“Come on, I’ll get you one of
those drinks you like so much. And we’re going to the NICU, so pick up a tray
for the nurses there. Make one a small hot chocolate,” he said. She eyed him
curiously but placed an order in Starbucks-speak. Nazu carried the tray while
she nursed her venti gingerbread latte and tried to remember how long since she
had been over here. She was spending more and more time in the demon realms.
What did it say that she felt more comfortable there? More appreciated. More
needed. More wanted.
Nazu purred close to her, and she
blushed. “I know those thought waves,” he murmured as they stepped into the
crowded elevator. She wished they were alone for just thirty seconds. Or half
an hour. He purred again.
They entered the human NICU, and
Rachel was struck by the smell. Human baby and antiseptic. So familiar, and yet
so different from her daily life now. Nazu threaded through the room, crowded
with rolling bassinets and equipment that Rachel longed for, toward a large
young man sitting in a rocking chair with a baby wrapped in each arm as he
rocked back and forth, crooning. He didn’t look up at their approach.
Nazu crouched down and pulled out
the tall cocoa. “John, I brought a treat for you. I know you like hot
chocolate. I’ll put it on the window sill behind you, for when you get a free
hand.”
John looked up and smiled, and
Rachel thought someone turned on the lights. She smiled back, and realized John
had a gift. Several gifts, but she wasn’t sure what they were yet. “I like the
babies, and they like me,” he said in a voice deeper than Nazu’s.
Nazu said, “Yes, John, they do.
This is Rachel. She works with babies, too. She needs help, and I thought you
might like to help her and her babies. They are different.”
“Different?” John asked. Then he
went on, “I like to help with babies. I will help you, Rachel.”
Rachel crouched down so she was
eye level with John. “I would like that, John. The babies I work with are different,
but they are the same, too. They need someone to love them and take care of
them. I can see that you’re very good at that. Would you like to come and visit
our babies and see?”
John nodded. “These babies need me
now, Rachel. They’re sleeping good. I’ll come another time, okay?”
Nazu held out a pager. “You can
page me when you want to come, John. Any time, okay? We’ll come and get you.”
He set the pager next to the hot chocolate on the window sill.
Rachel said, “I hope you’ll come
see me soon, John. I think our babies will sleep good with you, too.”
He smiled again, and she smiled
back, thinking just that smile was some sort of therapy.
As they headed back for the
portal, Nazu said, “John’s mother was a shantuck. She died during childbirth
here, because they didn’t know she needed a water birth. The baby sucked all
the water out of her body, trying to stay alive. By the time I got here, he had
been without oxygen for over 20 minutes, but they didn’t realize. I put him in
a tub, and he survived, but he’s…. I think part of him is in the demon realm.
I’ve always wondered if he would be any different there.”
Rachel thought about that as they
walked through the portal. She had a feeling John was going to surprise them
when he came into the demon realm…
Perhaps I should mention this is related to a few previous blogs. It seems I'm going to have to tell Rachel and Nazu's story eventually...
Dogs in house
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Houdini, Brindle
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Time writing:
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45 minutes
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November word
count:
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Part 2
ReplyDeleteShe steeled herself and stepped off the edge. The soft down feeling cradled her as she bobbed beside Melon. He lifted something small in his hand and the tube started moving around them. No, they were moving inside of the tube. She fought not to hyperventilate. Going up, at least. She might have truly panicked if they were falling.
They rose past three metallic levels before slowing to a stop. Melon dipped forward and did a little jump onto the floor, then held out a hand to Jai’na. She took it and stepped from nothing to solid. A flutter in her heart stilled at the stiff metal beneath her feet. How odd that the same surface which had disturbed her at first was now a comfort.
She trailed after Melon as he strode down this new passage. It seemed more subdued here, which was a strange thing to think about this bright world. They were three levels closer to the sky, at least. Melon ducked sideways and seemed to shrink. Jai’na squinted and saw that he had stepped down into a recess.
The wall beside the recess opened, and a mop of friendly blonde hair peered out. “Jai’na, Melon, glad you made it!” Jake shook his head, and his face appeared from underneath his hair. He said something else she did not understand, and Melon nodded.
Jai’na nearly fell into Jake’s arms, so glad she was to see him, only stopping herself at the last moment. Propriety. They were not in the jungle anymore.
Jai’na transferred her lunge at Jake into a small hop down into the recess. She followed Melon (perhaps it truly was his name?) through the opening. The wall hissed and slid shut behind her, clicking into place and blending with the surrounds. Only a raised diamond even let one know the door was there.
Jake had said his world was different. She was not sure she had truly comprehended how different.
Time writing: ~15min
Great world and character building. You could really do something with this!
DeleteAhah! I was going to ask if you'd written about those characters before. Seems like an very interesting world.
ReplyDelete