Trouble Sleeping
It's past Joey's bedtime.
Very much past his bedtime. Except he's not at home, is the thing, and the big house they're in is just so very interesting.
He's been put to bed a while ago, Mama and Papi having tucked him in tight to a bed that just doesn't smell right. He knows they're not staying, but he just can't sleep. It's not right. The covers don't feel right, the shadows don't look right, and there's definitely something squeaking in the closet.
He's tried, really he has. He knows Mama and Papi know best about bedtime and sleeping and stuff. They don't always sleep, he knows, because sometimes when he wakes up from bad dreams Mama and Pa are really fast at getting into his room. But Mama's tells him all the time that sleep is good, that he needs to sleep and usually he does. He's not a bad sleeper. When the sun goes down, so does he.
Except it's just not right.
And then the sound comes and he's out of bed like a shot. Mama doesn't like closed doors so it's easy to slip through the opening. But then he's faced with the stairs. Stairs. He's not allowed to do those at home. There's a gate and everything. And the thing is, he's not stupid either and he knows that these are scary stairs. He can see between them. He doesn't like scary stairs. His bottom lip trembles though, because nothing's right and there are strange sounds and he wants his Mama.
And then she's there, and Joey hadn't even realized he'd started crying.
"Baby, what's wrong?"
But he just sobs into her shoulder as she scoops him up. Mama smells right, and his fist clenches in the t-shirt she wears. It's soft, like the hair that brushes his cheek as he buries his face in her neck. She bounces him a little, her hand stroking along his back and eventually he's calmed enough that Mama tilts his head back. She likes to see him, Mama does.
"Oh, baby," she says again, shifting him until she can get her thumb on his cheek. Mama's gentle as she brushes away her tears. "Okay. We'll go home."
Home.
Joey likes home.
He stays curled up against Mama until Papi has to take him so Mama can put on her coat. Uncle Rick and Aunt Kate are there too, because they'd all had dinner together and it had been happy times, and Aunt Kate presses a kiss to his head. He likes Aunt Kate.
Papi carries him down the elevator and into the bright yellow car. He has one like that, but it's much smaller. He'd never fit in it. Once Mama's crawled in, Papi hands him over and Joey curls up against Mama again. There's still a hint of things not smelling right, of things not being right, but Mama's there, and Mama's safe and it doesn't matter that the shadows keep moving because Mama's there and Papi's there, and as long as Joey's got Mama and Papi around, he knows nothing bad is going to happen.
So, curled up against Mama's soft shirt, Joey's eyes flutter closed and he finally falls asleep.
And the Parish-Esposito boy has a name!
It's drabble writing day, like training for a marathon, so when this popped in my head, of course I had to write it. Not so much Esplanie, but a nice tiny glimpse into what's going on in the universe.
Cheers!