I Remember Meville
"What's in the box, Chas?" Didi asked as she scooped Tommy up seconds before he was able to leap into a mud puddle. The baby fussed and tried to squirm out of her grasp but Didi refused to let him down until he finally settled.
"Chuckie has taken to caring for a roly-poly bug. I said we could bring him to visit."
"That's a nice idea," Didi said with a smile. "Start him small and eventually he'll be able to get a bigger pet."
"Yeah. I keep mentioning it's because of my allergies but honestly," he dropped his voice, "I'm not ready to try and care for a dog and a baby on my own. Maybe when Chuckie is older…"
The adults, as they spoke, had no idea about the drama occurring with the babies.
"Chuckie, your bug's died. We got you another one. Its gonna be okay," Tommy said, patting Chuckie's hand.
Chuckie though shoved Tommy away, nearly making him fall. "Going to be okay? Going to be okay?" He stomped his foot. "Melville is dead! It won't be okay at all!"
"It's just a bug," Phil said. "We got you another one."
"A bigger one!"
"Come on Chuckie," Tommy said, honestly thinking his friend was freaking out for no reason. "You always do this. You always worry and then it turns out its fine."
Chuckie though wasn't in the mood. "Melville was my pet and you think you can just replace him and everything will be fine? What if it were Spike?"
"What?"
"What if Spike went away? Would you just replace him?"
"Spike would never die, Chuckie! He's a doggie! Dogs don't die! And even if he did that's different."
"And how is it different?" Chuckie demanded.
"Because-"
"How is it different?" the red head pressed, waving Melville at Tommy.
Tommy frowned. "Because he's-"
"How is it different?"
"Because Spike isn't some dumb bug!" Tommy shouted, smacking Chuckie's hand. The babies watched, as if the world had slowed down, as Melville flew through the air before disappearing in the grass.
Chuckie stared in horror.
"MELVILLE!" Chuckie finally screamed, running to the grass, pawing through it. "Where is he, where is he?"
Lil and Phil looked at each other nervously as Chuckie desperately searched before he finally sat down and began to cry.
"Chuckie, it will be okay," Tommy said but Chuckie just kept screaming, his sobs getting worse when Tommy tried to comfort him. "Chuckie, stop! My mommy and your daddy will come over here and we won't be able to play anymore-"
But Chuckie didn't care. Melville was gone, Tommy didn't care, he didn't have a pet anymore-
Chas hurried over, lifting Chuckie up and trying to soothe him but it didn't work. And in the end they went home even though they'd only come over a few minutes ago.
And that made Tommy cry because he didn't know how to make things better.