NINETY-NINE

"The superhero thing wouldn't work."Scarlet Sapphira said, holding his hand tightly.

"But we could just give it a..."Rose began.

"You know what mom? Just drop it, neither of you know the first thing about being a parent and are endangering us and probably yourselves by this whole good morning, small talk, big smile routine you do everyday."Scarlet Sapphira said then stormed out.

Rose said she'd speak with her, then left me with Jack Johnson.

I wanted to walk closer to him, but knew he'd wake up if I did, so I decided to leave, till he suddenly spoke,"I know you're here."

"You're awake?"

"Why shouldn't I be? I haven't slept in months, what's the difference?"

"But the..."

He sat up and said,"The shots wouldn't achieve anything because it's like I'm watching my entire life flash before my eyes every second of every day, including the time you forced awful food down my throat and puked on me."

He still remembers...sigh.

I sat beside him and asked if he wanted to talk, then he covered himself with the sheets and said, hiccuping,"I wanna be alone."

"You know who doesn't live alone? God doesn't."

He sat up and asked,"He doesn't?"

"Nope, he lives with the Angels, his only begotten son..."I said, pinching his nose,"...and wants to live with us too."

"And what about the Holy spirit? The comforter?"He asked.

"Well, the comforter is here to comfort us, so we could comfort each other."

"Like what you're doing?"

"Is it working?"

He nodded then I hugged him, knowing now that he could literally feel everything I felt by hearing or seeing me, I hugged him tightly as he slowly closed his eyes, in silence...

***

Rose found Scarlet Sapphira sitting on her hunkers in a corner, then went to sit besides the crying child.

Rose placed a gentle hand on her exposed shoulder, but the girl pushed her aside and yelled,"Leave me alone!"

"Scarlet Sapphira, I'm starting to think you are feeling much more upset than you let out."

"Oh really? And what gave you that idea?"She asked.

Rose reclined on the wall, then began humming a tune till Scarlet Sapphira said,"Stop it, you sound like a hippo."

"Scarlet Sapphira, I named you after my sister because I saw that same fire within you, but even she has found God and His saving grace, I hope you would too."

"I don't want any God who can let a believing kid like Jack suffer so much and yet claim that He is the definition of love!"

Rose looked at her with a sad expression, pursed her lips, then spoke,"I know you're hurting, but you're not the only one."

"Let me guess, because you held us in your belly for nine months?"

"... because, they're here."

She finally looked back and dropped her jaw as Luis picked her up and threw her into the air.

She laughed and hugged her uncle and aunts as they had returned from organizing the mansion, he placed her down and asked,"So, where's your unique specimen of a brother?"

"The freak show lies over yonder."She pointed.

He was both surprised and impressed by the, again, five year old's use of diction.

He walked into Jack Johnson's room and the boy already sat on my lap, eyes wide open.

Luis put all the gifts aside then I moved over to make way for his accommodation as he spoke,"Jack Johnson Thomas Lester, quite the mouthful, something tells me you could recite that backwards."

"Retsel ymmot Nosnhoj Kcaj."He mumbled.

"?Kaerb a tuohtiw terpretni uoy nac sgnirts ynam woh tub, evisserpmi"He spoke.

Jack Johnson seemed shocked, then... replied...I wasn't able to understand or write down anything they said fast enough and neither of them would tell me what they said, but after the conversation, Jack's face was beaming, till Luis went with Scarlet Sapphira out of the room and said,"Here, I got you this."

It was a pure gold army badge for a commander's position.

"Do you like it?"He asked.

Scarlet Sapphira, already aware of its worth yelled,"Are you kidding me?! I love it! I live it! I love it! I love it! Now I'm a commander, I can come with you on missions and kick people's rear ends for absolutely no good reason!"

"What are you talking about?"He asked.

"Come on, you're a secret agent, the whole prince knight in shining armor charade isn't fooling anyone."

Lucy...and the rest of the women, were actually surprised as he cleared his throat and they immediately knew I was in on the deception.

Luis then said to Scarlet Sapphira,"Scarlet, I..."

"It's actually Scarlet Sapphira, continue."

"...okay Ms Scarlet Sapphira, all I want you to do is work hard and kick butt in your school, with your books, not with your fists, okay?"

She looked at him with sparkly eyes, then looked down, clenching her fists tightly and rigidly nodding.

Luis then spoke with both Rose and me,"I've handled all the expenses."

"Luis, we can't accept this."I spoke.

"As usual, it's already done, and preparations have been made for you to move back into the mansion, you could come tomorrow."

"Now even I have to object Luis..."Rose said.

He smirked at her, put a toothpick in his mouth and with a flash of his trenchcoat, walked away.

A few hours later, Rose and I walked into the mansion, it was much bigger than I thought and Scarlet Sapphira had her jaw on the floor as her cousins gracefully flowed down the stairs to welcome us.

She ran and pounced on Junior and they began wrestling on the floor but I still had to ask,"Luis, may I know the reason you left?"

Lucy tried to chastise me but he said he'd answer, and asked if he could speak with us in private so we naturally answered in the affirmative.

"... it's about Mark..."