Johnny sat in the kitchen early one morning, his cup of coffee in one hand,
and a book in the other. He breathed in the steam from the hot drink, his
eyes scanning the pages of the latest mystery novel that Bruce had lent to
him.
A warm breeze wafted in through the open kitchen window, carrying the sounds of birds and the scent of early morning air. Johnny glanced up from the book, thinking about spending the day relaxing in his house. He hadn't had a day to himself in a while, and the idea of it sounded great.
A quick, sharp knock on the door interrupted his reverie, and Johnny stood up from the chair, grabbing his cane in the process. He walked over to the front door and opened it, surprised to see his neighbor standing there with her baby in her arms. The little girl was a little less than a year old, looking at him with her big, blue eyes in curiosity.
"Johnny," she gasped, seeming out of breath. "Thank goodness you're home."
"What can I do for you, Mrs. Reynolds?"
"I'm hoping you can help me out," she said, and Johnny hoped it wasn't for the usual need for a psychic vision.
"I'll do what I can," he offered.
"Great," she sighed, handing the baby over to him, causing his eyes to widen. "The hospital just called, my dad just had a heart attack, so I have to go there, but I can't take Molly with me. I know you like your privacy, but I'm really in a bind. My babysitter is out of town, and all of my friends are unavailable. I wouldn't ask you unless I was desperate."
Johnny didn't know if he should be insulted or not. "Well, I-"
"She's a peach, Johnny, barely needs to be watched. My husband will be home around two this afternoon, and he'll pick her up. Everything you need is in this bag."
Mrs. Reynolds grabbed a bag by her feet that Johnny hadn't even seen. Johnny took it unconsciously, still in shock about what was going on. He'd never taken care of a kid before in his life. He didn't even have any siblings, so he hadn't even seen his mother take care of any other children.
"She's already had breakfast, but she'll probably get hungry again around 11 or so. I put food in the bag for her lunch, along with diapers and toys. This is her favorite toy," the woman continued, handing him the most grotesque looking toy Johnny had ever seen. The thing had huge beady red eyes with a snot-green colored body.
"It's her iguana," Mrs. Reynolds explained. "She calls it Moo. We think she has it mixed up with a cow, but no matter how hard we try to explain the difference, she insists on calling it Moo."
"Moo," the little girl echoed, grabbing the toy from Johnny.
Mrs. Reynolds laughed and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, then when she looked back at Johnny's shocked face, she snapped back into emergency mode.
"She'll need a nap after lunchtime, and she usually sleeps until 2 or so. I'm sorry to just dump this on you, Johnny, but you're really my last resort."
"Uh-"
"You're the best, Johnny," she called as she started back down the walkway to her car. "Molly, sweetie, be good for Mr. Smith. Mommy loves you."
Mrs. Reynolds jumped into her dark blue station wagon, giving the pair one last wave before driving off down the street. Johnny and Molly looked at each other with confused and shocked expressions then glanced down the road after Mrs. Reynolds's car. Molly looked back at Johnny and immediately burst into tears.
Johnny felt like doing the same.
~~
Two hours later, Bruce leaped out of his PT cruiser even before it had come to a complete stop. He'd gotten a message from Johnny that he had an emergency and needed him immediately at his house. Bruce took the stairs to the door two at a time, then knocked on the door before opening it and entering the house.
"Johnny?!" he called, concern saturating his voice.
"In the kitchen," Johnny called back.
Bruce ran to the kitchen, but hearing Johnny's voice made some of his fear and anxiety diminish. Obviously it wasn't an emergency that was life threatening to Johnny.
"I got your message, man," Bruce said as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. "What's the big emergen-?"
Bruce cut off mid-sentence when he saw Johnny, and had to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter. Johnny was standing in front of him, covered head to toe in some sort of mashed food that was pea green in color. Johnny wiped a glob of the food off of his forehead, and with the look on his face, it made it even harder for Bruce not to laugh.
"What happened to you?" Bruce finally asked.
"Her," Johnny said, pointing accusingly at the little girl sitting at his kitchen table.
The little girl had green and orange food spread all across her grinning face, all over her hands, the front of her dress and in her brown, curly hair.
"Foo!" she cried, then grabbed a handful of goop from the bowl on the table in front of her, hurling it at Johnny.
"Hey!" the blond cried, getting yet another stain on the front of his sweatshirt. "Cut that out!"
Molly giggled and clapped her hands excitedly.
"Who is that?" Bruce asked.
"My neighbor's daughter, Molly. She had a family emergency and needed someone to watch her daughter," Johnny replied.
"And you're having problems?" Bruce asked with a chuckle.
"You could say that."
"You just have to know how to handle kids," Bruce told him, approaching the girl at the table. He crouched down next to her and smiled. "Hey there, Molly. I'm Bruce."
"Foo!" she cried again, smearing her hands across his face.
"You handled that very well," Johnny smirked.
"Be quiet," Bruce grumbled. "My guess would be she's done eating. Let's get her cleaned up."
Bruce picked her up, keeping her at an arm's distance as he walked to the bathroom with Johnny following close behind.
~~
"I thought you said she'd take a nap," Bruce yelled, trying to overpower the young lungs screeching.
Molly screamed as she ran across the living room away from Bruce, her eyes streaked with tears. Johnny didn't know a kid could scream that loud, and he fought the urge to cover his ears.
"That's what her mother said!"
"Every time I lay her down, she's up and running. and screaming. What does she want?" Bruce asked.
"How should I know?"
"You're the psychic! Touch her and find out!"
"I've been touching her all morning without any visions."
"Try again!"
Molly ran by Johnny and before she could squirm her way past him, Johnny grabbed her under the arms and hoisted her up. She squirmed and kicked, screeching as loudly as her little lungs would let her.
"I know what she needs," Johnny said, making a face.
"I told you it would work," Bruce replied with a satisfied look.
"A vision didn't tell me," his friend retorted. "The smell did. She needs her diaper changed."
"Oh. It's all you, man."
"Why me?"
"You're the elected babysitter. I don't do diapers."
Johnny sighed in frustration, but laid the child down on the couch. Molly must have realized what he was doing, because her screams had died down to whimpers with the occasional hiccup. Johnny unfastened the bottom of her pink overalls, exposing a very full diaper.
"Can you get me a new diaper, wipes and baby powder?" Johnny asked. "They're in the bag on the kitchen counter."
Bruce returned with the items in question, putting them on the coffee table next to the couch. Johnny hesitantly reached for the fasteners on the diaper, pulling them apart. He opened the diaper, and both he and Bruce had to look away and block their noses.
"Whoa!" they said simultaneously.
Molly giggled.
"That's the nastiest thing I've ever seen," Bruce added.
Johnny, doing his best not to look at what he was doing, pulled the dirty diaper off. He rolled it up and looked for somewhere to put it. Bruce dashed into the kitchen and brought back an empty plastic grocery bag, holding it out at an arm's length to Johnny. Johnny placed the diaper in the bag, grateful for it to be out of sight, but Molly was far from being clean.
He grabbed a wipe from the container, and while holding her legs up, hesitantly cleaned her off. Molly entertained herself with the baby powder container, turning it around in her little hands while she was cleaned off. She squeezed it and powder came up from the top, causing her to squeal in delight. She pointed the bottle at Johnny, squeezing it again, sending powder flying at him.
Johnny sighed in annoyance as his face and hair were covered in white powder, but Molly just squealed again and giggled.
"It's a good look for you, Johnny," Bruce chuckled.
"Very funny," Johnny said, taking the powder from Molly and putting some on her. He put a new diaper on her, grateful to be done. He put all of the dirty stuff in the plastic bag and Bruce brought it outside to throw away.
Johnny picked up the little girl and carried her into his bedroom where Bruce had been trying to lay her down earlier. He laid her down in the middle of the bed with pillows stacked up all around her, afraid that she might fall off if she happened to roll over. The girl settled into the blankets, but squirmed and made a pitiful noise.
"What's wrong now?" Bruce asked from behind his friend.
"I don't know," Johnny answered.
"Moo," the girl whined.
"Oh, of course," Johnny said, looking up. "Where's Moo?"
"Moo?" Bruce repeated, raising one eyebrow at Johnny.
"It's her favorite toy. It's this hideous iguana thing that you'd think would frighten small children, but she loves it. She calls it Moo."
"If you say so," Bruce said, and the two began searching the house for it.
The duo left the room, tearing the house apart in search of the iguana, but neither had any luck. They turned over couch cushions, tore apart the kitchen, but the toy seemed to have disappeared.
"Can't you just give her something else?" Bruce asked.
"We could try," Johnny replied, grabbing a stuffed cat from the bag of toys Mrs. Reynolds had given him.
Bruce followed Johnny into the bedroom, and slammed into his friend when Johnny stopped short.
"Where is she?" Johnny asked, looking around the room. "She's not here!"
"Calm down man, she's got to be around here somewhere."
"We couldn't even find a stuffed iguana, now we've lost the kid!"
The two split up with each of them taking one end of Johnny's massive house. They called out her name, but no response. The longer it took to find her, the more Johnny began to panic. His first time watching a child, and he lost her. He was going to be a horrible father. He couldn't even watch a kid for a few hours, never mind shaping a young life from birth. JJ was lucky to have someone like Walt to raise him instead of-
Johnny's thoughts cut off mid-sentence when he saw a small figure curled up in the corner of the kitchen, behind the island. Molly was wrapped around Moo, fast asleep. Johnny watched her for a minute, smiling at how sweet she looked. Johnny walked over to her and leaned his cane against the counter before picking her up. He walked her down to the bedroom and put her down on the bed. Bruce walked by the room and saw she had been found, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"She looks really peaceful like that," Bruce commented, echoing Johnny's thoughts of only moments earlier.
"Yeah, she does."
The two watched her in silence as she slept, then Johnny spoke up.
"You ever think about being a father?"
"Sometimes, but I have to find the right girl first."
Johnny thought about Sarah and little Johnny, and his heart sank. He had the right girl and they had a child together, but his son didn't even know who he was. He'd missed out on all of this, and as difficult as it was, he wished he had been there for JJ.
"Don't worry, Johnny," Bruce said, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "You'll get your chance to be a dad someday."
"Yeah, you're right," he replied with a sigh. "But until then, I'm going out to the couch and sleeping. I'm exhausted."
A warm breeze wafted in through the open kitchen window, carrying the sounds of birds and the scent of early morning air. Johnny glanced up from the book, thinking about spending the day relaxing in his house. He hadn't had a day to himself in a while, and the idea of it sounded great.
A quick, sharp knock on the door interrupted his reverie, and Johnny stood up from the chair, grabbing his cane in the process. He walked over to the front door and opened it, surprised to see his neighbor standing there with her baby in her arms. The little girl was a little less than a year old, looking at him with her big, blue eyes in curiosity.
"Johnny," she gasped, seeming out of breath. "Thank goodness you're home."
"What can I do for you, Mrs. Reynolds?"
"I'm hoping you can help me out," she said, and Johnny hoped it wasn't for the usual need for a psychic vision.
"I'll do what I can," he offered.
"Great," she sighed, handing the baby over to him, causing his eyes to widen. "The hospital just called, my dad just had a heart attack, so I have to go there, but I can't take Molly with me. I know you like your privacy, but I'm really in a bind. My babysitter is out of town, and all of my friends are unavailable. I wouldn't ask you unless I was desperate."
Johnny didn't know if he should be insulted or not. "Well, I-"
"She's a peach, Johnny, barely needs to be watched. My husband will be home around two this afternoon, and he'll pick her up. Everything you need is in this bag."
Mrs. Reynolds grabbed a bag by her feet that Johnny hadn't even seen. Johnny took it unconsciously, still in shock about what was going on. He'd never taken care of a kid before in his life. He didn't even have any siblings, so he hadn't even seen his mother take care of any other children.
"She's already had breakfast, but she'll probably get hungry again around 11 or so. I put food in the bag for her lunch, along with diapers and toys. This is her favorite toy," the woman continued, handing him the most grotesque looking toy Johnny had ever seen. The thing had huge beady red eyes with a snot-green colored body.
"It's her iguana," Mrs. Reynolds explained. "She calls it Moo. We think she has it mixed up with a cow, but no matter how hard we try to explain the difference, she insists on calling it Moo."
"Moo," the little girl echoed, grabbing the toy from Johnny.
Mrs. Reynolds laughed and gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, then when she looked back at Johnny's shocked face, she snapped back into emergency mode.
"She'll need a nap after lunchtime, and she usually sleeps until 2 or so. I'm sorry to just dump this on you, Johnny, but you're really my last resort."
"Uh-"
"You're the best, Johnny," she called as she started back down the walkway to her car. "Molly, sweetie, be good for Mr. Smith. Mommy loves you."
Mrs. Reynolds jumped into her dark blue station wagon, giving the pair one last wave before driving off down the street. Johnny and Molly looked at each other with confused and shocked expressions then glanced down the road after Mrs. Reynolds's car. Molly looked back at Johnny and immediately burst into tears.
Johnny felt like doing the same.
~~
Two hours later, Bruce leaped out of his PT cruiser even before it had come to a complete stop. He'd gotten a message from Johnny that he had an emergency and needed him immediately at his house. Bruce took the stairs to the door two at a time, then knocked on the door before opening it and entering the house.
"Johnny?!" he called, concern saturating his voice.
"In the kitchen," Johnny called back.
Bruce ran to the kitchen, but hearing Johnny's voice made some of his fear and anxiety diminish. Obviously it wasn't an emergency that was life threatening to Johnny.
"I got your message, man," Bruce said as he rounded the corner into the kitchen. "What's the big emergen-?"
Bruce cut off mid-sentence when he saw Johnny, and had to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter. Johnny was standing in front of him, covered head to toe in some sort of mashed food that was pea green in color. Johnny wiped a glob of the food off of his forehead, and with the look on his face, it made it even harder for Bruce not to laugh.
"What happened to you?" Bruce finally asked.
"Her," Johnny said, pointing accusingly at the little girl sitting at his kitchen table.
The little girl had green and orange food spread all across her grinning face, all over her hands, the front of her dress and in her brown, curly hair.
"Foo!" she cried, then grabbed a handful of goop from the bowl on the table in front of her, hurling it at Johnny.
"Hey!" the blond cried, getting yet another stain on the front of his sweatshirt. "Cut that out!"
Molly giggled and clapped her hands excitedly.
"Who is that?" Bruce asked.
"My neighbor's daughter, Molly. She had a family emergency and needed someone to watch her daughter," Johnny replied.
"And you're having problems?" Bruce asked with a chuckle.
"You could say that."
"You just have to know how to handle kids," Bruce told him, approaching the girl at the table. He crouched down next to her and smiled. "Hey there, Molly. I'm Bruce."
"Foo!" she cried again, smearing her hands across his face.
"You handled that very well," Johnny smirked.
"Be quiet," Bruce grumbled. "My guess would be she's done eating. Let's get her cleaned up."
Bruce picked her up, keeping her at an arm's distance as he walked to the bathroom with Johnny following close behind.
~~
"I thought you said she'd take a nap," Bruce yelled, trying to overpower the young lungs screeching.
Molly screamed as she ran across the living room away from Bruce, her eyes streaked with tears. Johnny didn't know a kid could scream that loud, and he fought the urge to cover his ears.
"That's what her mother said!"
"Every time I lay her down, she's up and running. and screaming. What does she want?" Bruce asked.
"How should I know?"
"You're the psychic! Touch her and find out!"
"I've been touching her all morning without any visions."
"Try again!"
Molly ran by Johnny and before she could squirm her way past him, Johnny grabbed her under the arms and hoisted her up. She squirmed and kicked, screeching as loudly as her little lungs would let her.
"I know what she needs," Johnny said, making a face.
"I told you it would work," Bruce replied with a satisfied look.
"A vision didn't tell me," his friend retorted. "The smell did. She needs her diaper changed."
"Oh. It's all you, man."
"Why me?"
"You're the elected babysitter. I don't do diapers."
Johnny sighed in frustration, but laid the child down on the couch. Molly must have realized what he was doing, because her screams had died down to whimpers with the occasional hiccup. Johnny unfastened the bottom of her pink overalls, exposing a very full diaper.
"Can you get me a new diaper, wipes and baby powder?" Johnny asked. "They're in the bag on the kitchen counter."
Bruce returned with the items in question, putting them on the coffee table next to the couch. Johnny hesitantly reached for the fasteners on the diaper, pulling them apart. He opened the diaper, and both he and Bruce had to look away and block their noses.
"Whoa!" they said simultaneously.
Molly giggled.
"That's the nastiest thing I've ever seen," Bruce added.
Johnny, doing his best not to look at what he was doing, pulled the dirty diaper off. He rolled it up and looked for somewhere to put it. Bruce dashed into the kitchen and brought back an empty plastic grocery bag, holding it out at an arm's length to Johnny. Johnny placed the diaper in the bag, grateful for it to be out of sight, but Molly was far from being clean.
He grabbed a wipe from the container, and while holding her legs up, hesitantly cleaned her off. Molly entertained herself with the baby powder container, turning it around in her little hands while she was cleaned off. She squeezed it and powder came up from the top, causing her to squeal in delight. She pointed the bottle at Johnny, squeezing it again, sending powder flying at him.
Johnny sighed in annoyance as his face and hair were covered in white powder, but Molly just squealed again and giggled.
"It's a good look for you, Johnny," Bruce chuckled.
"Very funny," Johnny said, taking the powder from Molly and putting some on her. He put a new diaper on her, grateful to be done. He put all of the dirty stuff in the plastic bag and Bruce brought it outside to throw away.
Johnny picked up the little girl and carried her into his bedroom where Bruce had been trying to lay her down earlier. He laid her down in the middle of the bed with pillows stacked up all around her, afraid that she might fall off if she happened to roll over. The girl settled into the blankets, but squirmed and made a pitiful noise.
"What's wrong now?" Bruce asked from behind his friend.
"I don't know," Johnny answered.
"Moo," the girl whined.
"Oh, of course," Johnny said, looking up. "Where's Moo?"
"Moo?" Bruce repeated, raising one eyebrow at Johnny.
"It's her favorite toy. It's this hideous iguana thing that you'd think would frighten small children, but she loves it. She calls it Moo."
"If you say so," Bruce said, and the two began searching the house for it.
The duo left the room, tearing the house apart in search of the iguana, but neither had any luck. They turned over couch cushions, tore apart the kitchen, but the toy seemed to have disappeared.
"Can't you just give her something else?" Bruce asked.
"We could try," Johnny replied, grabbing a stuffed cat from the bag of toys Mrs. Reynolds had given him.
Bruce followed Johnny into the bedroom, and slammed into his friend when Johnny stopped short.
"Where is she?" Johnny asked, looking around the room. "She's not here!"
"Calm down man, she's got to be around here somewhere."
"We couldn't even find a stuffed iguana, now we've lost the kid!"
The two split up with each of them taking one end of Johnny's massive house. They called out her name, but no response. The longer it took to find her, the more Johnny began to panic. His first time watching a child, and he lost her. He was going to be a horrible father. He couldn't even watch a kid for a few hours, never mind shaping a young life from birth. JJ was lucky to have someone like Walt to raise him instead of-
Johnny's thoughts cut off mid-sentence when he saw a small figure curled up in the corner of the kitchen, behind the island. Molly was wrapped around Moo, fast asleep. Johnny watched her for a minute, smiling at how sweet she looked. Johnny walked over to her and leaned his cane against the counter before picking her up. He walked her down to the bedroom and put her down on the bed. Bruce walked by the room and saw she had been found, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"She looks really peaceful like that," Bruce commented, echoing Johnny's thoughts of only moments earlier.
"Yeah, she does."
The two watched her in silence as she slept, then Johnny spoke up.
"You ever think about being a father?"
"Sometimes, but I have to find the right girl first."
Johnny thought about Sarah and little Johnny, and his heart sank. He had the right girl and they had a child together, but his son didn't even know who he was. He'd missed out on all of this, and as difficult as it was, he wished he had been there for JJ.
"Don't worry, Johnny," Bruce said, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "You'll get your chance to be a dad someday."
"Yeah, you're right," he replied with a sigh. "But until then, I'm going out to the couch and sleeping. I'm exhausted."