Short story

Dogs

By Udayana Ranatunga

The angel opens her eyes. The same one that had turned my heart to melted but ter on that night, but this time they glowed in the glory of life, they shone as she gazed on her newborn. She sparkled in sweat as she held the baby to herself. It brought tears to my eyes to see them like that.

She was the cutest thing I had ever seen. Wrinkled blanket swirled around her tiny head, she seemed so red and plump.

She was smiling, neither was the nurse nor doctors... they went on with their duties, seen too many births to be touched by them anymore. But Jenny looked up at me with tears in her eyes, and in that instance assured me than ever before that we were a family, that it had been worth it.

Vision blurring, I put my arms around my family, they both smelt good, and warm, soft comfort took me, being inserted into the aura of holiness.

Two months had passed since the birth of our baby girl, Lizzy. I was sitting on one of the chairs that semi-circled the TV, Jenny was sitting on another one, a basket-full of wool and needle like things on her lap. She had been making dozens of little wool dresses, which the baby would surely grow out of quickly enough.

But it made Jenny happy so what the hell. It was a resting time for both of us. Coming home from the factory, I prepared myself for a meal and the hacking of the night when Liz would invariably start wailing at the most importune time, but both of us had got used to it. Jenny had given up her job at the saloon, and hired help came along on Fridays to clean the house after the events of the week.

Jenny had put a bottle to heat. (Lizz had a really healthy stomach) She was doing so when I came home. But things don't really stick in your head normally, and I was thinking about a caravan ad and Jenny was humming 'let it snow' when a small pop came from the kitchen, the sound of breaking glass. Exploding.

A certain baby bottle came into my mind.

Jenny heard the sound and she sprang up from her chair, dropping everything.

"Oh my god!" she said running into the kitchen.....and typically the kid started screaming, Liz wasn't good at that, her small voice barked more than cried in little short bursts. I put down the beer bottle in my hand and made my way into the bedroom. Lizzy was rolling around in circles crying as loud as she could. The diapers weren't wet.... she really did have the stomach of a bull.

"Jenn.... she needs food." I waited. " The bottle's broken" came the faint reply. There was a patter of footsteps and in a moment Jenny's head popped into the room.

"I'll feed her," she said over the noise. She looked at me, "Do you mind?"

I left the room.

Liz spoke! Jenny was starting to worry about the baby when the little darling cooed and gurgled her first word, 'mm .........mmmmmm....a ma' and that was it, she was barely three months, but it was a relief nevertheless, in another two months she had mastered 'mama, dada, ba, and ga' and a whine that was totally pathetic, but sounded so sweet the neighbours came just for it. She really did speak well. The first time I saw something strange about Lizzy is when she was about six months. Her mother was in the shower while I was left to the disagreeable (mass does not count in excretes) task of changing a dirty diaper. After removing the safety lock and un-napping the clip, I turned Elizabeth on her back to change the garment. Only then did I notice the thick layer of fine gold- brown hair on her hands and legs whilst none on her smooth belly. When I asked Jenny she said that the doctor had said that the baby had probably inherited it from one of her parents, and since I had a considerable amount of fur (affection?) that the little one had got it from me. I kept that as a compliment, at the same time I had a pang of jealousy and anger, Jenny had seen the error before me and even worse ( for me ) she had actually called the doctor without my knowledge. I went to the kitchen and took out a beer.

The first time Liz walked she looked very funny. I saw her squaddled along the floor a few feet and fall back to her bottom.

"Jenny!" I screamed, she came racing from the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her head.

"What?"

"She's walking" a blissful smile came to her face. Jenny watched anxiously, but Liz never walked again in her life.

"Stuart!" Jenny cried wide-eyed, "it says here" she said pointing at the huge child care book in her hands. She shoved the book into my hands, I read the table. According to it Lizzy should only be eating half as much as she was and she should weigh only half of what she weighed. All in all I didn't mind, if the baby wanted to grow, let her She was very energetic and it wasn't like we couldn't afford it, small girls need food.

"Well?" Jen said with the same look of worry on her face, I had heard that happens to new mothers.

"Don't worry, hon." I said cooly. If she lost her head I must keep mine, this was a small thing, not to be panicked about.

"What?" She almost shrieked.

Something was definitely wrong, I had definitely said something wrong. "Our baby's twice as heavy as she should be!" Jenny said. I stayed silent.

"And she doesn't say anything now,"

"Don't worry hon, we'll go see a doctor if you want to, but it's really nothing to get panicked about."

"Stuart! " she wailed, and that shocked me, and she stamped out of the room, tears streaming down her eyes.

Women....

The doctor we met two days later was a fat, short, ugly one. Though he really did have an inborn fondness for small babies... He inquired about all her habits, and Jenny told him all her worries. He asked me all Lizzy's problems and Jenny told her all her worries. All in all, the appointment was a total waste of money. The doctor told Jenny the advice I had given: Give it some time. So we did.

He also told us to come again if the trouble did not subside in two months, that he was available at any time in the hospital and come on through (and give him the chance to bill us again).

One month after we had shown Liz to the doctor, she showed no sign of losing any weight, or slowing down on gaining. Jennifer grew more and more worried... When she delivered Liz she was as wholesome and plump as any woman could be. Eleven months later the first impressions of bag-eyes were creeping up like some sort of night creature. She didn't laugh as much as usual, and she had stopped watching her favourite TV show. A nagging feeling was biting at me constantly so I phoned up one of my friends and asked whether this had happened to his wife as well.

He casually laughed over the line and told me the baby probably looked cute but was a hell of a troublemaker for her mother.

'Happens all the time' he said and finished. I thanked him and put down the phone. She was eleven months now. Two times the weight. Two times !

Neither of them carried her any more. And she didn't walk.... not since the first time she squabbled. She crawled at amazing speed but didn't walk... didn't even try. I had walked her on several times but when I let her go she would fall flat on her face. The fridge door opened and that eerie light filled the space inside. And the hair. He first had seen it some months ago.... now it was worse. Anyone who saw the baby would say that she was bald on the tummy and carpeted everywhere else.

Stop..... I took a beer and unconsciously walked to Lizzy's room. Jenn was there squatting beside her, looking down intently with her bag-eyes.

One week later I woke up to find that the bed was empty. Pushing the covers aside I sat on the bed and turned on the bedside lamp. It was strange that he had not woken when Lizzy cried. I grabbed a nightgown and went into the kitchen. Getting closer I realized that there was no light so turned around and went into the nursery. There were no lights there as well, but I heard the heavy breathing of Jenny and knew she was inside. The door made no noise as I pushed it open. Darkness greeted me, but even though it was pitch black I could feel Jennifer inside, sitting beside the cot.

"What did she want?'' I asked from the darkness.

"Nothing." The voice sounded. Although it was Jenny's it was distant, cold. I was puzzled.

"Then what are you doing here.'' I asked her. And waited, there was no answer.

As my eye's grew accustomed to the light, the shadow figure of Jenny bending over the cot became almost visible.

"We're going to see that doctor tomorrow," Jennifer said in a stone voice.

"Sure honey"-Silence.

"Leave" She said... Even though she said it as an order, I felt it more like a plea. Closing the door I left the room. The patter of my feet on the tiled floor was juggernaut on the battlefield. As I turned the corner to my room, I heard silent sobs coming from beside the cot...

Good, let her cry it out.

But as I got into bed I noticed that I was trembling as well.

-Final Draft, Young Writers Association.

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