarter than Scab. And girls usually know more stuff anyway," Robb said matter-of-factly. "She says that storks find them somewhere and bring them to their parents."
"But where would storks find them?"
"Hey, you’re the bird expert here," Robb said, finally sitting back. "You should tellme, birdbrain.”
Now it was Seymour’s turn to frown in thought. “Maybe we should check their migration routes,” he finally said. “But how would a stork even carry a baby?”
"Corine says they hold blankets in their beaks and babies use them like hammocks."
"But they could fall off! That makes no sense," Seymour declared. "You know, I think she got the wrong bird. Wouldn’t pelicans be a lot better for the job?"
"Pelicans?"
"Yes! Think about it! They can carry stuff in their beaks, so why not a baby? And that way the baby wouldn’t fall off."
Robb had to admit that made a lot of sense. “Okay, good point! Do pelicans migrate?”
"Yes!" Seymour exclaimed, and stood. "C’mon, let’s go to the library and check out their routes!"
All out of worms and with the chicks sated, Robb stood - but he didn’t hold back from making a face. “The library is boring.”
"Do you want to find out where babies come from or not? If you don’t come I’m not telling you what I find out!"
"Okay, okay, I’m coming. But that’s not fair," Robb muttered, following him and making sure to sulk a bit.
They wouldn’t really find out where babies come from until a couple of years later, but if anything they were going to be very knowledgeable on the subject of pelicans' migration patterns.