Broken (Endurance)

by Thomas, April

  “Where’s my little man?” Max called out.

  Uriel came to life as he clumsily ran into his father’s arms. Max tossed him into the air and was rewarded by a heartfelt giggle from Uriel.

  “Daddy!” Now wide awake, he clung onto his father’s neck. Uriel’s beautiful grey eyes filled with water as he took a deep breath.

  Max rubbed his son's back and kissed him. “Do you know how much I missed you last night? Huh, little guy?”

  The boy giggled and nuzzled some more.

  “Daddy loves you so much,” Max murmured, giving Uriel an affectionate squeeze.

  Sandra was taken aback by him. "You must be Max. Hi, I’m Sandra. Mei told me all about you." She reached out to shake his hand.

  "Well, I pray it was all good stuff." Max smiled.

  "I think you would have to make her pretty mad for her to say something bad about you." Sandra laughed and tried to hide how smitten she was. "Sit. Have a seat. Mei should be out soon."

  Max took a seat on the couch. Uriel was permanently attached to his neck and refused to let go. Max smiled and continued talking to him, his hand gently running circles along his small back. "Was he trouble?" Max asked.

  "I would be lying if I said no," Sandra said. "It's the first night, though and Mei warned me this might happen. She said he's used to being around both of you most of the day."

  "Yeah, it just kind a happened that way. Lucky for him he doesn't know what it's like to have one parent working all day." Max tickled Uriel's side to make him let go of his neck.

  "Hey, we are all blessed here at this school, well most of us anyway."

  "Did you say Mei was in the shower?" he asked Sandra.

  "Y-yeah, do you need something?"

  "Nothing freaky." Max smiled, already reading her mind. "I just want her to bath him before we drop him off at daycare." Max took a whiff of his son. "He smells like a combination of sweat and his momma. Of course, I don't mind the momma scent."

  "You better not," Sandra joked. "Do you want me to let her know you’re here or, well, it's your wife. I’ll let you take care of that. I’ll be in the kitchen making coffee for everyone." Sandra walked into the kitchen area.

  Max undressed his son, leaving just his diapers. He gently tapped on the door.

  Mei yelled, "Open," assuming it was her roommate coming to tell her Uriel was awake.

  When Max walked into the bathroom, Mei screamed then laughed. "What are you doing here?"

  "I missed you," Max said.

  "Momma-dada," Uriel said, kicking his legs excitedly.

  "Can you bath him?" Max asked.

  "Sure"

  Max took of his son’s diaper off and handed him to Mei. "I'll be outside, call me when you need me. Where’s the baby bag?" Max asked, throwing the diaper in the trash.

  "Next to my bed in the room."

  Max left and nodded at the new arrival, a friend of Sandra’s, he assumed. After asking Sandra for permission to go into the room she shared with Mei, he retrieved the baby bag and returned to the living room.

  "Have a seat, pull up a chair," Sandra said. She sat on the couch next to her friend as they both sipped coffee and admired Max's alluring features.

  Max nodded and pulled out one of the dining room chairs to sit on. He relaxed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. Sandra and her friend giggled quietly, making Max feel uncomfortable. He could hear Sandra's friend forcing her to introducing her to Max. Sandra resisted for a while then gave in. She cleared her throat, getting Max's attention.

  "Max, this is my friend Renee Loren. She just transferred here from Harvard," Sandra said.

  "What's up? I'm Max, Mei's husband," Max said, feeling the need to make that fact abundantly clear.

  "Oh, hi" Renee said, shyly.

  "Max!" Mei yelled from the shower.

  "Excuse me." Max was happy to leave the room.

  The moment he walked into the bathroom, Sandra and Renee burst out laughing. "Oh, my Lord he is... oh, my goodness. That girl better watch her man," Renee said, grinning from ear to ear.

  "You should see their baby. He is so cute. When his dad came in, he ran to him. It was so adorable," Sandra said.

  "I want to have his baby," Renee replied.

  "Girl, this is not a game. He’s married. That's not his girlfriend bathing a fake baby in there. They are a family, and let me tell you, the only reason you’re here, is because I had to take responsibility for you. This school is spiritually based. It's not your normal college or even Christian college. Don't forget they judge you on your character." Finished with her lecture, Sandra gazed intently at her friend.

  "Okay. Okay," Renee said, rolling her eyes with exaggerated displeasure.

  "Don't mess this up for me," Sandra added.

  Max set his son on the bathroom counter and dressed him while Mei took care of dressing herself.

  Max couldn't help his wandering eyes as he watched her slip into her bra and thong. Every inch of her was toned and beautiful. No one would ever think she’d had a child.

  "I thought I was going to get a shower," Max teased.

  Mei smiled at him. "I had such a rough night without you."

  "So did I. Why do you think I was over here so early?"

  Mei slid her jeans on and pulled a tank top over her head before slipping her feet into her flip-flops. "I just need to brush my teeth and I’ll be ready."

  "Okay, we’ll be in the living room." Max grabbed a firm hold of Uriel and walked out. In the living room he had been greeted by an excited Renee, eager to see his son.

  "He is so cute. Look at those eyes. Can I hold him?" Renee asked, putting her arms out for Uriel.

  Max immediately felt his son tense up and recoil, and knew it just wasn't going to happen. "I don't know. He’s really shy around strangers."

  "Aw, come on. What's his name?" Renee insisted gently rubbing the boy’s arm.

  Before Max could reply, Uriel put his small hand over his father’s mouth and said, "No."

  Max burst out laughing. He knew when Uriel said no, that was final. "I'm sorry when he says no, it's no." Max laughed.

  Renee held her ground a few seconds more. No doubt she didn’t readily take no for answer, but this time she would have no choice. He saw a flicker of pride play on her smiling eyes just moments before she backed off. Her gaze turned to Mei as she approached.

  "Ready babe?" Mei said.

  "Yeah, get the baby bag and let’s go. We got like thirty minutes." Max glanced at his watch.

  "We can walk with you guys," Renee offered.

  "Ah, they’ll be fine," Sandra said, holding Renee back at the door.

  "Max, it was nice meeting you. See you around." Sandra waved at Uriel. “See you later, little guy.” She closed the door behind and held onto Renee, keeping her from going out and making a fool of herself. .

  "What was that about?" Mei asked as they walked out of the short hallway.

  "Your son doesn't like your roommate’s friend." Max smiled and nuzzled Uriel.

  "Well, I'm sure he has a very good reason," Mei replied. "Let’s go."

  They walked to the daycare center, stopping just a few feet from the front door.

  "Okay, you know this means war," Max said to Mei. They gazed at Uriel, peaceful and unaware of the upcoming potential tragedy.

  "Okay, we will take it slow. Maybe he won't notice when we leave," Mei said.

  "Sure," Max said sarcastically, while they walked to the front door.

  "Good morning. Is this Uriel?" A childcare attendant walked towards them.

  "Yes, and this is his first time at a daycare so..."

  "Say no more. You will be fine and you’re not horrible parents for leaving him here," she instantly replied.

  Max and Mei looked at each other in confusion.

  "Uriel, hello handsome," she said, gently rubbing Uriel's back while his father held him. She looked at the apprehensive parents. "My name is Mrs. Julie and I will be your son's personal caregiv
er."

  Julie was a natural and Uriel seemed to instantly like her. His face lit up and he offered her a smile reserved only to those he trusted.

  "Now, does he have any allergies or anything I should know about?" Mrs. Julie asked, putting her hands out for Uriel who quickly threw his body towards her.

  Max and Mei were shocked almost speechless as they struggled to respond to her questions.

  "No," Mei mumbled.

  "Good, now run along. You guys will be late for class. If there’s an emergency you will be contacted immediately."

  Uriel clung to her, his eyes wide with awe of his caregiver.

  "Tell mama and dada, see you later. She lifted his hand to wave goodbye to a shocked Max and Mei.

  Mrs. Julie turned and walked away with their son and he didn't even look back. Mei covered her mouth with her hands, battling her emotions. "Did you see that? He didn't even look back."

  "I know," Max said, holding the door open for Mei.

  "I carried that boy for nine months and I don't even get so much as a whimper."

  "How do you think I feel?"

  "Max, we are horrible parents. Our son just ditched us for some other momma."

  "Come here," Max said with a short laugh as he pulled Mei close to offer a reassuring hug. "See everything has its silver lining. I haven't been this close to you in, well, since forever. I miss you."

  "I miss you, too." Mei said as they began to walk to class.

  "So, where are we going?" Max looked around them.

  "Well, we have spiritual warfare today. I don't know what it's about, but it’s for the entire day."

  It was easy to find their class. The spiritual warfare class was held in its own free standing building by the edge of the forest. Class was already in session when they quietly entered and sat at the back of the room.

  Professor Adam Boyd stood at the front of the class lecturing about spiritual warfare. He talked about how to keep your temple demon free. Everyone was quiet. Many people were hearing these teachings for the first time. Professor Boyd called the attention of all the male students.

  "Now, some of you are already married and some of you are engaged. Then we have our single freshman boys. I will be pairing you off into groups. This year we are trying something new by opening up our campus to young families. This may become difficult at times, however we understand that

  God uses everyone and nothing happens before it's time. I hope everyone can learn from each other," Professor Boyd said.

  He paced the large room speaking through a small microphone that was attached to his head. He cleared his throat and continued. "Now, in this project we will learn how to build a village from scratch; a real, full-functioning village. This village will serve as a family dormitory. The space is limited and we will only build twenty huts. Each group will be given an allotted plot of land to build the hut for their family or group." At this he stopped to acknowledge the many hands that flew up at the mention of only twenty huts.

  After a quick glance around the class, Professor Boyd pointed to Renee, seated only a few seats down from Max and Mei.

  "Professor, do we pick our own partners?" she asked. She was already making plans on how she could become Max's partner.

  "No and yes. You request your own partner, if you are single. As for the young families, there will be one hut per family."

  "Professor, will it be coed or not?" another student asked.

  "The only coed huts will be the family huts."

  "Will we all be in the village?"

  Everyone followed the student’s gaze as he swept across the two hundred students in attendance.

  "Not quite. Since space is limited, I have a sign-up sheet for those of you who want to stay in the village full time and those of you who want to stay part time. For the ten young families, you will be there full time."

  Groans filled the room. Max looked at Mei and chuckled. "We already survived hell out there."

  Mei smiled and slipped her hand in his.

  The professor answered a few more questions before continuing on. "I will call the families to the front first, one at a time. I would like to see the fathers come up and collect these envelopes that contain all the information you will need, including the location of your property. I want you to head straight out and get to work. Next, I will call the full time volunteers and then the part time."

  Max waited anxiously for his name to be called. After getting their envelope, they found their property. It was a beautiful location, up on a hill overlooking the ocean. The trees gave them much shade and the cool breeze coming off the ocean made it feel cool and relaxing. They could see other couples walking around their respective plots of land, many of them already arguing over how to handle the situation.

  Max sat on the ground and began to go through the envelope. He found the instructions to build a two-room bamboo hut with a living room, kitchen and bathroom area. Growing slightly nervous as he went through the complex plans, Max relaxed when he learned they would have professionals install a fully functional bathroom.

  "What does it say?" Mei asked, sitting next to him.

  "I hope you’re ready for this," Max said, looking at Mei.

  "Why, is it that bad?"

  "Well, yes and no. We, or I, have to build this house from scratch and so far the only help I see is the maintenance crew that will install our plumbing. See that large stack of bamboo and stuff? We have to build our hut out of that," Max informed Mei.

  Undeterred, Mei stood. "Okay, let’s do it."

  "Eager, aren't we?" Max said, a tad surprised by her enthusiasm.

  "Hey, I don't know about you, but last night was horrible."

  Max stood up and dusted himself off. He walked up behind Mei who was now looking over the stack of bamboo, and slid his hands around her waist. "It was the worst night since we’ve been married."

  "So then we're on the same page."

  "Yeah, but I don't think we can do it all today."

  "I know," Mei sighed. “But we can at least…”

  "Hello, neighbor!" Renee called out as she made her way to them.

  Mei rolled her eyes. This girl made her blood curl and she didn't know why.

  Max smiled at Renee. "Where are you going to be?" He asked hoping she would be at the opposite end of the village.

  "I'm right next to you." Renee smiled triumphantly and walked away.

  Max could feel the shift in Mei's mood. She went stiff and her eyes hardened as she tried to pull away from him. "Oh no, no, no. Stay in my arms a bit longer. I just want to hold you."

  "Max, something about that girl rubs me the wrong way." Mei turned to face him.

  "Screw her. I only want you." He leaned in to kiss her.

  Mei looked off in the direction Renee had taken and nodded with a complete lack of conviction. "Yeah,” she muttered vaguely. “Can we just start building this thing, then?" She turned and walked away, both hands clenched into two tight fists of frustration.

  Challenge

  Makayla slipped out of bed, irritated when the bed creaked. It was one in the morning and the entire house was asleep. She was already dressed. All she had to do was slip on her sneakers and make sure Tamarius was asleep. She tiptoed past her cousin's room and down to the room Tamarius was sleeping in.

  His door was cracked open, allowing cool air to pass through the stuffy room. Moonlight shined across his bed, highlighting the strong lines of his torso. Breathlessly, Makayla watched as his bare chest slowly moved up and down with his breathing. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back as thoughts of making love to him almost had her crawling into bed with him. Logic returned and she pushed the erotic thoughts from her head and concentrated on the task at hand. She successfully left the house without making any noise.

  She quickly made her way to the orphanage. The front door was locked, but Makayla had grabbed her cousin's keys before she’d gone off to bed. Looking around to make sure no one was watching her, she walked into the aba
ndoned building. With steady hands, she pushed the door closed and turned the lock.

  She scrambled to find a light switch and gasped when a dim light bulb shed light on the extensively damaged home. The kitchen table was broken in two. It looked as though someone’s body had slammed into it. Anger rose to heat her cheeks and grind her teeth as she realized it was her cousin’s body that had split the table. Nearby, the fridge was turned over and spoiling food was strewn everywhere. Maggots swarmed on the floor next to spoiled meat. There was no air conditioning and since it had been locked tight the past few days, it had become a Petri dish from some awful science experiment gone terribly wrong.