I - Peculiar Spoke

  ONE

That very night, something terrible happened. Something unusual, something strange, something I never imagined. Something that got my butt off the sofa. My 3-month- old baby just spoke to me. I got scared.

"Was this really happening?" I had asked myself.

"get the milk!" the baby shouted again at me. I trembled. Mother and I glanced at each other.

'This is a joke, it has to be. He is barely 3 months old and is already speaking?" I complained to my mother as soon as he slept. Mom had just finished feeding him reluctantly.

"This is too early mom, imagine that baby shouting at me. This isn't right, I can feel it." I sighed, deeply worried.

"I know it's strange but calm down, he's still our responsibility and besides he is just a kid." Mother wasn't worried, it seemed.

He even talked without teeth. Mysterious!

"Well that's the point- he's just a kid, a baby! And he talks? Did you even hear his voice? He talks like an adult, like he has done that for years. A baby shouldn't talk."

Mom was mute.

"I am sick and tired of this house. It's always one problem after another. Worries everywhere!!!" I shouted as I shut the door angrily at her.

"Just keep quiet!" I heard the baby say.

Seriously?

*************

In my room, I felt like crying but tears ran away from me. I could hear my mother's voice at the door but I wasn't going to open it. I ignored her.

"just let me be!" I shouted at her.

"Calm down Jeanie. Don't try anything stupid," she pleaded gently.

I was definitely not going to try anything stupid because of some sort of strange baby.

Everywhere was calm - no banging on the door, I guess mother was gone. My mind raced back to the past, when I had the baby. It really took me great difficulty to deliver him. That night at the delivery room, strange things occurred. The power supply cut off, the doctor got blind and there were weird sounds from outside. It was a terrible memory to remember.

The night stars were out and normally I would want to watch them but desperate times called for desperate measures - this wasn't the time to admire stars. I took his photo and admired it. Even in his thirties, he still looked young and handsome

I could still remember the days I spent with him, sweet days. My husband left a good memory and I will never forget him.

He didn't get to see our baby, Peculiar whom I named according to the events that happened at the time of his delivery. Nelson, my husband, had died before Peculiar was born. He would have been a good dad and I wouldn't be worrying about Peculiar alone. Mother never seemed worried about the situation but instead sounded as though she had been expecting it. I guess she is hiding something from me.

I would have preferred my dad even though I also didn't get to see him. The way mother spoke of him, I knew he had been good to her and was actually expecting me with smiles. Unfortunately he passed away before I arrived. Nelson left me to worry for the baby alone. Peculiar was like a rope on my neck and worst still, I couldn't tell if I loved him. At times I felt he wasn't my child.

Thanks to mom I didn't have to carry the burden alone, she was always helping with her lullabies. I couldn't sing but mom was a wonderful Singer - that made the strange baby sometimes comfortable in his sleep.

Staring at nothing in particular, I was wondering if Peculiar's condition was somehow connected to the marine and ungodly spirits. He was definitely manifesting most of their qualities.

"Oh Nancy, shun these ungodly thoughts." I scolded myself. I felt like a betrayer - I just condemned my son.

"so mysterious." I murmured.