Time for Raine

by C. Barry Denham

  “Of course.”

  He recited his email address, and after a long hesitation she said, “So.” Her voice sounded much calmer. “I’m sorry, please forgive me. It’s…well, it’s just I’ve never run across a child like Raine before, and it’s all exciting. Take all the time you need to review the information. Can I call you tomorrow? Wait, no. Check that. Oh, I’m sorry. You call me when you are ready to talk about the next step.”

  “Next step?”

  “Sorry, shouldn’t have gone there. You’re right, let’s slow down and digest what we have so far. There will be plenty of time to regroup.”

  “Thanks,” he said, somewhat relieved the conversation might soon be over. “I’m sure you’ll be hearing from us in a few days. At any rate, it probably won’t be tomorrow. Tomorrow morning is Raine’s birthday party.”

  Raine tugged at him and whispered loudly in his ear. “Can Miss Noelle come to my party?”

  He was caught off guard. “Honey, I’m sure Miss Noelle has other things she has to do tomorrow—”

  “Forgive me, Sean. I overheard. Actually, I don’t have any plans. I mean, if you’d prefer I not be there, I would certainly understand.”

  From the first planning of the party, he had known Raine would want to invite her. He was surprised she hadn’t asked earlier.

  “No, please. Forgive me for not inviting you. Besides, I’m not sure how many mothers are coming. My agent and best friend Derek usually helps me with things like this, but he’s on a book tour with one of his other clients. If you’re up to it, I could use some help with the party.”

  “Really, I would completely understand if—”

  “Raine would really like for you to come.”

  The moment of silence seemed much longer. “I would be happy to come. And help. Thank you for inviting me.”

  “Sure, I’ll add your name to the list of guests at the bridge guard shack. Tell the guard you’re coming to our house. Number eleven, Ono Way. Party starts around ten. Can you come early to help set up?”

  “Of course,” she replied. “I’ll see you nineish?”

  “Perfect.”

  He ended the call and tried to process all that he had heard. Raine laid her hands on his cheeks and turned his head toward her. For a long while she stared at him, her face inches from his nose. He stared back and tried to hide his apprehension. Soon, a smile crept onto her face. She shrugged and held out her little palms.

  “The questions were easy.”

  Sean made wild eyes and showed his teeth. He messed up her hair and ran his hands over her head. “So easy for you? Hmmm, I see. Ve must remove dis brain and see vhat is causing dis smartness. I must call my assistant. Igor! Igor!”

  She giggled and tried to escape his grasp. He held onto her tightly and cackled. “Your brain is mine, all mine!”

  She laughed as hard as he remembered her laughing in a long time. Making a joke was what the doctor ordered. At least for his daughter.

  As for him, all he wanted to do was make it all go away and will their lives to magically go back to normal. He had the feeling things would never be the same.

  When things settled, after a few moments she smiled again. “I’m glad Miss Noelle is coming to my party.”

  “Me, too.” For some insane reason, he really meant it.

  ****

  Sean woke face to face with dark eyes staring at him. Those eyes were attached to a little body that sat directly on his chest. He’d had trouble getting to sleep and struggled to open his eyes. He glanced at the clock. It was barely six, four hours until the party.

  “Are you awake yet, Daddy?”

  “Aaghh, let me sleep, please?”

  Raine had a different agenda and bounced on him, forcing the air from his tired lungs.

  “Get up, Daddy,” she pleaded. “Today’s my party. We have to get ready.”

  “We’re ready. Five more minutes?”

  “Okay.” She was still and quiet for perhaps five seconds before jumping again. “Time’s up.”

  He gave up on the losing battle, sat up quickly, flipped her playfully, and caught her before she vaulted from the bed. He tossed the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Light was beginning to show through the curtains.

  “Okay, okay,” he growled, hugging his bright-eyed daughter. “And how long have we been up?”

  “You’ve been up a few seconds. I don’t know how long I’ve been up.”

  He suspected she had been up since long before first light.

  “I’m hungry,” she said and took a deep breath.

  “How would you like some birthday pancakes?”

  “Yippee!” She was off to the kitchen. “I’ll get the eggs!”

  “Wait till I get there, young lady!” He rose from the bed slowly. Several joints popped and creaked in rebellion. He made his way to the kitchen, purposefully avoided looking back at his bed.

  Three pancakes and a messy kitchen later, Raine leaned back in her chair and belched loudly. Sean looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

  She giggled. “What, Daddy?”

  “I’m waiting.” He folded his arms.

  She belched again, louder this time. “Is that better?” She broke into a belly laugh.

  He laughed, too, in spite of efforts to the contrary. Discipline would have to take a back seat to birthday excitement. In an effort to save face, he wiped the smile from his lips with his hand. “What do you say, young lady?”

  “Excuse me.” She tried to mock him by repeating his action. It didn’t work. The smile was still plastered to her face. Her expression turned solemn for a moment.

  “You know, Daddy, if we were in China, those beeps would be a compliment.”

  Beep was the designated word for the expulsion of bodily gas—from either end. Because of her age, he had never considered teaching her the proper words for those bodily functions. He never imagined she would be able to pronounce belch or flatulence, let alone be able to understand the meaning of the words. And teaching her to say burp and fart seemed out of the question. As the magnitude of her statement caught up with him, he did a double take.

  “Wait a minute, you excessive pancake eater.” He followed her as she took her plate to the sink. “How did you know about the customs of your native country? Was that in the encyclopedias also?”

  “Nuh-uh.” She put the syrup back in the lower shelf in the refrigerator. “You’re going to tell me about that custom.”

  “Oh.” He rinsed the plates. “I see. So I was going to say ‘Raine, in China it is considered a compliment to belch’?”

  “See?” Her eyes lit up. “You just told me. I knew you were going to say that.”

  A weakness settled into his knees, and he stopped in his tracks. “What?” he cried, a bit too urgently. “Wait a minute, how did you know I was going to tell you that? You were guessing, right?”

  Her demeanor changed, and she lowered her chin. “No…I mean I don’t know,” she whispered.

  His mind raced, and he had the strong urge to shake himself awake. More than anything he wanted to press his daughter for an explanation, but he was treading on thin ice. Because of her sensitive nature, the wrong comment or tone could shut her down on the subject. She peered at him cautiously as if she thought she had said something wrong. Did she even understand how she had known what he would say? He made a conscious decision to table the matter. There would be a better time to broach the subject she had raised with her strange epiphany. In a couple of hours, Noelle would arrive. Maybe she would be able to shed some light on the subject. After all, he didn’t want to upset Raine, especially on her birthday.

  “Okay, birthday girl,” he barked, forcing a smile. “Off to your bathroom to brush your teeth and then on with your party duds. I expect you to fall in at oh-eight-hundred hours for full inspection.”

  “Yes, sir, cap’n,” she bellowed, saluted, and then marched from the kitchen.

  The blood drained from his head. What had just happe
ned? What else would surface concerning his daughter’s intellectual gifts? Was he reading too much into her perception? His mind raced with the latest twist to her situation. This could not help in his quest to ensure that his little girl have a safe and normal life that all three-year-olds deserved. The whole situation was spiraling out of control, and there seemed to be little he could do to stop it.

  ****

  Sean’s chance to talk with Noelle came later during the party. All the mothers and kids were enthralled in a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey effort outside on the back patio. He and Noelle were in the process of cleaning up from the cake fest. Noelle broke the silence.

  “The cake was beautiful,” she said. “You did a good job with the Toy Story theme.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Wow. Raine got a lot of nice gifts, too. Especially from Derek. I would say he made up for not being here with the motorized car. I think she likes that gift best of all.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you all right?” she asked. “You know, if there’s anything you ever want to talk about, I’d be happy to listen. After all, I hate to waste all that training and studying.”

  He smiled.

  “It’s not often I offer a freebie.” She stopped. “I mean—”

  “It’s okay, I know what you meant.”

  He put the dishrag down, took a deep breath, looked at her, and shook his head.

  “What’s wrong?” She backed away, a concerned look on her face.

  “It’s probably nothing.”

  “What?”

  “Well, this morning after breakfast, Raine said something that’s been bothering me all day.” He proceeded to tell her, word for word, what Raine had said. Noelle was quiet for a long moment, stopped what she was doing, and looked at him with a frown.

  “And she said you were going to tell her that?” she asked. “That’s exactly what she said?”

  “Yes. And when I pressed her, she shushed up and became very uneasy.”

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course.”

  “Did you and Raine go over the test results?”

  “Yes, we looked at them for quite a while.”

  “Did you go over the questions and answers in detail?”

  “Yes, she wanted to. Why do you ask?”

  Noelle became quiet, walked to the kitchen table, and sat down slowly. “Well, I guess that fills in a few blanks for me.”

  Sean moved to a chair across from her. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

  A scream came from outside. Sean was out the back door before the sound stopped echoing in his ears. Raine was on the concrete patio with blood on her face. Although it was a small amount of blood, Sean saw it as much more. He lifted her into his arms and frantically examined her face. Before he could turn to ask, Noelle held out a wet paper towel. Raine reached out for Noelle.

  “I am so sorry,” said one of the mothers. “We were playing a game, and she slipped and fell.”

  “It’s okay.” Sean took a deep breath. He reluctantly gave Raine to Noelle and wiped blood from his daughter’s lip. Noelle held fast to Raine as if she were her own daughter, although she had told him she had no children. Raine had never expressed interest in being held by anyone other than him. She was not one to have social interaction with anyone, especially during stress or trauma. She had only recently become comfortable interacting with kids on the beach and at the playground. Never had she so willingly gone to another adult, not even Derek. To add to his bewilderment there were tears in Noelle’s eyes. She held Raine’s head against her breasts and rocked her slowly. Luckily, it was only a small cut on her lip. Her teeth and gums were unharmed. When he was sure the bleeding had stopped, he tossed the paper towels in a waste can. He returned and reached for her. Raine put her head on Noelle’s shoulders and sniffled. He dropped his arms awkwardly.

  Sean felt threatened. Yet he was blown away at how natural Raine and Noelle looked together, there in the morning sun on the edge of the patio. Noelle glanced at him and gave him a slight shrug of her shoulders, as if to ask, “Do you want her back?” He shook his head ever so slightly and followed them into the house. He only hoped his daughter wouldn’t get too attached.

  The three of them sat quietly at the kitchen table. Raine remained in Noelle’s lap, with her head against her shoulder.

  “Does your lip hurt?” Noelle continued to lightly rub Raine’s hair from her face. Raine shook her head and sighed.

  Noelle looked at Sean, and for a moment he was unable to glance away from her eyes. She seemed to be equally confused at how Raine had taken to her. The little girl lifted her head and leaned toward Sean. She reached out for him. Noelle handed her to him. Their hands touched as he took Raine. Strange, conflicting emotions caused Sean more confusion, as he took his child into his arms. Noelle’s face continued to show concern. Sean turned his attention to Raine.

  “Are you all right, now, sweetie?”

  She nodded. “Can I go back outside?”

  Sean lowered her to the floor, and she made her way out the door.

  Through the excitement, he had forgotten about the conversation he and Noelle were having. He looked across the table to Noelle, who continued to look at him. She soon looked away and stood. He followed her back to the sink. He felt he was standing by a totally different person, one softer and more feminine. Shoulder to shoulder by the sink, he continued the task of rinsing silverware and plates for the dishwasher, as she wiped cake from them. As she handed him the last dish, her hand brushed against his. He gently placed the dish in the sink and turned toward her.

  “Thanks for—” His eyes froze on her glimmering blue eyes, which seemed to search into his soul. Her supple lips parted seductively. He wiped his hands for a moment and then cupped her face in his hands. She met his advance with urgency by throwing her arms around his waist. He kissed her. To his surprise and pleasure, she relaxed in his arms and kissed him with equal urgency.

  The back door opened, startling him. They separated and returned to the dishes seconds before the mother of one of the children walked into the kitchen. They turned and looked at the other woman, who looked uncomfortable.

  “You two seem awfully busy in here,” she said. “Do you need any help?”

  They answered in unison, stumbling over each other’s words. “No, thank you.”

  “Everything is under control.” He waved her away.

  The mother backed away and couldn’t get out of the kitchen fast enough.

  He had not been truthful with his response. Everything seemed anything but under control.

  Where did the kiss come from, and what the hell was he thinking?

  Chapter Six

  “Do we have to move, Daddy?”

  Sean sat with Raine in his Lazy-Boy chair, the place where he had soothed her through many sniffles, rocked away fevers, and shooed away bad dreams. This question was not one he expected to hear. He placed the test results on the table next to the chair.

  “Of course not, sweetie. Why would you think we have to move?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I like it here in our house. Don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “You guess so?” Sean wondered where this discussion was going and what was behind her concern. Nothing he had said about the test results should have prompted that, had it?

  “Daddy, someday can we live on the beach?”

  “The beach?”

  “Yeah, I dreamed last night I woke up and heard the ocean.”

  Sean drew her close and kissed her cheek. “You know what, little one?”

  “What, Daddy?”

  “If you listen real closely, you can hear the waves from the beach right here in our house. Especially if it’s not too hot or cold, and we leave our windows open.”

  Raine smiled and shrugged. After a few moments, she crawled down from his lap.

  “So you’re okay now with the test results? Anything else you want to ask Da
ddy?”

  She shook her head and bounded off to her room. For the most part, she took it all in stride, as if their several-day, thorough examination of it was old news. It was a different story for Sean. He continued to have long and hard thoughts about the tests and couldn’t quite shake his concern over what the results did mean. The discussions with Noelle during the party kept resurfacing in his mind. They had never gotten a chance to resume the conversation concerning Raine’s newly discovered gift. Instead, they agreed to table the discussions for a future meeting.

  And of course there was the kiss. They had spoken a few times since then, but neither had mentioned it. He refused to dwell on it, and yet the guilt and confusion surrounding that kiss hung out there like a giant albatross.

  He shook it all away. It was the end of the week, and following dinner and a bath, Fridays were spent with Orville Redenbacher and the movie of the week. This week’s entertainment included popcorn and Dr. Doolittle. It was ironic that the movie he had chosen featured someone with an extraordinary gift, in this case the ability to talk with animals. Raine’s was a much different gift, one that was as yet not fully understood or quantified, yet the world kept spinning as it did before. She was still a daddy’s girl, and he was the daddy. If anything she seemed to need him more, not less. There was an air of excitement in the house but also a twinge of uncertainty hanging over them, which hovered just out of reach throughout movie night.

  The test results and the discovery of Raine’s extraordinary perception hung in the air like a thick fog. So many things could spin off out of control from here. Would there truly be a school nearby that could provide her with the environment she needed for learning? Would there be emotional issues for her from that intelligence? It was a lot for a little girl to deal with, not to mention what he as her father would face. How would he temper and protect her from all the inevitable recognition her intelligence would bring? There was too much new information, and not enough time to process it. Yet Raine seemed happy dumbing down with the old man, popcorn, and the flat screen.