42

Chapter 42

Flange Orphanage, City: Three Prongs Fork, Republic of Shantu, Continent: Barat, the Year 2022, Planet: Grimoire

Despite the hope that they would leave, which they did for at least six hours and gave him some breathing space to recover his composure and relieve his fatigue. Doyle had forgotten one important detail. Infants didn't sleep on adult time. Whenever they were hungry or needed to be cleaned up, it happened when they wanted it, not for the adults.

Just before dawn, Doyle was shocked away when all four babies began awakening, completely hungry and messy with soiled clothing. He donned a mask that would prevent him from reacting negatively to the scents emanating from the soiled babies' bottoms. Then one by one, he gently cleansed all of them thoroughly and made sure they were dry before putting clean garments on them.

After that, Doyle proceeded to carefully feed them once he made sure that the formula was thoroughly mixed with decent water and or milk. That's when he discovered an atrocious odor coming from the formula. "What the heck is in this garbage?" He grimaced. "No wonder they don't want it, that's disgusting."

Doyle shook his head wearily and skipped the formula. He searched his bag. "Ah found it." While not the best thing to feed babies, it was a liquid form of nutrients and might serve as a holdover until he found a decent alternative. With that in mind, Doyle mixed the powdered substance with milk and then offered it to the babies.

Knock, knock, knock.

Visitors at this late hour? Doyle frowned irritably. How very opportune of them to show up. He was a tad annoyed, to put it mildly. Well, they could just let themselves in.

"Who is it?" Doyle wasn't budging since the four little rascals were thoroughly enjoying their first tasty meal.

"It is Darmono and Madam Murray." Darmono evidently suspected he would vanish before the morning meal if allowed to escape.

Doyle grimaced. What a pain in the ass. "Come in." He didn't bother to look at them as he continued monitoring the babies' ingestion of his makeshift formula.

"Goodness, what are you doing?" Tesha frowned at the sight of the rejected formula powder.

"Take a sniff and you'll see why even they won't taste it." Doyle made a sour face. "I wouldn't feed that stuff even to the hogs." He shook his head. "You'd better change vendors if that slop is what they're selling for outrageous prices."

Tesha looked at him in askance. "What do you mean?" As soon as she caught the can, she grimaced after catching the odor from it. "Ah, well that's embarrassing."

Doyle blinked. "Just what are you trying to say?"

Tesha sighed. "This isn't even baby formula." She shook her head with a frown. "I didn't know you'd been given this instead."

Doyle was uneasy. "I gained the impression that Jessa had been doing something in here before I arrived." He frowned. "She didn't strike me as the typical kind of worker you'd hire even temporarily."

Darmono's mouth tightened angrily. "She paid my room a visit, but I made her leave, without touching her." He shook his head. "I don't know what her motives were, but she isn't as innocent as she portrayed herself to be."

Doyle blinked. Well, he would know better than either of them what type of woman Jessa might've been.

Tesha grimaced unhappily as she listened to them. "Honestly, you're right. She isn't the type I would typically hire."

This was not going well for her, Doyle did feel some sympathy for her problem.

"She's already gone from the household as well." Tesha frowned. "No wonder they were so sick." She spotted the pile of soiled cloth that Doyle had set aside in a sealed container. Tesha's nose wrinkled when she got closer to it.

Hastily he waved a hand in negation of her trying to investigate the contents inside of it. "Don't open that up again unless you want to find an urn to vomit in," Doyle warned. "I just cleaned them up," he was finally cleaned up as well, his hands were still damp.

When she didn't seem convinced, Doyle exhaled hard in aggravation. "I'll need assistance if that epic amount is released again." Even as he spoke, he was able to set aside the bottles that they'd clung to quite persistently while settled on his lap.

For the first time in that moment, Tesha smiled slightly. "Hmm, it appears they're done." The babies finally were satisfied, and he burped each of them successfully so they wouldn't be sick later.

He waited a few minutes to see if they were still hungry, but they weren't. Doyle turned his attention to the bottles, gauging the amount he'd possibly need for the future, and was stunned. There was nothing left. "Wow, I got the amount correct on the first try." He winced when the others glared at him. "Oh right, they're asleep again." He'd nearly shouted a moment ago. That wouldn't do.

Tesha shook her head.

Darmono rolled his eyes.

Doyle rubbed his forehead and yawned. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" He eyed the clock. Five hours of shut-eye wasn't enough if he was seeing the numbers correctly.

Darmono and Tesha exchanged glances. "Maybe we should go to another part of the room." She suggested when the babies stirred at his low grumble.

"Perhaps that would be wiser." Doyle rose to his feet and stretched.

There was a rattling when the babies stirred making grumbling noises that clearly sounded like protests to his ears. Well, this was just downright awkward.

All of the adults held their breaths. Grifton just turned over onto his stomach and fell into a limp state.

"So, we just keep our voices lowered." Darmono folded his arms with a sigh. "No leaving."

Tesha was clearly stunned at what she was witnessing. "I have to agree. It appears that none of them want to be left alone here."

What a dilemma, but it didn't surprise Doyle in the least, given how things had gone already. "I did notice a few things that were rather awkward before." He shook his head in minor confusion.