Patricia Rockwell - Essie Cobb 02 - Papoosed (26 page)

            “I wouldn’t count on it,” added Clara from the sofa, “because in my experience there’s not much the police can do in most missing persons’ cases unless they find a body.  And we aren’t hoping for that!”

            “Certainly not!” agreed Hubert next to her.

            “No, please! No bodies!” said Santos aghast.  As it appeared all three residents had finished their meals, Santos quickly gathered their trays and the tray toppers he’d left on Essie’s kitchen counter and started to head out her door.  Abruptly, he stepped back and slammed the door shut.

            “Miss Essie,” he whispered, “It’s Miss Lorena!  She come from room down in the hallway.  She is on way to your room, Miss Essie!”  He clutched the three dinner trays in apparent uncertainty as to what to do next.

            “Loads of toads!” cried Essie, “Will we never get a moment of calm?  Santos, you go on back to the kitchen.  If Lorena asks you about all the trays, just say I was very hungry tonight.  Hubert and Clara, go to the bedroom, you two!  I never thought I’d make that suggestion to a couple here at Happy Haven!”  Everyone jumped to their appointed locations and Essie reclined in her rocker and tried to adopt a relaxed posture.

            Shortly, Lorena’s friendly face appeared in her doorway.

            “Miss Essie!” Lorena said in her slow, pleasant voice, “Now what mischief are you up to tonight?”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.”

–Carl Sandburg

            “Lorena!” said Essie in a friendly greeting.  She gave a little fake yawn as if she’d been dozing in her rocker. 

            “Sorry, honey,” said Lorena, moving inside and closing the door.  She immediately hustled over to the kitchen and removed the pill box from the cupboard above the sink.  “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

            “No, no!” replied Essie.  “Just taking a little snooze.  You know, to pep myself up!”

            “You sure need a lot of pep for all that party plannin’ you been doin’, Miss Essie,” said Lorena, gathering Essie’s night time pills and filling her water glass.  “How is that surprise comin’ along?”

            “Oh, just fine!” Essie lied.  She had to search her brain to remember what sort of fanciful tale she had told Lorena last night.  Oh, yes, she remembered.  She’d told her she was planning a Christmas surprise party … or present … or something.  It was a good thing she was so old and could always use her advanced age as an excuse for any memory problem she might have.

            Lorena moved to Essie’s chair.

            “Here you go!”  She handed her the handful of pills and then the glass of water.  Essie downed the pills as quickly as she was capable of swallowing.  “My Lord, you are whizzin’ through them pills lately, Miss Essie!  You used to hate takin’ those big ones!”

            “There’s no sense in procrastinating,” said Essie, attempting to move things along.

            “Then, I’d best be gettin’ your nightie so you don’t procrastinate your bed time,” said Lorena, heading for the bedroom.

            “Oh, Lorena, no!” cried Essie, grabbing the aide’s elbow.  “I … I … I’ve decided not to get my pajamas on just yet.”

            “Lordy, Miss Essie,” said Lorena, shaking her head and peering at Essie more carefully.  “You been nippin’ at the sherry?”

            “The what?” cried Essie.  “No!  Of course not, Lorena.  I just … I just thought I might take a walk a bit later.  I can get my pajamas on myself.  You don’t need to come back.”

            “A walk?” exclaimed the rotund nurse.  “You know HH is smack dab in the middle of a quar-an-tine, don’t you?  Just where’s you planning on walkin’?   You’re not allowed out of your room!”

            “We’re not allowed to congregate in the major parts of the building.  I was sort of thinking that I might like to take a … a walk … outside to get some … fresh air.”

            “Ha!” shrieked Lorena, “It’s ten degrees below zero outside, Miss Essie!  We’re in the middle of a great big ol’ snowstorm!  You’d freeze your little ol’ feathered hat right to your head!”

            “I really need to get out,” said Essie insistently.  “I just feel claustrophobic in here.”

            “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
rescat
ó
… 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!”