CHAPTER XIV
If You See The Light At The End Of The Tunnel - Turn Tail And Run Like Hell
"~Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear China, happy birthday to you!~" Jane's and Eddie's voices rang out through the house, only to be heard by deaf ears.
But Jane was signing as she was singing.
As they finished they're song, China clapped wildly, a smile splitting her tiny face.
She looked hungrily down at the small, white cake with a giant candle in the shape of a six, stuck squarely in the middle. Blue icing was clumped around the edges and pink flowers cradled in the corner.
Taking as big a breath she could fit into her tiny lungs, China puffed out her chest and blew as hard as she could, succeeding in blowing out the candles and a little bit of frosting across the table.
Then her parents clapped ecstatically, bringing out a knife to cut the cake with.
'You look silly' China signed, smiling broadly as she watched her dad push his pointed party hat higher onto his head.
'Oh really?' Eddie signed jokingly, deviously setting the knife down in mid slice and attacking China with a tickle torture.
China screamed silently and wriggled out from his arms, running to her mother and hiding behind her, sticking out her tongue at him. 'You can't get me!'
'Playing hard to get, huh?' Eddie roared like a lion as he came forward, crashing around the table and sending the two girls into a scurry through the apartment, screaming humorously.
Their chase lasted for about ten minutes before Eddie came around the corner of the counter a tad too fast and smacked his ankle onto one of the barstools, ending his chase exhausted and wounded.
"Baby, are you okay?" Jane asked, noticing the pain on Eddie's face and going to him as he hobbled for the couch.
"Yeah," He said between choking breaths, sitting down on the couch and supporting his wounded leg horizontal across his other knee as he examined his ankle, no outside damage to it.
"You sure?" Jane asked, taking a look at his ankle herself, not looking up when China emerged from her hiding spot from the bathroom with a confused expression on her face.
'Your daddy hurt his foot, but he'll be okay' Jane signed, clearing China's confusion.
China nodded understandingly and cautiously approached her father, a grin tugging at the side of her mischievous mouth.
Like a hawk swooping in for the kill, China ran forward, placed a kiss on her dad's ankle to make it feel better and scrambled away from him as if he might try to reach out and catch her.
Instead, Eddie let his head roll back on the couch and let out a laugh, more trying to get his mind off the pain.
"I'll get you some Advil." Jane said, catching Eddie's lips in hers momentarily as she passed to the bathroom.
After a moment of shuffling through the medicine cupboard, Jane emerged with a sad look on her face. "It's gone." She showed him, then tossed the empty bottle single-handedly into the garbage can.
"That's alright," Eddie said between lifting himself from the couch and a grunt of pain. "I'll just walk down to the drugstore." He began hobbling towards the door.
"Are you sure?" Jane asked skeptically, watching him lurch to the apartment door, grabbing his coat. "We could come with you."
"No, it'll just take a second." Eddie reassured her, throwing his wallet into his coat pocket and opening the door, turning back. "You two open some presents,"
"What about you?"
"I'll look at 'em when I get back, you better not keep China waiting." He nodded his head toward what he was speaking about.
China was staring intently at the small pyramid of presents stacked in the middle of the living room, licking her lips enticingly.
"Besides," Eddie added with a dismissive smile. "It's not gonna to kill me."
*MOO*
Jane chewed on her bottom lip as she flipped through television stations unconsciously, her other hand stroking China's black hair as she slept against her mother's thigh.
Jane glanced at the clock on the wall, noticing that Eddie's "second" had become four hours. She sighed somewhat angrily, and looked down at China, momentarily forgetting her troubles.
A rainbow teddy bear was wrapped tight in China's arms and brightly colored wrapping paper was scattered about them. They had only opened two presents, vowing to wait until Eddie would return.
Flashing blue and red lights caught her attention as she turned back to the television, seeing a quirky reporter standing awkwardly with a series of dark buildings behind him.
Iridescent, yellow police tape shifted nervously in the night air as the light man had trouble keeping aim on the reporter who looked too calm to be reporting an accident.
"We're live on the scene of what appears to be-" Jane was suddenly disturbed from the television when a loud knock at her door disrupted her listening.
Sighing loudly, she gently pushed China from her lap, getting another series of impatient knocks at the door.
"Hold on." She called, pushing her hair back from her face as she opened the door a little more rudely than what she had intended to.
"Yeah?" Jane froze as she saw a large, round police officer in uniform standing in her doorway, his eyes sunken into his head and his huge nose nearly consuming his face.
"Are you Mrs. Jane Alden?" His grave voice sent a chill up Jane's spine and distributed it into a series of tingles along her scalp.
"Yes."
"A Mr. Eddie Alden's wife?" The cop looked at a wallet in his hands, and Jane immediately recognized it as Eddie's.
"Y-es." She suddenly felt herself go weak as she leaned against the door, knowing that she was not about to like what he had to say next.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but your husband has been shot."
If You See The Light At The End Of The Tunnel - Turn Tail And Run Like Hell
"~Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear China, happy birthday to you!~" Jane's and Eddie's voices rang out through the house, only to be heard by deaf ears.
But Jane was signing as she was singing.
As they finished they're song, China clapped wildly, a smile splitting her tiny face.
She looked hungrily down at the small, white cake with a giant candle in the shape of a six, stuck squarely in the middle. Blue icing was clumped around the edges and pink flowers cradled in the corner.
Taking as big a breath she could fit into her tiny lungs, China puffed out her chest and blew as hard as she could, succeeding in blowing out the candles and a little bit of frosting across the table.
Then her parents clapped ecstatically, bringing out a knife to cut the cake with.
'You look silly' China signed, smiling broadly as she watched her dad push his pointed party hat higher onto his head.
'Oh really?' Eddie signed jokingly, deviously setting the knife down in mid slice and attacking China with a tickle torture.
China screamed silently and wriggled out from his arms, running to her mother and hiding behind her, sticking out her tongue at him. 'You can't get me!'
'Playing hard to get, huh?' Eddie roared like a lion as he came forward, crashing around the table and sending the two girls into a scurry through the apartment, screaming humorously.
Their chase lasted for about ten minutes before Eddie came around the corner of the counter a tad too fast and smacked his ankle onto one of the barstools, ending his chase exhausted and wounded.
"Baby, are you okay?" Jane asked, noticing the pain on Eddie's face and going to him as he hobbled for the couch.
"Yeah," He said between choking breaths, sitting down on the couch and supporting his wounded leg horizontal across his other knee as he examined his ankle, no outside damage to it.
"You sure?" Jane asked, taking a look at his ankle herself, not looking up when China emerged from her hiding spot from the bathroom with a confused expression on her face.
'Your daddy hurt his foot, but he'll be okay' Jane signed, clearing China's confusion.
China nodded understandingly and cautiously approached her father, a grin tugging at the side of her mischievous mouth.
Like a hawk swooping in for the kill, China ran forward, placed a kiss on her dad's ankle to make it feel better and scrambled away from him as if he might try to reach out and catch her.
Instead, Eddie let his head roll back on the couch and let out a laugh, more trying to get his mind off the pain.
"I'll get you some Advil." Jane said, catching Eddie's lips in hers momentarily as she passed to the bathroom.
After a moment of shuffling through the medicine cupboard, Jane emerged with a sad look on her face. "It's gone." She showed him, then tossed the empty bottle single-handedly into the garbage can.
"That's alright," Eddie said between lifting himself from the couch and a grunt of pain. "I'll just walk down to the drugstore." He began hobbling towards the door.
"Are you sure?" Jane asked skeptically, watching him lurch to the apartment door, grabbing his coat. "We could come with you."
"No, it'll just take a second." Eddie reassured her, throwing his wallet into his coat pocket and opening the door, turning back. "You two open some presents,"
"What about you?"
"I'll look at 'em when I get back, you better not keep China waiting." He nodded his head toward what he was speaking about.
China was staring intently at the small pyramid of presents stacked in the middle of the living room, licking her lips enticingly.
"Besides," Eddie added with a dismissive smile. "It's not gonna to kill me."
*MOO*
Jane chewed on her bottom lip as she flipped through television stations unconsciously, her other hand stroking China's black hair as she slept against her mother's thigh.
Jane glanced at the clock on the wall, noticing that Eddie's "second" had become four hours. She sighed somewhat angrily, and looked down at China, momentarily forgetting her troubles.
A rainbow teddy bear was wrapped tight in China's arms and brightly colored wrapping paper was scattered about them. They had only opened two presents, vowing to wait until Eddie would return.
Flashing blue and red lights caught her attention as she turned back to the television, seeing a quirky reporter standing awkwardly with a series of dark buildings behind him.
Iridescent, yellow police tape shifted nervously in the night air as the light man had trouble keeping aim on the reporter who looked too calm to be reporting an accident.
"We're live on the scene of what appears to be-" Jane was suddenly disturbed from the television when a loud knock at her door disrupted her listening.
Sighing loudly, she gently pushed China from her lap, getting another series of impatient knocks at the door.
"Hold on." She called, pushing her hair back from her face as she opened the door a little more rudely than what she had intended to.
"Yeah?" Jane froze as she saw a large, round police officer in uniform standing in her doorway, his eyes sunken into his head and his huge nose nearly consuming his face.
"Are you Mrs. Jane Alden?" His grave voice sent a chill up Jane's spine and distributed it into a series of tingles along her scalp.
"Yes."
"A Mr. Eddie Alden's wife?" The cop looked at a wallet in his hands, and Jane immediately recognized it as Eddie's.
"Y-es." She suddenly felt herself go weak as she leaned against the door, knowing that she was not about to like what he had to say next.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but your husband has been shot."