Papoosed: An Essie Cobb Senior Sleuth Mystery

by Patricia Rockwell

  “Better to be a claustro . . . whatever phobic . . . than a frozen icicle!” declared Lorena.

  “I won’t go far,” continued Essie in her plea. Anything to keep Lorena from going in my bedroom and discovering Clara, Hubert, and baby Antonio. It would be easier to explain a penchant for winter walks than harboring residents and babies in my bedroom during a quarantine.

  “I hope you change your mind,” directed Lorena, shaking her finger in Essie’s face. Essie merely smiled sweetly at her. Eventually, Lorena gathered up Essie’s pill supplies and replaced them in the cupboard. “Okay, Missie, I’m goin’ but I better not hear that they found your stone cold body out in the parking lot tomorrow mornin’!” She scowled at Essie and disappeared out her front door. You can’t scare me, thought Essie.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.”

  –Vincent van Gogh

  After Lorena had gone, Essie gave the “all-clear” signal for Clara and Hubert who returned to the living room deep in conversation. Clara was laughing and giggling at Hubert’s witticisms. Baby Antonio was sound asleep. Essie assured her two new friends that she could handle the baby through the night. Then they carefully sneaked out of the door and quietly returned to their own rooms.

  Essie went into her bedroom and slowly readied herself for bed. Yes, it was much more difficult without Lorena’s help, but she could do it. Taking care of Antonio had made her realize how truly capable she was . . . and getting her pajamas on was not really all that trying. She slipped out of her shoes and socks and placed them by her bed so they’d be easy to find in the morning. Then she took off her trousers and top . . . which were still clean . . . and set them on a chair by her closet. Quickly, she slipped on her pink nylon pj’s from her top dresser drawer. After a quick trip to the potty and also the kitchen for a refill on the artificial formula, she wheeled back to her bedroom and traded places with her little buddy . . . putting Antonio in the basket and crawling into her bed.

  “Oh, John,” she said out loud to her husband . . . just in case he happened to be listening, “what a merry adventure I’ve gotten myself into now!” She wondered what John would think of her babysitting a newborn infant at her age . . . all by herself . . . well, almost all by herself. It’s one thing to take care of a baby when you’re young, but old people just don’t have the stamina for it . . . at least not every single day. “I’ll be so happy when we find Antonio’s mother!”

  Now that the police were on the lookout for Maria, maybe she would be located. Maybe they would even put an announcement on television about her being missing. Surely, someone would know something. And surely, she thought, I’ll be out of the baby-sitting business! She glanced over to the side of her bed where the baby was sleeping comfortably in her walker basket. I hope I’ll be out of the baby-sitting business! This thought was firmly in her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

  She slept more soundly than she had in ages. It was probably all that activity and exercise, she thought. An invigorating stretch moved from the tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes. A beam of light shot across her bedspread, forcing her to turn her head to her window. Sunbeams were fighting to make their way through the spaces between her blinds. She could hear a few cars outside, cars actually speeding rather rapidly down the street in front of Happy Haven. The only sound that seemed even vaguely reminiscent of the previous night’s storm was a sporadic slushing noise when a car wheel splattered wet snow against the curb. She rolled over to where her walker stood, beside her bed and bent over to peek at baby Antonio in his basket.

  He wasn’t there. No. That couldn’t be right. He was a baby. He couldn’t get up and walk away. Had she put him to sleep somewhere else and forgotten about it? Quickly, she rose and wheeled her walker into the bathroom where she had placed the baby the other morning when DeeDee came to get her ready. There was no sign of the baby. Oh, no! Where could he be? She rolled herself quickly to the living room and looked around, but it was horrifically obvious that the baby . . . the sweet little boy she had promised to care for while they tried to find his missing mother . . . was missing himself!

  Now, stop, Essie! she said to herself. There must be an explanation. Someone must have taken him. Someone who must have known he was here and was so quiet they didn’t even wake me! Me! she thought. One of the lightest sleepers in the world. Panic rose in her heart as she tried desperately to determine what had happened to the baby. She’d have to go look for him.

  She called the main desk. Phyllis was not yet on duty and one of the night workers answered.

  “Can you connect me to the kitchen?” she asked, trying to make her voice sound calm although she felt increasingly horrible.

  “The kitchen?” the woman asked.

  “Yes, please,” said Essie. Soon, an older woman answered.

  “Yes, hello?” said the woman.

  “Hello,” replied Essie. “Is Santos there?”

  “He no here now,” said the woman. “Just me.”

  “When will he be there?” asked Essie, hope draining away.

  The woman repeated, “Just me. No Santos.”

  “Thank you,” said Essie and quietly replaced the receiver. Her heart was beating ferociously. She could not calm her body or her mind. She rolled herself back into her bedroom and dressed in her clothes from yesterday as quickly as she could. Then, she pushed herself to her front room and pulled her winter coat and hat from her front closet. She quickly dressed for the cold. At least, the storm had subsided. She moved to her front door, determined to go out looking for Santos. If he didn’t know where Antonio was, no one would.

  When she opened the door, Santos was standing in the hallway, hand up ready to open her door knob. Beside him stood a young woman, whom Essie immediately recognized as Maria Valdez Compton. She was holding Antonio in her arms.

  “Antonio!” cried Essie, reaching out over her walker to touch the young child. A tear gushed from her eye and she wiped it away with her coat sleeve. “I thought someone kidnapped him!” she cried to them, as more tears poured forth.

  “No, Miss Essie!” whispered Santos, happily. “Antonio is fine! Maria is fine! We come in and explain!”

  “Of course, of course!” she replied and ushered them into her living room.

  “Miss Essie, this Maria,” said Santos, introducing the two women. Essie pulled Maria to her chest and hugged her and the little baby as a unit. It was a long hug. She did not want to let them go. Eventually, they all removed their winter coats and sat down, with baby Antonio on his mother’s lap.

  “First, Miss Essie,” said Santos, “I am so very sorry, I take Antonio from you late late at night. Maria come back late . . . very late. She wants to see baby so bad. I not want to wake you up. You sleep, Miss Essie. So, I take Antonio and give him to Maria. I think I get back here before you wake up. But, no! You wake up very early, Miss Essie!”

  “Yes, I do, young man!” said Essie, shaking her finger at Santos. “And finding that baby gone about gave me heart failure! That’s not a good thing at my age!”

  “I so sorry, Miss Essie,” said Maria in a soft, gentle voice. “Santos tell me how wonderful you be to my baby. I want to say thank you.”

  “There’s no need for that, my dear,” said Essie to the young woman on her sofa. “Just be a good mother to that little boy. That’s the only thanks I want.”

  “Si,” replied Maria and squeezed her child close to her breast.

  “Now, Santos . . . and Maria,” Essie said, “can I get an explanation of what happened? Where have you been all this time, Maria?”

  “Is like you say, Miss Essie,” said Santos, quickly. “Maria, she fall. Maria, Gerald, they have big fight.”

  “Si,” agreed Maria, “he no want me keep baby. He say he can give baby away because he is husband. I
no think that is American way, but I not know.”

  “Horrible!” cried Essie. “What I disgusting man! Excuse me, Maria. I know he was your husband, but . . .”

  “Is all right,” responded Maria. “Gerald very different in Mexico. We get married. We come America. Then Gerald, he is very mean. I not know why.”

  “So what happened after the fight?” asked Essie.

  “I run from house,” said Maria. “Gerald, he follow me. He get in car. He yell at me. He yell he get me, he kill me. I run very fast, but I hear Gerald car come after me, very fast. I run away into woods. I no hear car. I run more into woods, but I trip and fall. No remember then.”

  “A very nice man, Senor Shepherd, he . . . how you say . . .he rescató . . . rescued . . . Maria,” said Santos.

  “Si,” added Maria, “he take me to hospital.”

  “Why didn’t you call Santos?” asked Essie.

  “I call Santos right away,” she said, looking at Santos, puzzled.

  “Maria was . . . inconsciente . . . unconscious until yesterday,” he explained.

  “Si,” said Maria, “I not know many hours go by. When I wake up, I worry much because Santos take care of Antonio. I worry Santos not know how care baby.”

  “You needn’t have worried,” said Essie to Maria in a tender, reassuring voice and a gentle hand on her arm. “Santos is a very kind man.”

  “Si,” said Maria, blushing. Blushing, Essie thought to herself. Maybe Clara is on to something. Maybe there is a budding romance between these two. How sweet!

  A soft knock on the door.

  All three froze and glanced at the baby.

  “It’s us, Essie,” said Clara’s voice. “Me and Hubert.”

  “Just a minute,” replied Essie as she rose to answer her door.

  “No one saw you, did they?” Essie asked. They both shook their heads and quickly discarded their face masks. When Clara and Hubert entered, they both beamed when they saw Maria with her baby. They went over and respectfully looked on as Essie and Santos explained how Maria had been located.

  Another knock on the door caused all of the people in the room to freeze again, but the sudden fear changed to relief, when Opal, Marjorie, and Fay entered, all dropping their paper masks at the door.

  “A little bird told us there was a reunion going on down here!” cried Marjorie, rolling excitedly over to the group surrounding Antonio and his young mother. Opal and Fay quickly joined her. Essie and Santos delighted in repeating the happy story of how they located Antonio’s mother.

  “How wonderful! You’re all here! And none of you got caught!” said Essie to the entire group. “This is surely the best Christmas present ever!”

  Chapter Thirty

  “When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about.”

  James Matthew Barrie

  The tall spruce was gleaming as it seemed to look down in pride at the large group gathered beneath its branches in the Happy Haven family room. On the far end of the room, a chorus of young children all decked out in red and white choir robes, holding hymnals, were serenading the residents. Most all of the residents were seated on sofas and chairs and many additional folding chairs that had been set up to accommodate the overflow crowd. Indeed, it was an overflow crowd, as many residents had invited family members to join them for the concert that had been postponed for days due to a bad stomach virus and a raging snowstorm. Both had now passed. Behind the seated residents, many staff members stood, also enjoying the Christmas music. The air was filled with a wonderful holiday aroma that Essie now knew was composed of traditional frankincense and myrrh.

  Essie herself was in the last row of folding chairs near the tree. On her right sat her three children–Prudence, Kurt, and Claudia. On her left, sat her three best friends–Opal, Marjorie, and Fay. Her friends had by now heard all the details about the discovery of Antonio’s mother.

  “Oh, this takes me back to my days of teaching elementary school!” whispered Marjorie. She sighed as several of the smallest carolers came forward and sang solos. “Aren’t they adorable?”

  “Not as adorable as Antonio,” said Opal, leaning in to her friend.

  “Of course not!” agreed Marjorie. “Oh, I miss him!”

  Fay and Essie smiled at their two friends and all four women beamed at each other in a spirit of solidarity.

  “Thank you, dear friends,” whispered Essie, when the program had ended and the audience members began to chat and move around, “thank you, all, for your help.”

  She reached over and squeezed their hands. Then, realizing that they were ignoring Essie’s children, the friends concluded their private discussion and focused their attention on Essie’s family.

  “It’s wonderful that the quarantine and the snowstorm are over just in time for Christmas,” said Opal to Essie’s children.

  “And it’s wonderful that the children’s choir was able to reschedule to perform for us at the last moment! It just wouldn’t be Christmas without them!” added Marjorie. Prudence, Claudia, and Kurt agreed and smiled warmly at Essie’s three friends.

  A man in the row directly in front of them turned around.

  “Hello, Miss Essie,” said Hubert Darby. “Merry Christmas,” he said to all of Essie’s family.

  “Hello, Hubert,” replied Essie. She introduced the man to her children. The woman sitting next to Hubert also turned around and greeted Essie and her children.

  “Hello, Essie,” said Clara. “Merry Christmas to you.” Essie’s children greeted Clara. Opal, Marjorie, and Fay looked at Clara knowingly and each glanced back at Essie.

  “You all may not know,” whispered Essie to her friends, “but my next door neighbor, Clara, is a former NICU nurse and knows a lot about taking care of infants.” She gave Clara a nod. Opal, Marjorie, and Fay all bent forward and each gave Clara a warm hug.

  Essie felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She turned and found herself looking up at Santos. Maria was standing beside him, holding Antonio in her arms.

  “Merry Christmas, Miss Essie,” he said.

  “Oh, Santos, Merry Christmas,” said Essie, and quickly added, “I’d like you to meet my children–Prudence, Claudia, and Kurt. I’m so delighted they were all able to come and enjoy this concert with us.”

  Essie’s children greeted Santos, whom Essie introduced as her favorite waiter. They informed him that they were taking Essie out to dinner after the concert.

  “Um, Miss Essie,” said Santos, awkwardly, “this is . . . uh . . . Maria and her son Antonio. She work in kitchen with Santos.” Santos was not a good liar, but Essie appreciated his efforts.

  “Is very Merry Christmas for Maria and Antonio,” continued Santos. “Immigration Office says it not deport Maria. Says Maria and baby both licitó . . . how you say? Legal. Can stay in America!”

  “That’s wonderful, Santos!” exclaimed Essie.

  “I go stay at Maria’s apartment,” Santos said. “I help Maria with baby.”

  “Very happy,” said Maria. She looked adoringly at Santos.

  Essie beamed at them and reached out for baby Antonio.

  “Could I hold him?” she asked Maria. Maria smiled and handed the child down to Essie. Almost immediately, Essie’s friends noticed the baby’s presence and they all moved in around her closer to see him. Prudence, Claudia, and Kurt stood dumbfounded nearby as the group of elderly residents focused completely on one small, totally unknown–to Essie’s children, at least–child.

  “Hello, Antonio,” said Essie. “Aren’t you a little charmer? I doubt that the other residents will be able to resist you. We don’t see many newborn infants here.”

  “Is okay,” said Maria to Essie. “Antonio is Happy Haven resident too.”

  “He certainly is,” agreed Essie, as a crowd of residents . . . even those who had no idea who he was . . . had formed around the little infant. Essie’s children smiled from the sidelines.

  “He
y, it’s a baby!” cried one of the young carolers and a whole pack of youngsters quickly encircled Essie and the infant. “Can I touch him?” asked one little girl.

  “Me too!” chimed in another girl. Soon all the children were stretching out their hands to touch the baby.

  “I think you all had better just look at him,” suggested their choir director behind the excited group of carolers. “Babies are very delicate.” The children instantly calmed and watched the infant from a respectful distance. Many got on their knees so they could touch the baby’s feet.

  Across the room, Essie noticed a tall, older man come through the front door. He was wearing a long overcoat and snow boots. He had a full head of snow white hair and matching full white beard. Hmm, she thought. Maybe, he’s going to play Santa Claus! That would be perfect! The man spoke to Phyllis at the front desk. Phyllis pointed towards the crowd and the man headed in their direction. When he arrived, he stopped and beamed at the infant in Essie’s arms. Then his eyes scanned the crowd until they landed, a bit uncertainly, on Maria, standing behind Essie, next to Santos.