“You have got to consider the serious implications of what just happened!” Martha was shouting at her husband who was standing only few feet away.
“Oh for crying out loud, she just hit her head on the table,” Ed replied. He was trying to keep from raising his voice in response to his wife. There was no need for a fight. It was a simple matter of reasoning calmly with her. But the more they talked about it, the further he felt his side of the rope being pulled towards the center; he was about to give in again. “Let’s just put her to bed and we can worry about all this in the morning.” It was his final effort to evade his wife’s complaint.
“Fine,” Martha replied, “but if something happens to her tonight, we’ll know who’s to blame.” She rolled her eyes and turned her gaze toward the baby behind her.
Gently she picked the infant up and carried her to the crib in the nursery. “Don’t worry sweetheart, Mommy won’t let anything happen to you,” she cooed. The baby smiled and wrapped her hand around Martha’s index finger. Suddenly a breeze caught the chime outside the nursery window. Mother and daughter remained silent as the tinkling noises floated into the room; beams of moonlight slipped their way stealthily through spaces in the closed blinds.
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The sound of the alarm sent a shock through Ed that made the whole bed quake. Ed hated few sounds so fervently. He rolled over and covered his face with a pillow using his left hand while his entire right arm searched for the offensive clock. Within moments the two made contact. Having successfully killed the noise, Ed turned over and began sinking into the deep sleep from which he had arisen.
“Ed, Ed, Ed!” Each time she said his name, it gained volume with a sort of obnoxious momentum.
“What?” Ed mumbled from beneath the sheets. “What could be so important that you can’t let me sleep?” He peaked his head out and saw his wife standing beside the bed, fully clothed, as if yesterday had given way to today without a night in between.
“Since you were so resistant last night,” Martha began, ”I took the liberty of calling a few professionals this morning to help with our problem.”
“Oh, and what problem is that,” Ed chuckled, only half aware of what she meant.
“Last night our precious baby demonstrated to us that our home is not as safe as we thought.” By the sound of her voice, it appeared to Ed as if she had been preparing this little speech for some time. “And I have it on good authority that what we need is a special room where she can be free to bump and bounce and bop all she wants. I propose we convert the nursery into such a room.”
Being entirely unprepared for the suggested renovation, this all hit Ed like a falling mattress: it wasn’t impossible, but it seemed so unnecessary. “Who exactly are these professionals? Who referred you to them? Was it Susan? You know I don’t care for the way she raises her boys.”
“No, it certainly wasn’t Susan. I only ask her for new recipes and the date of the next neighborhood watch meeting.”
Martha handed Ed several pages covered in photographs. To Ed they appeared to be inflatable party toys. He shuffled the papers and looked at Martha quizzically. She was pacing now, back and forth, from the foot of the bed to where her husband’s head had been resting so peacefully only minutes before. “Those are some ideas. We would obviously design our own room. The only essentials are the floor and walls, the rest is just detail.” She stopped moving and stared at her husband.
Not one to disagree with a woman, especially one so clearly well prepared as his wife, Ed began to nod his head. “Ya, ya this sounds like a solid idea. Let me take a shower and we can start drawing up some plans.” His feet slid out from under the comforter and hit the ground like two bricks of solid lead. He had been defeated in his sleep. What kind of man loses with his eyes shut?
THERE IS MORE. I just haven't written it yet. I'll keep you posted.
