Maybe baby/Ain't That Cute
By:
Ella ( [email protected] )
Chapter
Seven: "Mississippi, Utah, London
and Macaroni Cheese"
By the time Kevin’s car had pulled up on the drive, little India was screaming
her head off.
Kevin rang the doorbell and Brian let him in, carrying the crying child in his
arms. His mouth dropped open.
“Oh…my…God!” he murmured. “Give her to me.”
Brian passed her over to Kevin, who shut the door behind him and began to rock
the yelling pink bundle in his arms. “Why’s she crying like that? Hello?”
Neither Brian not AJ answered.
“Hello?! Am I talking to a brick wall?” Kevin repeated.
AJ shrugged. “As good as.”
Kevin followed both Brian and AJ into the living room, which was scattered with
random (pink baby) stuff. He let out a low whistle and switched the baby to the
other side. By now she was in deep distress, her body was jolting with sobs.
“Hey calm down little girl,” Kevin said quietly, “are you hungry? Is that
why you’re crying? Didn’t they feed you?”
Kevin looked at Brian who answered, “Yes, yes, no.”
“Why didn’t feed her? What are you stupid?” His face was angry.
“No actually! AJ and I didn’t have the foggiest what to give her – she
might choke on something for all we know.”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m sure she eats soft stuff. Come on let’s
go see what you’ve got, hey?”
He led the way to the kitchen, which, for once, was fairly tidy. Looking through
the cupboards he found a tin of Macaroni cheese, opened it and poured the
contents into a saucepan. India watched him do this, with her thumb in her mouth
and stopped crying. She looked at him with her big blue eyes and whimpered.
“Hey, it’s okay. Kevin’s going to make you some food and you’ll feel a
lot better.”
He turned to Brian and AJ who were standing helplessly by the door. “Does she
have a name?”
AJ cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh, she’s called India.”
Kevin snorted as he whirled a wooden spoon around in the yellow macaroni cheese
mixture. “What kind of a name is that? Poor kid!”
“I think it’s quite cute actually,” Brian remarked. “I’ve not heard it
before.”
Laughing AJ said, “Yeah, but there has to be a limit – I mean India’s
okay, but what happens when parents start calling their kids Mississippi or Utah
or … London!” he pulled his cigarettes from his back pocket and started to
light one, still smirking at his own remark.
“Oi!” Brian snatched the cigarette from AJ’s hand and stubbed it out in
the ashtray, which was on the sideboard. “You can’t smoke that here,
you’ll choke her.”
He held his hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay, I quit. Kev, you need any help or
anything?”
Kevin turned round. “Yeah sure…can you get her a drink, I think she might be
thirsty.”
AJ nodded and went into the front room to see if he could find a bottle or a cup
in the bag – he found both and bought them back into the kitchen. “Which one?”
he asked, holding them both in the air.
India looked at AJ and pointed at the sippy cup he held in his left hand. “Dat,”
she whispered quietly, “dat.”
Laughing, Brian said, “Well you heard what the lady said – she wants dat
one!”
Even before AJ had made a drink, she held her hands out, gesturing for the cup.
“Hold on a sec, I’m just doing it,” AJ told the little girl. “You like
milk?”
She moved her whole head up and down as if to nod in the affirmative. Brian and
AJ laughed. “Okay, milk it is!”
Having poured her a cup of milk, he handed it to her. She drank quickly, not
even pausing for breath.
“Whew,” said Brian looking closely at her, “I think she was thirsty.”
“Yeah, well God knows how long she was out in our yard for before we came home
and found her. It could’ve been all day for all we know.” AJ shook his head.
“What the hell was that stupid bitch playing at leaving her here like that?”
Spooning the pasta into a bowl, Kevin wheeled around. “Who left her?”
“Anna,” answered Brian, “Nick’s ex. Remember her?”
Kevin nodded. “Yeah, she was a bitch. I didn’t think they were together that
long? I guess she was just a little floozy.”
“Hey, hey,” AJ intercepted, “it takes two to tango if you know what I mean?!”
“I guess,” remarked Kevin sitting down at the table with India on his lap.
“As soon as I’m done feeding Nick’s daughter, I’m going to find the man
himself.”
AJ looked on in horror, knowing that Kevin would kick the living daylights out
of him in doing so. “Look, I’ll get him,” he volunteered, “It’ll be
much easier.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, but walked straight out the front door and into
his car, before speeding off towards Nick’s mom’s house, a couple of minutes
away…