Touichirou liked games.

"See baby? It's a game. Come on get the ball!" said Mother as she threw his ball. She threw it far, past the couch and over to where the tree used to live. The tree had to go live somewhere else a while ago. He missed the tree, it had color on it, now there was just the white wall.

He was getting good at his colors.

"See? See your red ball? Bring it to mama!" said Mother. Touichirou knew that the ball was red. Like Mother's hair, and he knew that the wall was white. His sock was white too…boring. He didn't like it. He reached down and pulled his sock off. Mother was always putting these on his feet. It was a game, too. He took his sock off, she put it on him again, and the he took it off. He was good at that game, too.

And so was Mother.

"No Touichirou, bad baby." Said Mother as she took his sock out of his hand and put it back on his foot. This game was more fun, though he was just happy to have Mother there with him. She sometimes went away, those weren't good times, but now she was with him and they were playing.

And he was winning.

"Come on, Touichi, don't you want to win? Get me the ball." Said Mama. She pointed at his ball. He didn't want the ball right now, the ball was boring, he wanted his sock. He reached down and pulled his sock off again. Mother took it away. He held out his foot so she would put it back on.

She didn't.

"Fine, you don't want to wear socks? Then you don't have to wear socks." Said Mother as she took his other sock off…and that wasn't how you were supposed to play! He reached out and tried to take it back from her. Her arms were longer, she was bigger, and he couldn't reach!

It wasn't fair!

He tried to tell her that it wasn't fair but all he could do was cry. He didn't know how to make words yet. He knew what he wanted to say but he just…couldn't…and that wasn't fair! Everyone else could make words but he couldn't and everyone else got to play but now he couldn't! He wanted to play with Mother but she wasn't playing!

Bad Mother! Very bad Mother!

"Bad baby, very bad baby. I don't know why you're crying but stop it. You didn't want to wear socks so you don't have to wear them…God! What do you want right now!" said Mother. Touichirou tried to reach for his socks but Mother just took them farther away and…and it wasn't fair! He reached out with his hands but nothing happened. He tried with his colors. Red. He knew that he was red. He was red but Mother and Father were no other colors at all…so maybe he could win! He reached out even farther!

He got them.

"What the-" said Mother as he pulled his socks out of her hands. She looked down at her hands and then at him. He held his socks out and looked at her. She knew what he meant. He wished that he could talk to her but this was good enough for now. She knew what he meant sometimes. He knew what she meant all the time.

That was fair.

"Now you do it." Said Mother as she put his socks back on. He reached down to pull his socks off again but she grabbed his hands. He tried to get away but she just held onto him tighter.

"No. I don't care if this is a…I don't know, some kind of Rosemary's Baby or Village of the Damned thing…or maybe this is mark of the devil situation…" said Mother. She got a far off look in her eyes, like she was still trying to see his ball, before she let go of him. The next thing he knew her hands were on his head. She was pulling and pushing his hair around.

Bad Mother!

"Oh stop it, I just have to check something." said Mother as she folded him in half and played with his head. He tried to push away from her but all he did was get the thing she always had around her neck. He pulled on it. This was a fun thing…what he had been so mad about? He pulled the thing over and put it in his mouth.

It didn't taste good.

But it did feel good against his teeth. He chewed on it while Mother played with his hair. He felt her hands on his back now, she was done with his hair, and then he heard his zipper talking to him. Mother was picking him up now and spinning him around…and then he let go of the neck thing…

That had been his!

"Fine, here, take my necklace." Said Mother as she took the dangling thing from her neck and put it in his hands. He put it back in his mouth where it belonged. It didn't taste good but it felt good against his teeth. He chewed on it as Mother spun him around again. It was kind of cold, he needed his blanket. He dropped the thing…necklace, that was the word Mother had used…he dropped the necklace and reached out for his blanket. Mother put him down.

But she didn't give him his blanket…bad Mother!

"Well, I don't think that you're an evil demon baby and I'm pretty sure that it's not a Rosemary's Baby situation either. I mean I'm not particularly religious, your dad hates it, and I doubt that he's part of some secret old people devil worshipping Manson family..." said Mother. He crawled over to the couch and reached up for his blanket. His colors caught it and brought it down to him. He nearly caught it, too, but his head got in the way. Mother pulled the blanket off of his head…but she didn't smile. She didn't say 'peekaboo' either even though she knew that she was supposed to.

He pulled the blanket over his head.

He waited for her to pull it down and play the game the right way…but she didn't. He waited for a really long time but nothing happened. She just…maybe she had forgotten how to play. He pulled the blanket down onto the ground. She was still there, at least, she hadn't gone away…but she wasn't looking at him or anything.

She was bad at playing games.

"Hey Touichirou?" asked Mother as he tried to give her his blanket. She took it but she didn't put it over her head. She just put it back up on the couch where she knew he was too little to climb up. He pointed at it. She didn't understand.

"You can't hear my thoughts, can you?" asked Mother as he pointed at his blanket. She pulled him into her lap and held him close…this was nice He couldn't remember what he had been upset about. Mother was so warm. He closed his eyes and listened to her heartbeat.

"I don't remember fainting but then again nobody in Midwich did either…and you're not blond." Said Mother as she ran a hand through his hair. He sighed. Mother was so soft and comfortable.

"Wait, were those kids blond? God, I hate black and white so much. You're lucky like that, baby, you'll never have to watch anything in black and white, and not on a tiny eight-inch screen either. You're living in modernity or whatever…" said Mother as Touichirou reached up and found her necklace. He held it in his hand. It was warm like the rest of her.

"Maybe that's it? Maybe this isn't like Village of the damned. Maybe it's like…Godzilla? Did radiation do this? Or…or wouldn't that have just made you a giant baby?" asked Mother as Touichirou tried to tug her necklace off. If he let her have it then she could have taken it away from him and not given it back, like she had tried to do with his socks.

"I don't know…I just don't know. Maybe your father knows. Maybe he has some ideas that don't come from movies? Maybe…" he fell asleep as Mother was telling him things. She kept on rubbing his back as she talked to him, that was what had done it, or maybe he had just used his colors too much. He didn't know…he kind of wished that he had been able to stay awake longer. Maybe even long enough for Mother to keep on playing games with him.

But she didn't.

He woke up on the floor, his blanket all around him. The television was on. He sat up and crawled over to it. He touched it and felt it touch him back. The picture got snowy, that was what Mother had called it, as his colors touched it. He could hear something happening outside…some light came in through the windows and danced across the walls. He let go of the television and tried to chase it but it moved faster than he could crawl.

He was too slow.

He watched the walls and waited for the light to come back…but it didn't! It was gone and…and that wasn't fair! He had been playing with it. When you played with someone they weren't supposed to go, only Mother was supposed to go, and that was because she was Mother. Sometimes she was there and sometimes she wasn't…

She was gone.

"Mamamamamama!" cried Touichirou, trying to call out and find her. She didn't come. It was just him in the dark with the television…he didn't want to be alone in the dark! He saw more light. It was coming from the kitchen. There weren't any toys in there, and no television either, but…but he could hear talking!

Mother!

Father, too. He could hear Father's voice but that wasn't as important as hearing Mother's voice. Mother was Mother. Father was just the other person that was there sometimes and also sometimes wasn't. He wasn't really sure what Father was there for. He didn't play like Mother did, he wasn't good to sleep on, and he never gave Touichirou food. Father was like the tree that used to live in the house. He was there sometimes but he didn't do anything.

Maybe Father would go away forever like the tree did.

He crawled into the kitchen. The floor in the kitchen was cold and shiny. He didn't like being in here but if this was where everyone was then this was where he had to be. That way someone would play with him. He crawled across the floor, the brown and yellow touched his hands as he crawled, though it didn't feel like anything. It didn't do anything. The television was a much better friend than the floor. Even the floor by the television was a much better friend, it wasn't cold like this floor, and it didn't hurt his hands and knees when he crawled on it either.

Why were Mother and Father even in here?

"….ketchup in the rice?" he heard Mother say as he crawled under the table. Father was there, it at least his socks. They were white like Touichirou's. He sat down and held out his own foot…yes. They matched.

"Yes, ketchup in the rice. Ketchup, raisins, and carrots with a slice of your cheese on top." Said Father

"You want me to add melted Kraft singles to…fried rice? With ketchup and carrots and…and did you say raisins?" asked Mother

"Exactly. Only the cheese wasn't melted, it was square." Said Father

"You mean cold?" asked Mother

"No, it was warm from the rice." Said Father as Touichirou touched his foot to his. Father just pulled his foot away…that wasn't fair either!

"Yoshio, I love you, but none of those things sound like they go together. I think that maybe, just maybe, your English isn't as good as you think it is." Said Mother

"My English is perfect, Abi, and anyway I know what I ate. I even asked for the recipe and that's everything that goes into American fried rice." Said Father. Touichirou reached out with his colors and tried to pull Father's sock off. If this was how Father wanted to play the game then, fine, this was how the game was going to be played.

"American fried…and you ate this in Tokyo? In a restaurant? With other human beings?" asked Mother. He could see her feet now. She wasn't wearing socks but her toes were a different color. They had been pink but now they were read. He tried to reach out and touch them but she moved. He was too slow again!

"Well, it was a little outside Tokyo but yes and it was the most amazing thing I've ever had. Make me that." Said Father. Mother made that noise she made when she was unhappy. She wasn't fun when she was unhappy. He tried to crawl away but the next thing he knew her arms were reaching under the table and her face was right in front of him.

And then he was being picked up.

"I made a bologna loaf already. If you have requests for dinner then you need to tell me in advance…and I don't even think we have Kraft singles. It's so hard to find cheese around here let alone good cheese." Said Mother as Touichirou reached out and tried to pull her necklace away.

"Go to the American market." Said Father

"That's all the way out of town by the military base. I'm not taking the baby that far, not on foot." Said Mother

"Call a taxi." Said Father. Mother sighed and tucked her necklace into her shirt.

"And get charged twice if they even come?" asked Mother

"Let me worry about the money, that's my job. Your job is to keep house and keep our son alive." Said Father

"Speaking of our son-" said Mother

"Now where's that bologna loaf? You know how I love American cooking." Said Father. Mother whispered something like 'I doubt that' and put him in his high chair. He looked over at Father, Father looked over at him. He could hear Mother moving around behind him and banging plates together. He held out his hands. When he was up here he got food…so where was his food?

"Abi, I think that Touichirou is hungry." Said Father

"Can you give me a minute?" asked Mother as she put something down on the table. It was pink and square, he knew shapes now too, and had something green in the middle. He reached out to try and touch it. It looked fun.

"I think he wants some of our food." Said Father as Mother leaned past him and put a plate and a glass down. Touichirou wanted food now! He wanted his bowl and his spoon and his bottle!

"He's just going to have to wait, I can't be in two places at the same time…and speaking of the baby-" said Mother

"Here you are, son." Said Father as he took the sharp thing that mother said to never touch and took some of the food from the big thing. He put it onto his plate and put the plate on Touichirou's highchair. The plate and then the spoon…but this wasn't his spoon! How was he supposed to play 'here comes the rocket ship' when there was no rocket ship?

Mother and Father were both terrible at games.

"Don't give him that, he'll choke." Said Mother as she took the plate away.

"He has teeth now." said Father as he took the plate out of Mother's hands and put it right back where it had just been. Touichirou wanted to play too but they weren't even looking at him!

"Not that many. He's going to choke and die. See? He's upset." Said Mother as she pointed at him. She didn't have his spoon in her hand…either of them!

"No he isn't." said Father. But Touichirou was upset, he really was! He didn't want this, not like this! He tried to pick the plate up with his hands but it was a lot heavier than his bowl.

"If he breaks that plate then you deal with it." Said Mother as she put a bottle down in front of him and a glass down in front of Father. But he didn't want a bottle and he didn't want a glass, either. He wanted his spoon but she just turned around and….and he wanted his spoon!

"You have the checkbook." Said Father

"That's not what I meant. If he breaks it then you're cleaning it up. I've been dealing with him all day and…and there's something you need to know about the baby-" said Mother as the plate flew off of the highchair and onto the floor. There. If he didn't have his spoon then he didn't want any food at all…even that bottle. He could feel it looking at him…but he didn't want it! He swiped it away, touching it with both his hands and his colors. He sent it flying until it hit the wall. It didn't stick out, like his red ball had, the bottle just broke and the white milk mixed with the wall. The color ran down until it hit the floor.

He was hungry but not for bottles!

"You saw that, right?" asked Mother as she pointed to the milk on the floor. Father nodded. Good, they had both seen it, now they could both go and get his normal food and his rocket ship spoon. Then they could play with him and everything could be good again.

"Yes…" said Father as he looked at the wall, Touichirou, and then the wall again.

"And?" asked Mother

"And that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I had no idea that babies were so strong." Said Father. Mother sighed and put Touichirou's bowl down in front of him. His bowl and…and his spoon! He picked up his spoon and banged it against his bowl!

"He wasn't strong, he was…ok, it looked like he did it with his hands but really he used his mind or…or something, I'm not sure how it works let. As far as I can tell it's not a Rosemary's Baby thing or-" said Mother

"Who's Rosemary? A friend from California?" asked Father as he held out his hand. Mother sighed and handed him another plate. He put it down and cut some more food for himself. Touichirou pulled his bowl close. He didn't want any of that, not if it meant that he wasn't going to get to use his spoon.

"No, Rosemary's Baby. It was a really famous book and then Mia Farrow made a movie about it?" asked Mother

"Oh, I know her. She was in that film we saw…what was it? The American cinema theatre was showing an afternoon of her movies…the one where they go to the Chinese restaurant…" said Father

"Doris Day. You're thinking of Doris Day…how do you confuse Mia Farrow for Doris Day?" asked Mother

"I don't know film stars, my Father only believed in the legitimate theatre, you know that." Said Father

"Well…have you ever read The Midwich Cuckoos?" asked Mother

"My Father didn't allow me to read your books, either." Said Father

"It's a British book." Said Mother as she put a jar down onto his high chair. It was orange. That was good. If it had been one of the green ones he would have had to throw it against the wall, too. The green ones were the worst, even worse than the yellow ones and they were pretty bad. Mothered opened the jar. He reached out, he was hungry, but she didn't let him have it!

"Unless it was Japanese it wasn't allowed." Said Father as he reached out and tried to take Touichirou's spoon. He held it close to his chest and got ready to push Father's hand away if he needed to.

"Ok…um…Godzilla. You must know Godzilla." Said Mother as she poured the orange stuff into his bowl.

"Gojira? I know Gojira." asked Father

"Good, then you remember how the radiation-" said Mother as she took the spoon and put it in the orange food.

"Do you want to go to the cinema? Because if that's what you're getting at then by all means put the baby in the stroller and let's go." Said Father. Mother stopped. She looked at him, at Father, and then at the spoon in her hand. Touichirou reached out with his colors and tried to take it from her. The spoon only fell, it didn't make it to his mouth, and that wasn't fair at all.

"You actually want to spend time with me? What about work tomorrow? And aren't you going to try and recover from last night? Weren't your bosses in town?" asked Mother

"No, worse, the men above them. We didn't finish until nearly four in the morning…but I do have a lifetime of cinema to catch up on and this is what Americans do, right? You go to the cinema every single night?" asked Father

"I…yes. That's what we did in the old country, we go to the movies every single night, so…so just let me get him fed and then we can go." Said Mother

"What's playing tonight?" asked Father

"No idea, we'll see when we get there." Said Mother as she began to feed him. She didn't even try and play with him, she didn't make a single airplane noise or anything, she just shoved the spoon in his mouth. It wasn't fair! Dinner was supposed to come with a game, it wasn't supposed to just be Mother shoving food into his mouth, and afterwards she wasn't supposed to put him in his stroller!

This whole day had been unfair…but at least he got to play games with Mother and Father for a little bit.