Miracles

by Thomas A. Watson

  Nodding, “That’s what I heard,” Sutton said.

  Looking at the dead dog, Skannish was surprised it wasn’t mangled. The dog looked like a cross between a terrier and some type of shepherd. He could tell like with all cats, Kong had bitten down on the throat to suffocate and kill it. The throat was intact, but the fur was just a little damp from Kong’s mouth. On one side of the dog he could see a large gash but other than that, the dog looked like it was sleeping.

  Lifting his hand and pointing at Kong, “Kong brought his master a sacrifice,” Skannish stated.

  Spinning on her heel, Andrea headed for the dorm door. “Holy shit, the old fart is right!” she shouted out. “How many times have we seen Wendy walk past Kong? The only time she’s ever touched him is when he brings her a sacrifice!”

  Ellie looked from Kong to Skannish. “That cat comes near me, I’m getting thrown out because I’m shooting his ass,” she told him.

  “House cats have some of the fastest mammalian reflexes known,” Skannish advised. “If the cat seems to get interested in you, my advice, run to Wendy.” Keeping her eyes on Kong, Ellie headed to the dorm door.

  Holding hands, Jo Ann and Sally walked past the group to the back door. “Pussies,” they sang out, then headed inside.

  Sutton looked at Skannish. “I’m not getting near that cat. I don’t want it to get my scent for its next sacrifice for its queen,” Sutton said and then walked off with Sarah and the others, leaving only Skannish staring at Kong.

  “Making a leap there, aren’t you, my boy?” Skannish called out as Kong turned and for the first time, looked him in the eyes. Sitting down, Kong’s head was over his knees. Skannish had been to some hot zones all over the world and seen dangerous animals in the wild. There was no doubt in his mind, a dangerous animal was looking at him now.

  Taking a step back, but not turning away like he had been taught to do with tigers, “Your queen wouldn’t want you to hurt one that walks on two legs,” Skannish advised as he started sidestepping. When he was ten yards away, he turned and sprinted for the door. Grabbing the dorm door, he flew inside and pulled it shut.

  “I just ran from a housecat,” he said panting. “For some reason, I don’t even feel ashamed.”

  After taking a quick shower, Wendy walked out of her bedroom and saw a group in the kitchen starting supper. Unlike before, there was now an adult among the organized chaos. After Joseph and Sutton had joined, they could put adults on most workgroups, but Wendy had stressed to Sarah, put adults on workgroups that are doing dangerous things first. The only reason there was an adult in the kitchen was because some in Joseph’s group were still recovering and it was all they could do.

  Seeing she wasn’t needed and the food was coming along, Wendy headed into the living room. This was where Little Momma had set up her daycare. Wendy was very happy to see only a few babies still there. Most of the older kids like Andrea had taken over the responsibilities of one baby.

  “Where’s my little man at?” Todd asked, walking in wearing shorts after taking a shower.

  “In the swing,” Vicki called out as she changed a diaper.

  Watching Todd get baby Allen from the swing, Wendy couldn’t help but grin. “He was the last one I expected to step up and help with a baby. But he did,” she mumbled.

  “How did he eat today?” Todd asked, stepping over to Vicki.

  Finished changing the diaper, Vicki put the baby on the floor near some toys, “Allen ate very well,” she said, moving over to a large diaper bag. Reaching inside, she pulled out a bottle of baby shampoo. “Todd, use this on Allen. Not Head and Shoulders,” she told him with a sigh.

  “I don’t get it in his eyes, I’m very careful!” Todd cried out.

  Nodding her head, “I know. If you did, everyone would’ve known because Allen would’ve screamed for hours. You did good, but I don’t want you to get it in his eyes. And stop using your soap on him, it’s drying his skin out.”

  Glancing over and seeing Wendy tending to a baby in a crib, Todd leaned down to Vicki. “Allen looks like he has dandruff,” he whispered. “I use my soap on him after he takes a dump. His shit sticks to everything and smells bad. I don’t want anyone to make fun of him.”

  Like a tiny adult, Vicki patted Todd’s cheek. “It’s called ‘Cradle Cap’. The real name is infantile seborrheic dermatitis, and it’s very common,” she told him.

  Jumping back like Vicki had spoken in demonic tongues, “How could you even know the real name, much less pronounce it?!” he cried out.

  “The daycare,” Vicki shrugged.

  Noticing Wendy still occupied with other babies, “Vicki, did your parents run that daycare?” Todd asked. He hated to even ask, but he was feeling very inadequate compared to some of these kids.

  “No,” Vicki told him with a smile, but her eyes were very sad. “My mom died in a car wreck when I was five. My daddy was a fireman, so after mom died I stayed at the daycare a lot. I had to spend two nights there every week when daddy had to be on call at night. So I just started helping out. Ms. Judy ran the daycare and this year she started paying me ten dollars a day because I helped so much,” Vicki stated with pride.

  Wanting to know more but not wanting to drag up painful memories, Todd just stepped over and hugged Vicki. “Am I at least doing a fair job on Allen?” he asked hopefully.

  With her arms wrapped around Todd’s waist, Vicki looked up at him. “You’re doing great,” she told him, and Todd’s chest puffed out with the compliment. “The reason you shouldn’t use your soap is it will dry out his skin and the diaper rash he will,” she stressed hard, “get will be very bad.”

  “So he doesn’t smell like his dumps?” Todd asked. “I’m worried I can’t smell them because I might be used to them.”

  Laughing as she let Todd go, “Allen smells like a baby,” Vicki said as a baby woke up in a playpen and she moved over, picking it up. “Everyone knows Allen takes a shower with you in the morning and you bathe him every night. I think that’s too much, but Allen likes it. Just don’t use your soap or the dandruff shampoo anymore.”

  Moving over beside Todd, Wendy hugged him, nearly scaring the shit out of him. “Todd, you’re doing a great job, just take Little Momma’s advice,” Wendy told him.

  Realizing Wendy had heard it all, Todd just sighed. “I don’t know how you and Pops handle all of the babies, toddlers, and then the rest,” he admitted. “I want to help more, but I’m scared I might emotionally scar one of the kids more than they will be.”

  Kissing Todd on the cheek, “Kids are nothing if not resilient. If you give them love, guidance, and praise for a good job, they turn out very well,” Wendy told him. “Just do your best and ask questions. I suggest the questions be to me, Arthur, or Little Momma.”

  Knowing Wendy was referring to Andrea about the questions, Todd scoffed. “The only reason Andrea knows more about babies than I do is because she was here longer,” he said, making Wendy chuckle. “She came to my room last night and woke me up because Pam was farting, a lot, in her crib while she was asleep and wanted to know if that was normal. Like I would know,” Todd huffed, adjusting Allen on his side.

  Nodding, “Yeah, she woke me up too,” Wendy laughed.

  “Because I told her,” Todd grunted. “Pops wants Vicki to get a good night’s sleep and I’m sorry, but I don’t think Pops sleeps more than a few hours any night. Not that you get much more than he does, but I told her to wake you and ask.”

  Patting Todd on the arm, “That was very smart on your part,” Wendy assured him. “You’re right, Arthur gets very little sleep, and I don’t want anyone to wake him up unless it’s very fucking important. Just don’t tell him I said to wake me up instead.”

  With a deadpan expression, “I’m not lying to Pops for anyone,” Todd stated.

  “Not asking you to, just tell him to come and see me if he ever fucking asks,” Wendy said, putting the baby in her arms down and picking up another.

  Nodding, “Dea
l,” Todd said, then hugged Vicki again and put the bottle of baby shampoo in his pocket. Looking over at Vicki, “Does swimming count as a bath?” he asked Vicki, and Wendy gave a snort so she wouldn’t laugh.

  “The chlorine dries a baby’s skin out. I put a lot of lotion on all the babies because most here don’t,” Vicki said, cutting her eyes at Wendy.

  “Vicki, Arthur only puts lotion on when he thinks the skin is dry, be thankful for that. When Joseph was a baby, he didn’t put lotion on after Joseph was three months old, saying it made Joseph smell ‘feminine’. He didn’t want his ‘boy’ to smell like a girl,” Wendy huffed. “Since I was still very sore, all I could do was throw cans of soup at him. After he dodged half a dozen Arthur saw reason, but only when Joseph’s skin looked dry and for the most part, that was good enough for me.”

  Staring at Wendy with wide eyes, “You can beat up Pops?” Todd asked in awe.

  “Fuck no!” Wendy scoffed loudly. “Arthur could stomp my ass in the dirt in six seconds without breaking a sweat. I bow up to him because I fucking know he won’t.”

  “Oh,” Todd mumbled.

  “Todd,” Wendy called out as Todd moved to walk off and he turned to her. “Arthur doesn’t fight like you see in MMA matches or even martial arts, even though he has black belts. When Arthur fights, he fights to destroy. The last fight I saw Arthur in was at a bar. He gouged the man’s left eye out, ripped the fucker’s left ear off, broke the left arm and jaw, then shattered the man’s right knee. All that was done in under a minute before the man hit the floor. Since the man stayed down, Arthur backed off and stopped, otherwise, he would’ve killed him.”

  “What did the man do?” Todd gasped.

  Shrugging, “We were shooting pool and the man walked by and slapped me on the ass,” Wendy answered, and Todd went pale.

  “When did this happen?” Vicki asked.

  “Three years ago when we went to visit Joseph in North Carolina,” Wendy told her, still looking at Todd. “That’s the way Arthur’s always fought. Granted, when he was younger, he didn’t know how to do that much damage but he did do damage. Believe it or not, Arthur doesn’t like to fight but he won’t back down from shit, unless it’s me. I’ll fight at the drop of a hat and don’t give a fuck. I’m no fool, he does that because he loves me and yes, I know I’m being a bitch but he’s mine, so I’m fucking allowed.”

  Suddenly the full picture filled in for Todd after seeing the playout with Kong. All the times Joseph had said ‘Mom was the bad influence’ now made sense. Wendy was the mastermind now, and had a caged tiger to unleash at will if she wanted or needed, and it wasn’t Kong. Looking at Wendy with wide eyes, Todd understood. Wendy was more dangerous than Arthur. That man in the bar may have gotten destroyed, but Todd could see it in Wendy’s eyes. She’d been about to kill the man who’d slapped her on the ass. Arthur had saved his life but destroyed his body, hoping his ‘Queen’ would accept that as enough punishment for her sacrifice.

  “Something wrong, Todd?” Wendy asked, putting the baby down since it wasn’t crying anymore.

  “Wow,” he mumbled, and turned away slowly before walking out.

  Thinking Todd was in awe of the destruction Arthur was capable of, Wendy called out, “Todd, Arthur never hurts family.” Still dumbfounded at his revelation, Todd stopped and turned back to Wendy. “Yes, he sees you and most here as family, and is very proud of you like I am. But,” she said, making Todd’s heart skip a beat, “anyone who tries to disrupt or hurt his family is in for big fucking trouble. Joseph has only had two spankings in his life and both were from Arthur. When Joseph was fifteen, he thought he was a man and told Arthur he could do what he fucking wanted. I took Joseph to the backyard and beat the shit out of him, instead of letting Arthur give him his third spanking.”

  Still pale and in shock Todd just nodded, with Wendy moving to the very top of the ‘Do not fuck with’ list in his mind. “I understand perfectly, and would never do anything to anyone in our family.”

  Very happy Todd had used ‘our family’, Wendy just smiled and then caught a whiff of something rank. Turning around, she sniffed the air to trace down the offensive smell to a baby crawling around on the floor. “You’re a nice young man, Todd, and will be an excellent man any woman would be proud to have for a husband. You’re going to be an excellent dad and husband,” Wendy told him, catching the crawling baby and flipped her over.

  Bringing over the supplies for Wendy, “Here, Momma,” Vicki said, then took off as another baby tried to climb over the baby fence that closed off the living room.

  Never in his life was Todd so proud of the praise he was hearing from Wendy. With the shock moving to the back of his mind, “Thank you, Momma,” he smiled, and walked out with a pep in his step to go swimming with Allen.

  When he was gone, Vicki came over carrying the escape artist with Robin following, naked of course, wearing only her pink cowboy boots. “I think Andrea likes Todd,” Vicki whispered with a wide grin.

  Not able to help it, Wendy grinned as she looked up to Vicki. “Shh, don’t let everyone know,” Wendy whispered back.

  “You think he likes her?”

  Nodding as she finished changing the baby, “Oh yes, Todd likes her very much,” Wendy told her. “Just between us, that’s why Todd volunteered to take care of Allen after Andrea took in Pam. He wanted to show Andrea, he could do it too. Now, Todd loves Allen dearly and sees that he shouldn’t have done it to try to impress Andrea.”

  As Robin started jabbering, adding her two cents even though she had no idea what was being said, Vicki moved closer to Wendy and lowered her voice so much Wendy barely heard her. “Todd is better with babies than Andrea is,” Vicki breathed. “Andrea is still scared she’s going to break them.”

  Laughing, “I know, baby, but she’s getting better,” Wendy said, getting to her feet.

  Very mad they weren’t including her in this discussion, Robin stomped her boot down hard. “Fuck!” she yelled very clearly and very loud.

  Letting out a gasp and whipping her eyes to Robin, “I’m going to kick his ass,” Wendy panted.

  Stepping into the doorway from the kitchen on the other side of the baby gate with a cup of coffee in one hand, Arthur pointed at Wendy with the other. Wearing only pants and Nicole in her baby sling across his bare chest, “Don’t you even try to blame that on me, bitch!” he shouted. “You know how many goddamn times I heard you say ‘fuck’ talking to Todd? Over a dozen. And none of them were in a low voice, and only one or two were in proper context as a descriptive noun or a verb for the insinuation of a subject. None were used as a direct object, but I could be mistaken according to which rules of grammar you want to use. Most were used as an auxiliary verb, so you didn’t have to use them for connotation.”

  Having no idea what Pops had said, Vicki turned to Wendy and saw Wendy furrow her brow as she replayed the conversation she’d had with Todd. Turning back to Arthur, “I like it better when you cuss than use words like in-sin-u-a-tion,” she struggled over the word. “At least when you cuss, I know what you mean. Just how you use them, I know if you’re mad or happy.”

  Turning to Vicki, “Insinuation means an unpleasant hint or suggestion of something bad,” Arthur told her.

  Thinking about that while Wendy still pondered the conversation with Todd, Vicki just gave a shrug. “I like the F word better. Just how it’s used, you can tell if it’s good or bad without this insinuation stuff,” she said, the word pronounced much better this time.

  Realizing she’d said ‘fuck’ but unable to even count how many times she’d used it, Wendy looked back at Arthur. “Okay, that one was on me,” Wendy admitted. “I shouldn’t have used it, especially here in the daycare area.”

  “It’s a word like any other, Wendy,” Arthur said, then took a sip as he patted the bottom of the baby sling making Nicole giggle. “Just to let you know, Joseph is in my office looking up what Sarah called him and when he deciphers all the words…” Arthur let the sent
ence hang as he took another sip of coffee.

  Walking behind Arthur while pulling her hair up and heading for the dining room, Sarah laughed out. “I’m so proud he can use a dictionary.”

  Rolling his eyes up to the ceiling as Sarah walked into the dining room, Arthur let out a long breath and then dropped his gaze down to Nicole. Nicole just smiled up at him, showing her one tooth with pride, “You act anything like Sarah, I will spank you,” Arthur vowed.

  Picking up a baby, “You try, and one night you’ll wake up with me beating your knees with a bat,” Wendy told him, making Vicki gasp. “Sarah is a good person that I really like.”

  Shaking his head and turning to head to the dining room, “Because she acts just fucking like you,” Arthur mumbled.

  “I heard that!” Wendy snapped, but Arthur just headed into the dining room.

  “A PAIN IN THE ASS, SMALL DICK, SHIT EATER!” Joseph bellowed from Arthur’s office, making all the babies startle.

  Turning to Vicki, “I wish Sarah had just called him that instead of using the scientific words,” Wendy admitted.

  Patting the baby she was holding, “What did Sarah say?” Vicki asked.

  Pausing for a minute, Wendy finally understood what Arthur was talking about, the interpretation of the word by others. Almost not answering because it did sound worse, Wendy relented. “She called him a coccydynia microphallus excreta gormandizers.”

  Blinking at Wendy for several seconds, “I would punch someone for calling me that even if I didn’t know what it meant. It just sounds bad,” Vicki told her.

  Smiling at Vicki, “Little Momma, what if I called you a pulchritudinous virtuous and benevolent micro muliebrous that I’m totally besotted with,” Wendy said.

  Shaking her head with wide eyes, “I would be wondering what I did to piss you off,” Vicki admitted. “Someone else, I would probably punch.”

  Laughing, “I called you a beautiful, innocent, caring little girl that I love very much,” Wendy told her.

  A smile jumped on Vicki’s face hearing that. “I like the little simple words,” she confessed.