“Yes,” Allyson agreed in a tone as if she was trying not to sound sarcastic. “She has to be in the car seat though.”
“I know,” Ellen retorted. “I’ll sit in the seat next to her and hold her hand. Maybe that will help.”
“You can try that,” Allyson said as Ellen was moving towards the seat next to Sonya, “but we may have to endure her crying until we get back to the house.”
“We should’ve brought a pacifier,” Ellen thought aloud.
“We’re only a few minutes from the house, so she won’t be in the car seat too long,” Allyson said.
“Alright,” Ellen said while gently taking hold of Sonya’s hand.
Allyson shut the back door, walked around, opened her door and climbed in. Sonya’s fussing was going strong, but when Allyson started the SUV, Sonya’s fussing turned into a whimper. A low volume Country song played over the speakers, which calmed Sonya even more.
Once the SUV moved from its parking spot, Sonya was expressionless with a hint of being curious as her eyes glanced around while her head barely moved.
“I think riding in a moving vehicle has her curious to what’s going on,” Ellen supplied.
“Let’s hope she remains curious until we get to the house,” Allyson replied.
The Country song ended just as Allyson pulled out of the hospital’s parking lot and into traffic. When a commercial came on instead of another song, Sonya let out a high-pitch monotone sound that wouldn’t end.
When Sonya didn’t stop after a few seconds, Ellen questioned, “Is this sound Sonya’s attempt to talk?”
“I think it’s just a random noise that she learned that she could make,” Allyson guessed.
“Okay, well, the sound she’s making is making me dizzy,” Ellen grumbled as she attended to her ears.
“Talk to her,” Allyson suggested. “Maybe that will get her to stop.”
Before Ellen could attempt to get Sonya to stop making that sound another song began to play, which got Sonya to stop making the sound on her own.
Ellen stared curiously at Sonya for a second before uttering delightfully, “Oh my God!”
“What?” Allyson curiously asked.
“Sonya was either trying to sing or she was trying to tell us that she wanted the songs back,” Ellen replied.
“I really think Sonya is too young to be attempting to sing or requesting more music.”
“Sonya was sung to since the day she was conceived,” Ellen pointed out. “So maybe she isn’t too young.”
“What do you mean that she was sung to since the day she was conceived?” Allyson curiously questioned.
“Tanya was a singer… a very talented singer, in fact, and she loved to sing,” Ellen explained. “Ooh, in fact, when Tanya learned that Mike was a weekend karaoke DJ… after they had met at the auction, she would go to his gigs and sing. And she would get up to sing more than most. Anyway, as I said, Tanya was a very talented singer, and she sang all the time, and once she found out that she was pregnant, she would sing to her stomach.”
With an amused tone in her voice, Allyson questioned, “So you’re thinking that Sonya is having a… a ‘sense memory’— for a lack of a better term—of when she was being sung to while in her mother’s womb?”
“Stranger things have happened… and recently,” Ellen pointed out.
Allyson reached for the radio’s power button while saying, “Let’s test it.”
Allyson turned off the radio and immediately following, Sonya let out her high-pitch monotone sound again.
“Okay,” Ellen uttered while putting her fingers in her ears. “Test’s over, and she passed.”
Allyson turned on the radio again and once the song resumed, Sonya quieted down.
“Apparently she’s not too young to request songs,” Allyson admitted.
“I told you,” Ellen said smugly.
“Yeah you did,” Allyson again admitted with an amused tone in her voice. “It appears that we have a music enthusiast on our hands.”
“And if she takes after her mother, she’ll like every type of music out there,” Ellen added.
“So on the day when Mike and Tanya met, what were they bidding on?”
“Oh, uh, a rare record… I can’t remember who by though. Anyway, they both were outbid by a record-collector from New York.”
“Well… since they met there and fell in love, they didn’t really leave empty handed,” Allyson supplied.
“True,” Ellen agreed with a grin.
During the ride to the house, Allyson had to keep finding a station that was playing a song; otherwise Sonya would keep making her high pitch sound.
Within a short time, Allyson parked the SUV in front of the house, and once she shut off the engine, Sonya began again with her high pitch sound.
“We’ve arrived, Sonya,” Ellen told her as she went to unfasten her from the car seat. “I’ll turn on the radio when we get in the house.”
When Sonya didn’t stop with the high pitch sound, Allyson suggested, “We may have to sing to her.”
“I’m not the singer that your mom was, but here goes nothing,” Ellen told Sonya before singing the song that Tanya had sung the most while carrying Sonya.
Sonya’s eyes locked on Ellen before letting out a delightful squeal.
“I think Sonya approves,” Allyson said as she went to open her door to climb out.
With a slight grin on her face, Ellen sang to Sonya as she picked her up from the car seat, and she continued to sing as she carried Sonya towards the house. Allyson walked ahead of Ellen in order to unlock and open the front door. Once everyone was in and the door was shut, Allyson walked over to the entertainment center and turned on a radio/CD player.
Once a song began to play on the radio, Ellen quit singing, and before a second could pass Sonya made a monotone sound, but not as loud as before.
“The radio is playing, Sonya,” Ellen told her. Sonya continued intermittently with the sound that she was making.
Allyson slightly laughed before saying, “I think she prefers your singing over the radio.”
“She’s the first,” Ellen said as she carried Sonya closer to the radio.
“You don’t have a bad singing voice,” Allyson assured her.
Sonya stopped making the sound when Ellen carried her next to the entertainment center.
“I’ve heard myself on tape…” Ellen got out before a thought had occurred to her.
“And you thought you were bad?” Allyson asked when Ellen stopped talking.
“What? Oh, no,” Ellen replied. “I wasn’t bad… bad, but I wasn’t noteworthy either. Anyway, can you take Sonya?”
“Sure,” Allyson said as she moved closer. “But why?”
“Tanya had recorded three discs of songs of herself, and I have a hunch that Sonya would prefer to listen to her mom sing than me,” Ellen told Allyson just before Allyson took Sonya.
Allyson grinned before saying, “That sounds like a hunch worth trying.”
Ellen nodded before turning towards a closed cabinet at the entertainment center, opening it and searching through the discs for the correct ones.
“Got them,” Ellen said after finding the three discs fairly quickly. She then chose one at random and put it into the CD player.
Once the song came on, Sonya became quiet and—except for Sonya’s slow wandering eyes—perfectly still.
“Good call,” Allyson praised. “Now since I have Sonya in my arms, would you mind going and get a blanket?” Allyson then saw the curious look that Ellen shot her. “It’s too soon to put Sonya to bed, so I’m going to fix a pallet in the floor for her.”
“Okay,” Ellen said before walking towards where the blankets were kept.
Ellen was gone for a short time before returning with a blanket and a toy stuff bunny, and once the pallet was set up in the floor next to the entertainment center, Sonya was put down.
Ellen lay next to Sonya, held the bunny over Sonya’s face by almost
a foot and said to Sonya in a playful voice, “Hi there, baby girl. I’m Bugsy.”
Sonya stared at the bunny while letting out a monotone sound that was short in duration.
“Okay, while you’re entertaining Sonya, I’ll go fix us some dinner,” Allyson told Ellen.
Before Ellen could respond, Sonya’s expression changed to as if she was straining while grunting.
“Wait! What’s going on with Sonya?”
Allyson glanced at Sonya and grinned before saying, “She’s… soiling her pamper. Have you changed a pamper before?”
“Just on my dolls, and I was ten the last time I’d done it.”
Allyson grinned while saying, “That’s not the same. I’ll go grab a pamper and the wipes, and I’ll show you how to change Sonya’s pamper.”
“Okay,” Ellen agreed before Allyson walked away.
Allyson went and grabbed a pamper, the wipes and the diaper-rash medicine.
Ellen saw the medicine when Allyson returned, and while gesturing towards it, she asked, “Sonya has a diaper rash?”
“I brought this just in case,” Allyson said. “Anyway, does she look like she’s done?”
“She smells like she’s done,” Ellen said while covering her nose slightly. “And she definitely crapped.”
“Okay, let’s see if she’s done,” Allyson said in an amused tone before she proceeded to show Ellen how to change Sonya’s pamper.
Allyson playfully talked to Sonya as she changed her pamper as well as instructed Ellen on how to do it. Normally Allyson would’ve had Sonya’s pamper changed in a third of the time that it took her.
Once Sonya’s pamper was changed, Ellen continued to play with Sonya with the stuff bunny.
Allyson wrapped the pamper enough where it wouldn’t smell, tossed it away in the kitchen’s trashcan, and went to wash her hands. Once Allyson’s hands were washed, she went to prepare dinner for herself and Ellen.
Tanya had received a ‘Pack ‘n Play Playard with bassinet and a Winnie-the-Pooh musical mobile’ during her baby shower, and after a short time of playing with Sonya, Ellen had remembered that.
“Ooh, I know what you would like,” Ellen said before standing. “Allyson!” Ellen had startled Sonya and she began to cry. As Ellen went to pick up Sonya, she told her in a soothing tone, “Oh, I’m sorry, baby girl.”
Allyson stepped out of the kitchen and saw Ellen consoling Sonya as Sonya continued to cry.
As Allyson stepped closer, she asked, “What happened?”
“I startled her when I called for you,” Ellen replied as she continued to console Sonya by holding her close and rubbing her back. “And I called for you because I was going to get out the playpen from underneath Mike and Tanya’s bed and set it up. The playpen has a bassinet and a musical… gadget that has Winnie-the-Pooh characters that go round and round.”
“Okay, well, if you give me Sonya…” Allyson was only able to get out.
“I’m going to calm her first,” Ellen interjected in a stubborn tone. “I don’t want Sonya to associate me with the person who scares her and then walks off for someone else to console her.”
Allyson amusingly grinned before saying, “Okay. I haven’t gotten far with dinner, so I’ll go get the playpen and set it up.”
Ellen nodded in agreement as she continued to console Sonya. Allyson held her grin as she turned and walked away.
Allyson wasn’t gone long from the room when Sonya’s crying turned into sniffles. By the time that Allyson had returned with the playpen, Sonya was in a better mood.
“Do you want me to set it up?” Ellen asked as she held Sonya in her arms.
“You have Sonya, so I’ll do it,” Allyson told Ellen.
“Okay,” Ellen agreed before putting Sonya back down on the pallet. Ellen lay down beside her and began playing with her with the stuff bunny again.
The playpen was fairly easy to set up, and within a short time, Ellen placed Sonya in it.
Allyson started the music mobile, which immediately caught Sonya’s attention. Sonya’s eyes followed the characters on the music mobile for only a short time before making her high-pitch monotone sound.
“Uh-oh, I don’t think she cares for the musical gadget,” Ellen supplied.
“That or it’s clashing too badly with her mom’s song,” Allyson suggested as she moved towards the CD player. “The two songs aren’t mixing well.”
Allyson turned off the CD player and before another word could be said, Sonya began to cry.
“Ooh, you really have her upset now,” Ellen informed.
Allyson turned the CD player back on before telling Ellen, “Turn off the music mobile.”
Once Tanya’s CD began playing again and the music mobile was turned off, Sonya’s crying again changed into a sniffle.
“Okay, well, we now know what she wants to listen to,” Ellen said.
“Yes,” Allyson agreed with a grin before stepping up to Sonya and gently taking hold of one of her hands to console her. Once Sonya appeared to be in a better mood again, Allyson told Ellen, “Alright, I’m going to get back to fixing dinner.”
Ellen nodded, but before Allyson could walk away Ellen told her, “Sonya seems to be content staring at Winnie-the-pooh characters and listening to her mom’s songs. So I’m going to get that Legacy volume that I’m in the middle of. I’ll be back in the room in a moment.”
“Okay,” Allyson told her before she and Ellen went their respective ways.
Ellen was only gone from the room for a short time. When she returned, she checked on Sonya before taking a seat on the couch and opening up the volume to where she had left off.
It took Allyson less than an hour to fix dinner, but before Allyson and Ellen sat down at the kitchen table to eat, Sonya— while lying in the playpen—was moved next to the kitchen table. The stereo was turned up in order for Sonya to hear the music.
Within a short time after Ellen and Allyson began eating, Sonya fell asleep in the playpen, and once Ellen and Allyson were done eating, Allyson moved Sonya to her crib without waking her.
Ellen followed Allyson to the bedroom and got out the baby monitors. Once the monitors were set up, Ellen went to do her homework.
Allyson went to wash dishes, but before she could finish, Harris had called. Allyson had wanted to surprise Harris about Sonya being released from the hospital so Allyson kept that fact to herself during their ten-minute conversation. Once the conversation was over, Allyson went back to washing the dishes.
Four hours later, Sonya woke up crying. Allyson immediately changed her pamper again, fed her and sung her back to sleep with a lullaby. Once Sonya was sleeping again, Ellen and Allyson went to their respective beds.
Chapter Twelve
Thursday morning in London, England, Harris caught the first flight back to the States, and by late afternoon, Kansas City time, Harris’s final plane was touching down in Kansas City.
Sonya was in a stroller in front of Ellen as Ellen and Allyson waited at the gate for Harris to walk into the terminal.
A battery-operated CD player was placed in the back pocket of the stroller and the speakers were taped to the stroller near Sonya’s ears. Most songs would keep Sonya quiet, but the current music CD that was playing—barely loud enough for even Sonya to hear—was one of Tanya’s CDs.
When Harris walked into the terminal, he gave the baby stroller a double-take before shooting Allyson a smile.
With a delightful grin on his face Harris stepped up to them and asked, “So when was Sonya released?”
“Yesterday,” Allyson replied with a pleasant grin. Harris saw a slightly disturbed expression on Ellen’s face. “I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.”
“Are you okay, Ellen?” Harris quickly asked. “You look bothered over something.”
“I’m fine,” Ellen said with a polite grin. “It’s just that... I think, ‘so how was the funeral?’ is a lame question. I’m mean, how does the person who would ask that think how a funer
al had gone? Funerals are sad no matter what. However, I’m curious to hear about Tanya’s funeral. So I’m trying to think of a better way to bring it up without my question sounding lame.”
Harris amusingly grinned before saying, “It went as expected.” Ellen grinned. “All of my relatives and most of Tanya’s friends had showed up.”
“That’s good,” Ellen said.
“Yes,” Harris agreed before giving Allyson a ‘hello’ kiss.
The noise level inside the terminal became momentarily quiet enough for Harris to barely hear the CD player that was attached to the stroller, and after the kiss, Harris glanced curiously towards the stroller.
As Harris gestured towards her, he questioned, “You have Sonya listening to a CD player?”
“If she doesn’t have it, she makes an annoying high-pitch sound,” Ellen was the first to say. “By having her listening to music, it keeps her from making that sound.”
“When did she start that?” Harris asked.
“Yesterday, just after hearing her first song on the SUV’s radio,” Allyson told him. “When a second song didn’t come on the radio right away, she made a high pitch sound until another song came on.”
“And now we have to have a radio or a CD player going constantly or she will make that sound,” Ellen added.
Harris slightly chuckled before bending down to Sonya’s level. As Harris rubbed Sonya’s stomach, he told her, “And I thought your mom was a fanatic about listening to her music. It sounds as though you have her beat.” Sonya giggled as if she was being tickled. Harris then heard the voice of the singer better. “The woman singing sounds like Tanya.”
“It is,” Allyson confirmed.
“Tanya had made three CDs of herself, and I thought Sonya would like to hear them,” Ellen added.
Harris stood upright before saying, “I will have to listen to those songs myself. Anyway, Ellen, did you let your dad know that Sonya was out of the hospital?” Ellen slightly sucked on her lips while shaking her head. “He would want to know.”
Ellen shrugged before saying, “I lived sixteen years of my life, not worrying about informing him of anything. You can’t expect me to remember to include him on things just after a week of armistice.”
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