The Baby

He nudged his wife. “I hear it again.”

Julie mumbled in her pillow and tilted her body without completely rolling over. “What’s that, honey?”

“A baby crying.”

A moment of pause. “I don’t hear anything.”

“I heard it, I’ve been hearing it for a while now, and I can’t sleep because of it.”

“It’s just a dream, try to get some rest.”

“It’s not a dream, I’m telling you, I’ve been hearing a baby.”

She reached behind her back, grabbed his hand, and put it on her belly. He said, “You think it’s possible I’ve been hearing the baby inside you?”

“Not likely, but I do think it’s your imagination or your nerves. I am due anytime, so I think that may be messing with your head a little.”

He pulled the covers up to his neck and rolled over. “Been more than just a little.”

“Goodnight, sweetie.”

He lay there listening to the clock ticking. It was 2:00 AM “Maybe you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right. If anybody would hear the baby, believe me when I tell you, I’m going to be the first to know about it.”

“Yeah, I think so too.”

They did not have any intentions of having a baby. This one just sort of came along as a surprise. They were in their early forties. As his mother had said several times, Whatever possessed you two to finally have a baby at your age?

His mother always had a way with words and compliments.

1:00 AM

He woke to the crying baby. This time it was louder.

He reached to nudge Julie but she was gone.

The toilet flushed. The bathroom door squeaked allowing a small beam of light to illuminate the wood floor.

“I hope I didn’t wake you, I was trying to be quiet.”

“I heard it again.”

“The baby crying?”

“Yeah, plain as day.”

She leaned on the bed and kissed his forehead. “I think you’re subconscious is making you think you’re hearing it.” She jumped and held her belly, “Oh, it just kicked.”

“You okay?”

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That was a hard one. I think this is going to be a tough baby.”

“With the way you’ve been craving meat, I bet you’re having a boy.”

She rubbed her hands on her stomach trying to calm him down. “They say that too if you are carrying low.”

He put her hand on her stomach. He felt it moving. “He seems more active than usual.”

She gasped and was short of breath. “He just kicked again --twice. I’d say that we may be getting close.”

“Want me to call the doctor?”

“I’m not having labor pains yet.”

She gasped again as he felt the baby kick and move as if it were turning over.

He helped her lay back down on the bed and tucked her in under the covers. “Soon, this will be over and you will have your body back.”

“Oh, that would be sooooo nice, you men have it lucky.”

“Ok,” he chuckled, “Let’s not get started on that.” He made sure to put an end to that conversation from the start.

She laughed and touched his cheek. “Just kidding, you’re a good sport.”

He nodded, “Yeah, yeah.”

They did not want to know what they were having, so the doctor was asked to withhold the sonogram results. They wanted to be surprised just like the good old days.

He often fantasized about him and his son playing ball in the backyard. His son playing Little League and watching all his games. That was even if he would be interested in sports. One thing was for certain, he made a decision that he wasn’t going to be one of those dads who made his son play a sport he didn’t want to play or do anything he didn’t want to do.

He waited until Julie went to sleep before he decided to lay back down and get some rest. Even though these were some long days he knew Julie was dealing with a lot more with the baby fussing around inside her.

He lay there staring at the ceiling wondering what his son was going to be interested in.

Maybe it was a girl.

Oh Lord, he didn’t want to even think about that. Having to work through all the emotions young girls have and it would be worse when she’d hit those teenage years.

He’d heard boys are easier to handle than girls.

He hoped that was right.

The next day he was tired but he had to get up for work. One of the benefits of his being an exterminator was he was on the road by himself and not having to show up at the office where he was constantly monitored by a boss who did nothing but sit in his office, drink coffee, and find reasons to pick on the employees.

After sleepless nights, sometimes he was able to catch a quick nap.

Still, at work, it was hard to take his mind off the baby. He’d call Julie every couple of hours to check up on her. Sometimes he wondered if he was calling a little too much because it felt like he was always waking her up.

It was cool.

She deserved it.

Throughout the day, he could’ve sworn he heard a baby crying.

The most recent was when he was inside Dr. Schmock’s big white Victorian style home while spraying the kitchen.

It was crying like it was upset.

He stopped.

Listened.

It did not make sense he would hear a baby in this large house so clearly; Dr. Schmock was seventy years old and his wife had passed three years ago.

Only the sound of the large wood clock hanging in the sitting room.

When he explained to the Dr. what he had been hearing, the Dr. grinned subtly and said, it was sympathy pains and it was all completely normal.

Sympathy pains.

He couldn’t begin to imagine what Julie was going through. He went out to his truck and called her. He didn’t wake her this time. She had this chuckle in her voice and said she and the baby were just fine. And yes, he was moving around quite a bit.

She had a nice dinner prepared for him when he got home. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy.

It was great to see her in such great spirits instead of looking tired and exhausted. He couldn’t help but find her abundance of energy unusual.

“You look like you’re feeling good today,” he said. He kissed her cheek and padded the baby.

“I feel great,” she said. “Hope you’re hungry.” She placed the pan of meatloaf on the table.

“Starving, What’s the occasion?”

Usually, she made meatloaf on special occasions.

“Because I love you, sweetie.” She smiled and removed the oven mitt. “Something wrong?” A sad look on her face. “You didn’t eat already did you, at the diner?”

“No, It’s just that I thought you might be resting, I don’t want you to overdue yourself.”

She waved her hand. “Ahhhh, ain’t you sweet. Honey, I’m just fine. The baby and I are doing great.”

In the middle of dinner, Julie jolted forward and gasped as if an invisible force stabbed her in the guts.

He slid the chair back and ran to her. “Julie.”

Breathing heavily she gasped for air.

He told her, “Short deep breaths. Short deep breaths.”

“Shuuuuuuuut up! Just stoooop.”

He jumped back at her outburst. Even with the amount of pain and discomfort she was in, her response was out of character. She never raised her voice, much less yelled.

“I’m sorry,” he said, jumping back.

“Just, just, get your hand off me for now. I’m fine.”

He didn’t know what to do. All sorts of thoughts were running through his mind. The most obvious was do not touch her and do not talk.

The baby kicked her good that time, it got her right in the ole ribcage.

3:00 AM

He heard the baby screaming bloody murder. It was so loud he jumped out of bed.

He looked at Julie who was sound asleep.

How could she not hear that?

The baby was still crying. He slid the covers slowly away from Julie. Her stomach contorted and twisted along with a couple of jabs.

He was sure this was going to be any day. With all the baby’s motion, she would be in labor long before now.

He whispered to the baby. “It’s okay, go to sleep… Go to sleep.”

Julie’s eyes popped open. “What is it, honey?”

“The baby was crying again.”

“That’s nice. What time is it?”

“Just after 3:00”

“Oh, you should get some rest, you have to work tomorrow.”

Yeah, he thought, I do have to work tomorrow. Of course, there was always that option of calling in sick for the day. And why not? He deserved it. He didn’t have many stops on his route tomorrow.

“The baby was really moving around in you, you didn’t feel that?”

“I’m so used to it by now, he moves all the time.”

He laid down. He told himself to relax as he imagined himself like a leaf floating on a log and what was more relaxing than a leaf floating on a log? It was a passage from a minister who had written several books on how to reduce stress.

Most of the time it worked.

He bolted straight up out of bed at the sound of an ear-piercing scream.

“What the hell.”

Julie’s stomach twisted and contorted as if the baby was ready to make his way out of there.

“Julie,” he nudged her shoulder, “Julie.”

“Yes, honey?”

“The baby, do you hear the baby?”

“I don’t hear anything, sweetie.”

How could she not be hearing this? This was louder than it had ever been. How could this not be waking her up?

“I’m calling the Doctor.”

“For what, honey?”

“For this, the baby is crying. The way your stomach is moving around.” He stood and grabbed his phone off the nightstand.

He swiped the screen and hit the call button. He had the doctor on speed dial. At 3:45 in the morning, the doctor was not able to answer his call so he left a voicemail instead.

“It’s not necessary to call the doctor, I’m not even in labor.”

“I don’t see how you couldn’t be, this is crazy.”

“Believe me, I’ll be the first to know.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If you say so.” He felt his heart racing. He wiped the sweat from his forehead. His head felt fuzzy like he was in a cloud, and for a second he wasn’t sure exactly where he was. He rubbed his eyes hoping to relieve them of the stinging sensation. Every time he closed them they would be jolted out by the sound of the baby crying.

His head pounded as if somebody had knocked him in the head with a sledgehammer.

“I know so,” she chuckled.

Ten minutes later his phone rang.

Seriously, Who the hell would call at this time of the morning? Then he remembered he had called the doctor.

“Tell him I’m fine,” she said.

“We’ll see what he says first.” He grabbed the phone. “I’ll tell you who’s not fine, me, that’s who.”

“Honey, you’re just tired.”

He swiped the call button and for another second he forgot why he was holding the phone.

He explained to the doctor what was going on. There were a lot of hmmm, hmmm’s and ahhhh, hassss’s on the doctor’s end. But as Julie said, everything was fine and it wasn’t necessary to have her come in yet. As far as the baby moving around like he was the doctor showed no concerns or worries.

He thanked the doctor and hung up. He prayed to God she would have this baby soon.

He had already made up his mind that he was going to call in sick in a couple of hours. He hadn’t taken any sick days all year so he was sure there wasn’t going to be any problem with it.

If so, Screw ’em.

He was done for tonight.

This time he was going to fix his problem and didn’t know why he didn’t think of it earlier.

He put in earplugs. The good ones too. The foam ones that form to your ear and really shut out the noise.

Yes, he laid his head back, it was going to be a good night’s rest.

He hated those nightstands and told Julie they got in the way. They had been in her family, so she insisted on keeping them around. He lost count of how many times he stubbed his toes on the things. The only response he got from Julie was he needed to be more careful.

Geeee. Thanks.

“Thaaaaaaat damn, baby! Damn that thing!”

Julie opened her eyes and rolled over. “John, what’s wrong?”

“That baby is screaming again.”

“Ohh, that,” She padded her stomach. “He’s just fine.”

He pointed at her stomach. “No, not fine, I’ve had it with that thing, shut it up.”

Julie’s eyes widened with sudden instant shock in that she had never seen him act this way. “John, don’t talk to the baby like that.”

John could see her belly twisting and contorting. Julie screamed as she tried her best to settle it down.

The screaming became louder.

Crying.

Continuous crying and wailing.

“I think you should take me to the hospital,” she said.

“You hear it now, right? The baby is crying?”

“No, but it seems very uneasy right now.”

How could she not hear all that crying and screaming? No way, There was no way.

“The doctor is wrong, there is nothing normal about what I’m hearing, and I’m telling you I can hear that baby crying. He’s been crying for the past two months. Every night, every single damn night. I’ve had it with it, I hate it, I don’t want it.”

He walked out of the room.

“John, Please.”

He returned with a large kitchen knife. His favorite knife. The one he used to trim the round rump roast.

He stabbed her in the stomach. Dead center.

Blood oozed out between her flesh and the knife puddling on the wood floor. Blood seeped into the cracks.

He removed the knife.

He stabbed her again.

And again.

Her bloody fingers grasped at the knife.

In and out. In and out. In and out he stabbed.

Her eyes widened with shock. Blood trickled down the corner of her mouth as he sliced down the center of her stomach. By now Julie had fallen back on the bed while John went to work on her stomach.

Her body arched and twisted as every bit of life exhaled out of her mouth. Her eyes were still wide open with shock as if asking him Why are you doing this to me?

He grabbed hold of each side of the cut as if he were prying open a box and yanked her open.

Her skin made a zippering sound coupled with the sound of her breaking ribs. He removed the little screaming infant that somehow managed to survive the puncture wounds.

This thing was not normal.

He held the bloody infant up. Blood and amniotic fluid dripped from its flailing arms and legs. He could see a stab wound in the center of its stomach.

Yes, this thing was no longer a baby but a creature. An evil creature. It was still crying.

He slammed it on the floor.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Bones snapped. Its head cracked open like a walnut exposing the brains that spilled out of the top of its evil little head.

He slammed it on the floor over and over until finally, the baby stopped crying.

He stopped, took a deep breath, and looked at the mangled creature. Motionless.

He scooped it up and carried it to the kitchen. He sliced it up in the sink and forced it down the garbage disposal determined to put an end to the crying and screaming.

Forever.

When he was finished he went back and lay down next to Julie. Of course, it was unfortunate she didn’t live through what he had done.

“It’s over,” he whispered in her ear. “I was right. The baby was evil. You were carrying an evil seed and I stopped it…”

It was quiet and still.

He had fallen asleep.

It seemed like only twenty minutes but was actually two hours when John jolted straight up.

“John, John,” Julie’s voice had that same chuckly tone he’d come to love. The one that had always calmed him down. “The baby’s crying.”