Curby

by Adrian Del Valle

  “What the hell for. Leave him by the garbage cans. That way it’ll look like we’re dumping trash, in case somebody’s looking out of their window.”

  Ignoring him, she left the box at the top of the steps by the front entryway. They walked away with Valerie turning back from time to time, muffling her cries in her hands. Leaving her in front of her building, Tommy left for his urgent appointment. But first, there was something he had to do.

  Returning to the abandoned baby, still sleeping at the top of the stoop, he picked up the box and stepped down to the garbage cans. He lifted up one of the shiny metal tops, full to the top with packed garbage and closed it back up again. Checking around, he waited for a couple to pass by and make their way up the block.

  Today was alternate parking for this side of the street. Soon, cars would come vying for the prime parking spaces and well before the eleven o’clock deadline. Sure that no one was watching, he placed the box gently in the gutter so as not to wake the baby inside; the gutter where he judged a rolling tire would soon be.

  There were times when Nick Santinelli found an item in the street that was worth something--not often, but often enough to keep his eyes open for it. He stopped the street sweeper, put it in park and pulled up on the emergency brake. To keep from slipping off of the metal steps, he climbed down backwards while holding onto the railing.

  Looking down at the box, he thought he saw it move; then again, and this time he was sure.

  Puppies! I’ll bet somebody left a bunch of puppies out here. Geez, they could have gotten crushed.

  Gently, he lifted one of the cardboard lids, and then another.

  “Holy Christmas! What the hell!”

  He looked up and down the street and behind himself, but no one was standing nearby and the people that were down street seemed oblivious to what had unfolded between his own two feet.

  Lifting the box up, he flipped the rest of the lids over the sides and grinned at the baby that was sleeping and making sucking sounds. “You cute little guy. How in the world did you get in there? Don’t tell me some meany abandoned you. My word, I don’t believe some of the people in this city.”

  He reached high and opened the steel door to the sweeper. Climbing up the precariously placed steps, he laid the box on the floor on the other side of the seat and sat behind the wheel.

  Ecstatic, Nick couldn’t wait to get home to Sandy. Oh, sure, he knew all about the process. After all, this couldn’t go unreported. A police report had to be made out, the rightful owners sought after and all of that, but Sandy would know what to do. Besides, this was an emergency, wasn’t it? Of course, he thought. There was no time to go to a hospital. He could call when he got to the apartment.

  And the hell with the route, too. He checked the street ahead.

  This part of the route never gets that dirty, anyway. They’ll never even notice…and fortunately for me, it’s almost break time. I’m going to have to make the best of this fifteen minute break.

  Their second floor apartment, situated blocks from the route, faced the back yard. Nick climbed the stairs of the stuffy hallway with his heart pounding. He hadn’t been this excited since winning the football pool at work.

  “Sandy!” he called out, as soon as he entered the living room.

  Her hair, still wet from a shower, his girlfriend sat on the couch drying it. “What are you doing home, Hon?”

  “Oh, nothing important…just a baby I found in the street.”

  She instantly stopped drying her hair, holding the still pose and replaying what she just heard inside her mind, or what she thought she just heard.

  No, that could not have been what he said.

  She turned to him with a questioning look. “What did you just say?”

  Nick laid the box on the table and opened it up.

  “Ohhh! Good gracious…a baby! What the hell is he doing in that nasty old box, and where did you find him?”

  “In the gutter! Would you believe some idiot left this baby in the street? I could have swept it up and nobody would have known the difference.”

  “Oh, Nick…hurry down to the Drug Store and get some formula. And bottles! Hurry! Oh, and get some dental floss so I can tie off this umbilical cord.”

  Feeling her apprehension, Nick rushed for the door. “Wash him up, I’ll be right back.”

  Sandy yelled after him. “Don’t wait for a line in there. Tell them it’s an emergency.”

  She carried the awakening baby to the bathroom, turned on the tap until it was tepid and gently soaped him up in the sink. She rinsed him off and cradled him in a towel, carrying him back to the couch where she cleaned the umbilical cord with peroxide.

  The baby started to make sucking sounds. Held in her left arm, she took a wash cloth out of the linen closet, wet it and held it to the baby’s mouth. The baby immediate sucked on it.

  “You little darling, you. You are so cute my little bunny rabbit. I love you, yes I do, pumpkin.”

  The line inside the Drug Store was indeed long. Another register was opening, but there were people lining up in front of that one as well, and it was becoming just as long.

  Nick held a case of formula over his head and shouted to the cashier as he exited through the doorway. “Hey, Elaine, I got an emergency, I’ll be right back.”

  “Wait, you can’t do that,” the cashier yelled back.

  Slamming his way through the outside door with his butt, Nick said, “I’ll be right back. I’m not going anywhere.”

  He rushed home, running all the way and huffing out of breath. Upon reaching the apartment, he barged through the door.

  “Here, I’ll open a can for you.”

  “Did you get the bottles like I told you?”

  “Damn! I’ll be right back!”

  Shaking her head, Sandy heated a little formula in a pan. She tested it on her wrist on the way to the couch. Lifting the baby, she dipped a clean washcloth in the formula and dabbed some of it on his lips.

  Nick returned shortly with the bottles and disposable diapers, bright eyed and eager to hold the baby.

  “Calm down, Nick. Give me a second, will you?”

  Nick grinned and embraced the new born in his arms, cuddled him warmly and said sweet nothings into his ear.

  “If only we could keep this little guy?”

  “Here, let me have him,” she said. “You better get to work. It’s almost 9:30. The foreman’s going to see your truck outside and you were supposed to be back on your route by 9:15.”

  The last thing Nick wanted was to leave the infant. He hated to, but work was work.

  “Let’s give him a name?”

  “Nick, will you go, already?”

  He kissed the baby on the cheek and then kissed Sandy.

  She stared at him.

  “Okay, okay…I’m going.”

  At the door, on the way out, he poked his head back in. “How about…Curby?”

  Nick…will you go before you get into trouble?”

  After work, at 2:30, he did a little shopping before going home; Handy Wipes, a red and yellow rattle, a foam football, a mobile made up of cartoon characters, and lastly, a pacifier.

  Searching through a local used furniture store, he found a bassinet in the back of the shop. That led to a variety store where he bought two sets of sheets, pillows, soft blankets; one powder blue and the other, tan colored.

  At his building, he rushed up the steps with all of the items he bought inside the bassinet.

  “I picked up everything I could think of. Oh! I forgot to buy a baby carriage.”

  “A baby carriage?”

  “Never mind! Let me hold him.”

  With the baby in his arms, Nick looked admiringly at the boy. I can’t believe how good he is. He’s so quiet.”

  “He just ate. I’m sure he’ll fall asleep.”

  “Here, then take him so I can set up the bassinet,” he said.

  Everything inside of the bassinet was dumped on the couch. Sandy went t
hrough it all, stacking the bedding off to the side.

  “A football?”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Don’t you think it’s a little early for football?”

  “Not for my Curby.”

  “Your Curby? What happened to calling the hospital and making out a police report? Isn’t that what you said you were going to do this morning?”

  “Yeah, but that was this morning. Aw, honey. Can’t we keep him…just for a little while?”

  “I’m not sure if it’s against the law. We could get in trouble for this.”

  “Hey, I’ll take full blame. Who’s going to know?” he said.

  “Jaime, downstairs, for one.”

  “She’s your best friend.”

  “What if she gets jealous and reports us?”

  “We’ll confide in her.”

  “Oh, Nick…I want him as much as you do. I’m afraid, that’s all. Don’t you think somebody in this building already heard the baby crying? Sooner or later, Jaime is going to know.”

  “Well…so…I’ll tell them he’s my sister’s baby and she, uh…had a few complications at the hospital. She’ll be there…what…for another few weeks?”

  “Nick, honey, I know how much this baby means to you, but your job…you could get into a lot of trouble over this.”

  “Why, I’m the one who saved his life? He would’ve been in the landfill by now, crushed and rolled into the ground from one of those tractors out there.”

  “It’s okay, baby pumpkin, you make poopy in the pants?”

  Nick grinned. “See, you’re already getting attached to him.”

  Sandy said, “I’ll change his diaper. Could you set up that bassinet, like you said you were going to do?”

  “I have to wash it down first.”

  “Why, you just bought it?”

  “Yes, but it’s used. What if there’s a roach in there…or legions disease or something?”

  He opened the door to the bathroom and put the bassinet in the shower. Hearing the water turn on, Sandy raised her voice above the rainy sound of it. “What are you doing?”

  “Cleaning this thing, like I said I was going to do.”

  “In the shower?”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll wipe it down. Where’s the Lysol?”

  “Under the sink.”

  “Geez, look at all the dirt coming out. Ya never know where these things were. Coulda been laying in the street. Who knows what kind of bugs were on this thing?”

  He returned with it, wiping it down. He stuck his finger into the cotton fabric of the towel and poked inside the corners, re-wiped the outside and…

  “That’s good enough, you’re going to wear away the finish,” said Sandy.

  “I could probably eat off of this bassinet right now.”

  “Put it in the bedroom.”

  “That’s where I intended on putting it, thank you.”

  She smirked. “You might as well wash the mattress, too.”

  “Of course!” he replied, from inside the bedroom.

  The mattress was washed the same way, dried and placed in the bassinet. Nick hummed “Rock-a-bye baby” while folding the colorful sheet around the corners; yellow kittens chasing fat, blue sparrows across a grassy rolling hill covered with smiling daisies. He tucked the blue blanket in at the bottom, folding the upper end over, along with the end of the top sheet.

  He washed the mobile, the rattle and foam football. The mobile he tied off and left hanging above the bassinet. He left the football next to the pillow, moved it to the other side, turned it this way and that, took a sideways glance at it and moved it back.

  It’s never too early to form an impression, he thought.

  Outside, in a park, Prospect Park, a running little boy laughed while reaching high into the air for a football.

  “Nice try, Curby. Now pick it up and throw it back to Daddy.”

  The little tot lifted the football over his head and threw it with all of his might. It landed two feet in front of him, took a short hop and rolled slowly to the side.

  “Good arm, son.”

  “The bed’s ready!” he loudly called out to Sandy.

  “Look at this little angel, Nick,” she said, carrying the baby into the bedroom. “He’s fast asleep.”

  “Let me hold him?” Nick cradled the baby, barely the length of his fore arm. He combed back the silky, sandy blond hair that kept sticking up in the back and gently kissed him.

  Watching her tall, big boned, Marlboro Man as she fondly liked to call him, holding the tiny infant, made Sandy see him in an entirely different light, and she liked that.

  He lowered the baby onto the sheet and covered him up, kissed him again and looked on while Sandy did the same. Holding hands, they tiptoed out of the room with Nick looking back the whole time.

  “Oh, Nick. I don’t want to ever let him go.” She left the door slightly ajar.

  He answered in a whisper. “We don’t have to. Let’s play this by ear. It’s in God’s hands. If he wants us to have him, then that’s what will happen.”

  Although the baby cried during that first night, Nick and Sandy were attentive to his every need. Even when drawn out of a deep sleep, Nick had jumped out of bed to check on Curby.

  During the whole day behind the wheel, Nick found himself checking for cardboard boxes. Not that he expected another abandoned baby, it’s just that he couldn’t get the events of the previous day out of his mind. He stopped at the apartment on his first break, his lunch time, and then again on the last break of the day. The baby was doing well with a good appetite.

  When he entered the apartment after work, Sandy looked up from where she was sitting, by the window with Curby, awake and drinking from a bottle.

  “Let me do that?” he said.

  “I don’t mind.”

  “Yeah, but you had him all day. Let me give you a break.”

  “I know you better than that. You just want to hold him.”

  “So?”

  “Let’s sit on the couch for a minute. I want to talk to you.”

  “Sandy, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing serious. I’ve been thinking about it all day. I want to talk about your future and the baby.”

  “Oh? Why only my future?”

  The baby looked up at him with almond shaped blue eyes while making sucking noises and satisfied grunts.

  She said, “What’s going to happen when I’m gone? If the doctors are right, Curby is going to be about three years old by the time I’m…well...you know. You’ll be alone.”

  “Do we have to talk about that now? Can’t we be happy for the moment? I’ll deal with that when the time comes, if it comes at all.”

  “I know, but I’m worried for you.”

  Nick pet her hair. “Maybe nothing will happen. Doctors have been wrong before, haven’t they?”

  “You saw the x-rays. I have terminal cancer. I’m just lucky that it’s the slow kind. It could have been worse and I sure wouldn’t want to go at this time now that you found Curby. You’re going to need me.”

  “Let’s take this a day at a time, Sandy.”

  “I’m trying to. My worry is not about me. I already did my own crying. I’m okay with it. Just promise me one thing?”

  “Anything, just ask.”

  “If you’re really going to do this…this thing about keeping the baby, then let’s not report anything. Let me have this one simple pleasure. I need this.”

  “Curby?”

  “Yes! Let me be the mother I never had the chance to be. It’s all that I have left before leaving this earth.”

  Nick looked kindly at her, his eyes wet and tearing. They both reached for one another, all three in one heartfelt embrace.

  Knock! Knock! Knock!

  “Who is it?”

  “Detective Guevara!”

  “Detective? Uh…just a minute.”

  Nick looked away from the door and whispered into Sandy’s ear. “Bring the bab
y inside.”

  Sandy took Curby, snatched the bottle and the blanket and left for the bedroom.

  “Yeah…okay…I’ll be right there, officer. Damn it!” The last two words, he said low and under his breath.

  As soon as the door to the bedroom closed, he opened the one to the hall a crack, looked out and then opened it all the way. On the other side, two detectives, wearing dark suits and flashing badges, stood with stern expressions.

  “I’m detective Vic Guevara and this is Detective Sal Rinaldi. May we come in?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “You’re…Santinelli?” Guevara took a quick look at the paper he was holding. “Sorry! Nickolas Santinelli?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Okay if I call you Nick?”

  “Sure, please do.”

  Nick shook inside, as much as a kid taking his first ride on the Coney Island Cyclone. “Uh…y-yes, that’s fine. That’s what everyone calls me. Oh, sorry…have a seat on the couch. Please!”

  Guevara’s face looked like that of a career boxer’s, his black curly hair, combed back with a part in the middle. Below what appeared to be a broken nose, he grew a thick Poncho Villa style mustache, long and hanging over the sides of thick lips.

  His partner was more of a business type, short cropped hairstyle, Esquire magazine good looks and wearing a pair of gold, wire-framed eyeglasses.

  Detective Guevara noted Nick’s uniform shirt. “I see that you work for the city, also?”

  “Yes, I drive a street sweeper. Right here in the neighborhood, in fact.”

  The detective looked down briefly and then back at Nick while toying with his mustache. “Uh, huh! That’s why we’re here.”

  “Oh?”

  “We’re looking for a kid.”

  “A kid?”

  “Yes! Dark blond, thinish hair, blue eyes. We thought you may have seen him in the street.”

  (A pause)

  With a look that was a combination of surprise, anticipation and downright fear, Nick carefully replied, “Dirty blonde hair?”

  “That’s right.”

  To Nick, the cop’s demeanor seemed all knowing, as if he was beating around the bush--toying with him, and by now, he was starting to hope that he would just get the whole damn thing over with.

  “We have information he’s in one of these buildings.”