14. radio-cassette player
The door to the nursery is partially open, and Billy can just barely make out the low murmur of the cassette player his sister installed there for white noise. When he'd made an inquiring noise about the whole thing – didn't babies need lots of undisturbed sleep or something? – his mother had clicked her tongue and pointed out that he'd been able to sleep through everything up to a nuclear blast when he was small, and listen to his sister as she knew best for her kids.
He really should learn better than to question the women in his life. The seem to know everything and aren't shy about pointing it out.
Still, he'd been busy most of the day hauling things and doing some last minute painting. He'd been dragging a few of the many barrels of trash out to the compactor when Cecy, baby Joe, and her husband had gotten home from the hospital, so he couldn't greet his new nephew then. And after that, Cecy and Joe had gone upstairs for a nap.
Cecy had been put back on the bed rest prescribed during the last few months of her pregnancy. Joe had been a surprise for his sister and her husband, although not an unhappy one, however her pregnancy had not been an easy or comfortable one. She'd nearly miscarried in her fifth month due to almost too-late diagnosed gestational diabetes, and had been put on close watch when her blood pressure had begun to spike on her seventh month.
As such, his mother had migrated to Picon for help with care and regular household duties. Stepping off the transport the day before he'd been greeted, in person, by his mother for the first time in almost three months. It had been an odd experience not being so geographically close to his parents. Sure, he was in another city, but it hadn't been much of a problem to catch a train home from University.
It was going to be an adjustment for him since his parents had announced their plans to move to Picon permanently later that fall. He'd known they were bandying the idea around, but his father's declaration over takeout from one of the local Gemanese places had still been a bit of a shock. Still, both of his sister and his younger brother had migrated after college and settled with wives and jobs. And towards the end of dinner, they'd been pushing him to apply for a few internships on Picon during the semester holidays coming up.
Things were definitely changing in the Keikeya household. And while it would be a shift, Billy knew it wasn't all bad.
Carefully, he edged the door to Joe's room the rest of the way open and peeked in. The baby was in his bassinet, sleeping. Or, that's what Billy figured until he stepped a little further into the room. Joe was actually awake and trying to look around.
"Hey, little guy..." Billy smiled and reached in to run a finger along the boy's forehead. While he was the youngest, he'd done plenty of his share of babysitting for the neighborhood kids during high school. It had been a good, easy source of income. But he never did get over how soft newborns were. "Sounds like you've had a rough few months. I'm your Uncle Billy. I didn't get to see you much earlier, so I thought I'd come say hi. I didn't know you were going to be awake though."
Joe blinked a few times and started a little bit of a whimper. Oddly, it was almost in tune with the instrumental program running on the tape player. Billy ramped up his smile to a grin. Damn, but the kid was adorable. And about to sob, if he was any judge. Carefully, making sure to support his nephew's head, Billy scooped the boy up and gently laid him over a shoulder.
"I can see why my sister was so intent on keeping you little, guy. I guess you're hungry, huh? Yeah, you slept all the way through dinner."
The baby whimpered a little more and wriggled. Billy leaned back and eyed him. "Oh, yeah, definitely hungry."
Making sure to step around the newly arranged large rocking horse his older brother had found in an antique shop somewhere north of Picon City – he'd heard about the excursion in great length earlier in the day while they'd been trying to assemble the crib – Billy moved out of the room and towards his sister's and bother-in-law's bedroom. He stopped just before the door and eyed his nephew again. "Don't worry, little guy. Mom's just back here. She's got the goods."
He kissed the tiny baby gently on the head and knocked.
