Age:
High School
Reading Level: 3.1
Chapter One
“Wait. Now?”
“Yes, now. Men in China, business conference, foreign exchange, merger? Any of this sounding familiar?”
“Listen, it’s just that my fiancée is out of town, and my soon to be step-daughter is the only one here, and my fiancée has this weird theory that if we leave the new baby with a babysitter that we will regret not spending time with her, and she will hate us.”
“You better find a way to get here. I’m counting on you.”
The line went dead.
He threw the phone on the bed.
Chapter Two
“Sarah!” he yelled, hoping she would hear him in the basement.
He grabbed the sleeping baby from the crib.
“John!” she yelled back sarcastically.
She walked two floors up from the basement. He ran with the baby in hand from upstairs. They met in the middle.
The baby had woken up and was not happy. She whined, trying to lay her head down.
“I have to go into work,” he said.
“When?”
“Now. I have to go into work now.”
He half ran into the laundry room, grabbing the nearest suit. He was still holding the baby.
"Now?
“Yes Sarah, now. I’m going to need you to watch her.”
“Okay.”
She reached for the baby as he ran from the laundry room. He passed the baby into her outstretched hands and went into the bathroom.
“I don’t think you understand. Your mother told me not to leave her with anyone or the marriage was off,” he was yelling from the bathroom.
“Damn.”
He came out of the bathroom in a suit with far too many wrinkles and pointed to the baby.
"Watch the language. I think your mom was kidding. I hope. I don’t really wanna find out.”
“Is she really going to remember the time her big sister said damn when she was six months old?”
“Maybe not then, but now she will because you said it twice.” He looked at his watch. “I have to go.”
He grabbed his bag.
“Damn,” she said again.
“You’re the reason I didn’t have kids when I was younger,” he joked.
“Yeah,” she laughed. “That’s the reason.”
The baby began to reach for her face again.
“Okay the numbers to everyone and everything are on the fridge and there's—"
“I know John,” she said, playing with the baby's fingers.
“And there's a whole cabinet of food that you can make in the microwave because you know she doesn't like to wait for the food to—"
“John.”
“Your mother better not find out about this.”
“I’m her older sister, not a babysitter.”
“Your mother was just nervous about her being left with anyone.”
“I’m someone,” she said.
“I trust you, but you know your mom—"
“Doesn't trust me with your love child?” She raised an eyebrow, clearly teasing.
“Not a love child. We’re getting married in a month.”
“She was born out of a marriage,” she said.
“How ungodly.”
They laughed.
He grabbed his gloves and hat from the coat hanger, putting them on quickly.
“Well, I’m trusting you to take good care of our wedlock sin child.”
He left, closing the door quickly with a thud.
Chapter Three
The pictures rattled on the walls of their apartment. She could hear him half running down the hallway. The baby started to cry.
Damn kid, he’s been gone for five seconds, and I already regret doing this.
She lifted the baby into the air and spun her gently, humming some tune.
“Annabelle, Annabelle,” she sang.
She stopped spinning. She was nauseated. Slowing, Anabelle’s screaming came down to a whimper.
“Atta girl. Say, what you wanna do? I think Mom and John—or I guess you’ll call him Dad—but I won’t. But I think they are too cautious with you. I know for a fact that Mom was never like this with me. Wedlock sin child gets more care than I do.”
Annabelle smiled, giggling at words she was far too young to understand.
Sarah walked into the kitchen, setting Annabelle in her highchair. She flung open the cabinet doors.
“You know, this is all garbage,” she said, turning to look at Annabelle. She gave her a handful of Gerber Yogurt Melts and tried one herself.
“These are the only good baby food. Always have been,” she said.
Annabelle picked up a handful of them, only getting maybe one in her mouth each time. They began to litter the floor.
“Hey, you,” she said, picking them up one by one.
Annabelle giggled.
“At least a babysitter would be getting paid to do this.”
Annabelle laughed again at words she did not understand and continued to miss her mouth, making a mess faster than could be cleaned.
“Alright,” she said. “I'll clean when you're done. Have you even got any in your mouth?”
She went back to the cabinet, looking for something else easy.
“Here’s some crackers or,” she flipped the box all sorts of ways, squinting at it, “or whatever these are.”
She went back to the cabinet and started to organize it.
“Everything is always a mess because of you,” she said, using a voice that was far too high pitched.
She began stacking boxes.
“Why do you make a mess of everything, you little goob?”
She turned around, making sure Annabelle was eating. Annabelle smiled.
“You sure are a cutie, though,” she said. “You can’t deny that.”
She returned back to the cabinet.
“Really,” she said, going through more boxes, “a lot of this doesn’t even have protein or beneficial anything.”