JOEY BABYSITS
Sweat lined Monica's brow, as she doused the wok in oil. The wok burst into angry orange flames, searing the scallops golden brown. Monica tipped her plump fragrant scallops onto a plate and drizzled them with horseradish sauce. A waiter swooped in, grabbed the plate, and rushed out of the kitchen. Glancing at her list of orders, Monica set to work on the next one. A waitress approached Monica tentatively.
"Someone's on the phone for you."
"Tell them I'm busy."
"It's the police." Concerned, Monica told her sous-chef to take over, and hurried out of the kitchen. She grabbed the phone at the reception.
"Is Chandler hurt?" she demanded anxiously.
"No ma'am. Your husband is fine. We're calling because we've taken him into custody. We're at your house and your two children, Jack and Erica, are safe and sound with us. We-"
Confused, Monica interrupted agitatedly, "Wait, what? In custody? Why would my husband be in custody? What do you mean, two kids? Where's the third? Isn't Emma with you? Look, I don't understand!" Monica felt dizzy with confusion.
"Come to your house immediately, and we'll explain everything."
Still dressed in her chef's uniform, Monica tore out of the restaurant, and waved a cab down. Monica threw some notes at the cab driver, telling him to keep the change, as she jumped out of the cab. Her eyes widened in bewilderment, as she saw a police car parked outside her house, a small group of police officers congregated in her garden, and a long yellow crime scene tape cordoning off her house. My God, it was like a scene from CSI. Disoriented, she stumbled across her lawn, towards the group of policemen.
"My children…" she croaked.
Officer Lam passed her twins to her. Both were asleep after expending all their energy crying. Monica whimpered, as she saw the dried blood on their clothes and faces.
"Don't worry, it's not their blood, it's someone else's. They're perfectly fine, they're just sleeping." Monica breathed a sigh of relief, as she cradled her twins. Relief was quickly replaced with fear.
"Whose blood is it?" she asked quietly.
A million questions raced through her head, but she figured the most important issue right now, was determining which poor soul had bled all over her children. Monica swayed unsteadily on her feet. Officer Lam grasped her arm, steadying her, and directed her into a lawn chair. Lam pulled another lawn chair up to Monica, sat down, and began his explanation.
"Paramedics found your friend's daughter, Emma Greene, unconscious and bleeding profusely from a knife wound. They rushed her to hospital. Her parents are with her as we speak. Granted, your husband was the one who called the paramedics, but seeing as he was the only adult present immediately after the stabbing, we had no choice but to take him into custody. We're questioning him at the police station, and will hold him for 24 hours. I'll be honest with you, Mrs Bing, the circumstances are extremely suspicious. I strongly suggest you get an attorney immediately." Monica's face grew pale, and she massaged her temples with shaky hands, trying to absorb this hailstorm of frightening information.
"Let me just call someone to look after my kids, then I want to see my husband." Monica couldn't call her parents because they were interstate. It was a toss-up between Phoebe and Joey. Neither were particularly responsible adults, but one would have to do.
"Joey, I need you to look after my kids for a few hours. Something serious has come up. Can I drop them at your place?"
Joey heard the quavering urgency in Monica's voice, and refrained from asking what the matter was. Whatever it was, it Monica clearly hadn't the time or presence of mind to explain. He hastily agreed. Joey sat at the foot of his apartment steps. Butterflies fluttered in his belly. Monica's unhinged voice, told him something terrible was going on. A police car pulled up in front of his apartment block. Monica stepped out, hurriedly pushing the sleeping children into Joey's arms. Holy shit, they were covered in blood.
The fuck is going on?
Before he could demand an explanation, Monica turned on her heel, hastily climbed back into the police car, which sped off. Cold sweat beaded Joey's forehead. The children looked seriously injured. Were they unconscious? Sitting on the pavement, he tore their jumpsuits off, turning them over and over, searching desperately for the source of the bleeding. He decided he would use their jumpsuits as bandages to stem the blood flow.
The twins woke up with a start, and began crying at the top of their lungs. Joey felt faint with relief to find out they were alive and kicking. Passerbys glanced nervously at Joey, whispering urgently amongst themselves, as he manhandled two screaming naked bloodied babies. Noticing the unwanted attention, Joey rushed the crying twins up to his apartment, in case passerbys called the police for child abuse. Joey placed the babies in the sink, gently washing the blood away from their bodies with warm tap water and soap.
The warm water calmed them down, and they stopped wailing. There was not a single mark on Jack and Erica's bodies, they were perfectly fine. This was someone else's blood. Joey dried the babies, wrapping them in blankets, for lack of baby clothes. He made a makeshift dinner by squashing bananas to a pulp. Spooning the banana into the twins' mouths, he was consumed with a single thought…
God help the person whose blood this is.