Chapter 08 Linnie's preparation
Info: Nora, Miguel, Yolonda, Daisy (Linnie's sister) and Linnie belong to MilkyWayGalaxy4567, including the Anti-'s of them. I did ask for permission and they said yes. The authors and books mentioned are real live authors, I won't copy any info from any book mentioned, it's just for reading purposes and isn't meant for financial gain at all.
Linnie flew back home after the meeting. As soon as he got into his new apartment he flew into his other storage compartment and got Cosmo's old baby clothes and stuff out.
He walked to a separate bedroom in his home. It was the second bedroom and Linnie had actually planned on using it as a library for his own comfort but decided that since he was 'becoming a father again' that books had no room in his house and that this should be the babies and later kids new bedroom.
Linnie first scanned all the books and selected a few he was sure to keep for his own reading comfort: Winnie the Poo by A. A Milne, Divorce is not the end of the world by Zoe and Evan Stern, The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle, and many more books to encourage a good education and even some friendship books.
Linnie selected a grand total of fifty books to keep for the kid to read. The rest, like his favourite books, he stored in one box and others he packed away completely. Linnie carried the boxes outside and stored them for now in his garage attached to his home.
He headed back to his 'library' and started looking around all the bare shelves he now has. There was also a window in his room and not really a lot of room. Linnie headed back to his garage and got his tool kit out, he started removing six bookcases altogether and carried them outside of his house for the skip. Linnie decided to keep two of them, the two largest. Mainly for the baby clothes, photographs of the growing child and his family and his own children, but also to store the children's toys.
"Now, I got a place for the stuff, but I still think I should change the wallpaper." Linnie smiled.
The wallpaper in Linnie's library was a fairly dark green colour, and he knew from previous experience that kids hate the dark, especially babies. So Linnie next steamed off the green wallpaper, cleaned it out of the room, cleaned the room again and then headed once more to the garage.
He found a pot of light yellow paint. This will do lovely. Linnie waved his wand and changed out of his green clothes into a very old grey shirt and white long lederhosen meant for painting. He carried the paint into the room and read the instructions carefully.
"For this formula, stir the paint up thoroughly for at least five minutes, and scratch against the edge of the can to release more paint into the pot. Can cover up to 700 square meters of wall. Don't eat or swallow this paint. Should contact be made via the mouth, or open cut on your body contact your doctor immediately to get healed. Don't leave kids unsupervised while the pot is in use. Store upright in a dark cold place. Can be used several times, but should be used up within a span of two months after opening." Linnie read.
He nodded his head, sounds simple enough. He knew for a fact this room was less than 700 square meters, he wasn't too sure how big it was but big enough for the baby. Linnie removed the light fittings, poofed up a sheet to cover the floor and taped off the edge of the room. Then he picked up his brush and then had the idea to poof up a radio to hear some music.
He selected his favourite radio channel; Power to Wishes, and he listened to various nice songs whiles painting the room over. It took the rest of the day and by nightfall, Linnie had the last piece of the room finished painted. The paint pot was about to three fourth empty and Linnie felt like he has done a good job. Quickly he poofed the lid on and carried it into his loft to store it in a dark room.
Linnie smiled, had a hot shower after all the painting and then headed to bed. He knew the baby's room had to dry for at least two days out before he could begin the next phase.
The next morning Linnie got washed and dressed again and wondered what to do next. The kid's room was still damp, but drying nicely, so he couldn't go in there. Having an idea, Linnie left his home and drove back to his 'ex-wife's apartment. He knew for a fact that their children's old baby clothes were all stored in his and Nora's loft for now. Not that he'd really wanna see her for now. But it was unavoidable.
Linnie sighed, he arrived at Nora's, his, old home, parked on the side and rang then the doorbell.
Nora looked up from marking more of her level 14 probation papers, still drinking wine and not really in the mood for visitors. She flew up to the door and called through it.
"Who is it?" She shouted.
Linnie sighed, "Nora it's me. Open up please, I've come to pick up the baby stuff."
Nora glared, she opened the door and Linnie smiled at her a little bit before entering his old home. Nora has really let their home come down quite badly, it just reeked of vodka and alcohol and Linnie feared more and more for his wife's health.
"Why do you need... 'hiccup'... to pick stuff up? Don't you have... 'hiccup'... enough money to afford this thing?" Nora snapped.
Linnie sighed, "Nora you know full well I don't. But seeing as we've had three children previously, one of the three being a girl, I can just re-use their old clothes rather than buying them all new. I might have to modify them a bit, but it will be nice anyway. Now can I please get them?"
Nora shrugged her shoulders and headed with her vodka bottle into the living room to drink more. Linnie smiled just a little bit at his wife before heading for the attic.
He had to enter Nora's office upstairs, he pulled the chair to the centre, climbed on top of it and had to push against the ceiling panel to open their loft. A loft ladder came down and Linnie secured it on the floor before climbing it upstairs.
In the loft, he flicked a switch and there were various boxes holding old past memories as he and Nora were once 'happy'. Their old wedding suits, for Nora refused to wear a dress, some boxes holding times as they dated together, and at the back was the box Linnie was looking for, three in fact.
One box had the name: Darren Schnozmore Cosma, their first son. The second: is Chelsea Cosma, their first daughter. The third box: Cosmo Julius Cosma their second son.
Linnie started opening Chelsea's baby box and looked at the various things they had stored in, but he froze then, he didn't want to take them, against his own daughter's wishes.
Linnie climbed back down and picked his phone up to dial Chelsea's mobile number.
"Hello, this is Chelsea Cosma." Came the voice of his daughter.
Linnie smiled and had a story planned out in his head, he wasn't going to tell his only daughter the true reasonings for it, but hopefully easy enough that she won't question some things.
"Hi darling, here's papa. Listen hon, I was wondering if I might have your permission to use your old girl's baby clothes in the attic. I... kinda wanna adopt a baby girl from a friend who's pregnant. So I'd like to use your clothes and stuff. Would that be ok?" Linnie smiled.
"Oh hi, daddy." Chelsea smiled, "You don't have to ask me, you and Nora bought the stuff as I was a baby years ago. It's your own choice what to do with them. But sure. Are you pregnant again?"
Linnie trembled a bit, "Well no dear... but a friend of mine is and he can't take care of the baby. So I wanna do it. Ok, thank you hon."
"Sure thing papa. And if you can, get us all back together to tell all of us the good news." Chelsea smiled, "I gotta go now, talk to you later papa."
Linnie smiled a lot as he hung his wand up as well, he grabbed Chelsea's baby stuff and summoned the boxes downstairs. He dusted them down a bit and started loading them into his car.
Nora returned from the kitchen and didn't lift a finger to help her husband load the baby boxes, crib and other stuff into his car. She just floated there and glared at her husband a lot.
As Linnie had the last thing in his car and strapped down he closed the doors and booth. He sighed, removed from his pocket a handkerchief and whipped his head from the sweat building up. Nora continued to glare at him with no love but fury in her eyes.
"Get out of here Linnie, and don't you dare return." Nora snapped at him. "And if you dare ask for one drop of child support for that thing, I swear I'll beat you so black and blue you'd wish you'd never returned from the fly form ever again!"
Linnie trembled and couldn't stop the tears from streaming, he faced his ex-wife and shook his head.
"I know what Arthur had done to you was horrible Nora, I know we had rushed into the marriage in the first place for the birth of Darren to be legitimized, I know that the other children didn't heal your broken heart either and I doubt that Miguel's baby will calm you down either, but please Nora get some help. We may not be together again but you do know I still care about you a bit. You need help dear." Linnie sighed, tears building up.
Linnie was so worried about Nora's health that at times he'd just wished to banish all the alcohol out of the entire existence and Nora would finally get the help she needed.
Nora glared at him still, "I can do what I want Linnie. I am no one's pet that needs looking after. Now go before I call the police for harassment."
Linnie sighed, "Ok Nora. If Miguel rings you up that the child is coming, please would you tell me too? I'd like to help him out if I can more. Have a good life dear."
Nora didn't reply and left into the living room, Linnie placed his key to her home on the table, grabbed the last baby box, removed his wedding ring and placed that next to the key.
He strapped the last box to the roof of his car, and faced his old home and now ex-wife once more before driving away for good. Promising himself he will never see her again. But he wasn't too sure it will happen.
Linnie's heart has truly been broken by Nora, and it will take a while to recover from the pain.
Linnie transported the baby stuff back to his flat, he entered it and carried all the boxes to the baby's room, which has nicely dried off now and was ready for new furniture and stuff.
Linnie first covered the floor with more 'cleaner' newspapers, then he placed Chelsea's old baby clothes to one side in the boxes and got out her old crib for the baby first.
It was a beautiful crib, one side of it could be lowered so the parent of the said baby could lift the infant back out again. And otherwise, it could hold the small baby Fairy in it to sleep. Linnie took a paintbrush and some light purple paint and started painting the bars of the old crib, he smiled as memories of his children as babies folded his mind. One child, just as golden and precious as the other.
He finished the crib in record time and set it up with more newspapers on the floor to dry in the room.
Next, he set up the old baby changing table, which too was old and was actually from Cosmo, Linnie rubbed the old green paint off the furniture and re-painted it with a teal-coloured paint. Once more plenty of memories made him smile painting and styling the old furniture.
Third, Linnie took the closest for the baby clothes, belonging to his third child, Chelsea. He smiled as he recalls always loving to dress his 'only' daughter up in these beautiful costumes and laughing with her a lot. Chelsea was truly the light of all three of his children, but Linnie knew she had always been his beloved daughter he loved with all his heart.
True, now being all grown up she's leading quite the opposite life as to what Linnie wanted to raise her as, but he doesn't mind. He picked the baby clothes up, sorted them between darks and lights and carried them downstairs to his washing room.
He started with the light loads, he put all the baby clothes lights into the drum first, selected his clothes washing, added the washing tablet and then smiled as he sat down and watched the clothes go round and round in the drum. He looked to the darker clothes, which were about half as much as the light dresses, but still a few.
After about two hours and thirty minutes the first washing load was done, Linnie switched it over to the tumble dryer and selected the baby clothes drying program. They had to be dried differently than to his normal clothes, but his machines were built smart enough to cope with all different types of clothes.
After the last load was finished Linnie was really whipped out, he waved his wand and summoned all the clothes into the baby's cupboard next to the changing table.
"Now for the most fun part." Linnie giggles excited.
Linne raced to the last few boxes and practically ripped them open, his face as happy and wide as ever. The last box contained a lot of baby toys and stuffed animals. Linnie almost fell over with happiness as he removed one out after the other and checked that, despite the fact they were about forty thousand years old, the box and bounded magic from him kept the old toys from decomposing or growing moulds on them.
Linnie pulled out a row of soft dolls, red-haired, blond, brunette, black and more. Animals in a variety of forms: Pegasuses, Unicorns, elves, snakes and more. In total, he had about 42 toy dolls. He sorted them all out by type and set them up in one of the wardrobes in the baby's room.
"Perfect I'm ready." Linnie smiled and threw one last look into the box.
He thought he had removed the last toys out of the box, but there was something else inside it. Laying out on the ground of the box, was a baby blanket. Linnie removed it out and washed that too before lying it in the centre of the kid's room.
"Which of my three kids did this belong to?" Linnie wondered and looked at it more carefully.
Linnie examined the blanket carefully. It was made out of a very ancient Fairy world cotton which hasn't been in use in over fifteen thousand years. It was chewed on quite a bit and looked old too. Linnie saw blue, red, yellow, orange, green and purple colours sown right through the material. It was comfortable to hold, but Linnie could still not work out in his head which of his three kids it belonged to.
In none of his memories could he recall seeing either Darren, Chelsea or Cosmo sit on it, be wrapped up in it or sleep with it. Then why would it be included in the baby box which clearly had his kid's clothes and toys in them?
Linnie carefully stroked the blanket more and he froze over. Of course, of course, he didn't see it before.
"I've found you again." Linnie beamed.
He picked the blanket up and cradled it again, tears streaming from his face as he cheered and beamed with happiness. This baby blanket was his very own as he was a kid.
Linnie remembers waking up in this blanket and being presented to a green-haired female Fairy, his mother. A while later his father and as they got home he used to crawl on this blanket a lot. Years passed and somehow the blanket had vanished, Linnie hadn't questioned it for it was normal, as a middle-class Fairy family to give their old baby stuff away to other expecting mothers and fathers and Linnie thought this had been given away.
It seems as if his mother had secretly packed it away and Linnie somehow always ended up packing it into the baby's box of his own children. And now the blanket was back in his hands. As careful as if the blanket were the constitution of America, Linnie lay it on the ground as a rug. Still smiling as wide as ever and very happy.
Hopefully, everything will run smoothly now. Linnie headed downstairs and got his phone. He switched it to camera mode and walked back to the baby's room, taking several photographs of his hard work, and was happy as can be.
Quanktumspirit: "Mh Linnie suffering lows and a nice high in this chapter. Please review."