"Well, come on in," with a wave of the hand Shelly felt herself move forward without hesitation. The home was so off-white, yet very cozy. It felt like a holiday somehow. She didn't know why, but it was her supervisor motioning her in. Shelly was one in the circle now. Evidently. Shelly didn't see that coming. After all, she was the girl who took the coffee orders and delivered them while having to do several multi-tasking chores that were part of her daily routine at the office.
Shelly looked around, the whole gang was there. Oh, she didn't know them by their name, just her own that she'd made up in her head, more like the seven dwarfs like Grumpy, Dumpy and Stumpy. There was no Happy here.
Shelly bit a grin wondering what would be the catch? And of course, there was one, Madam Char wanted her to look in the nursery.
"Nursery?" What was she talking about?
"Oh, come and meet my daughter's geniuses," Char motioned her down the hall.
There were two infants. Snoozing.
"Just watch them for a while, will you."
Char almost winked. Shelly squinted a smile but she wanted to spit fire at her boss. It gave her practically a stomp.
"It's a shame, you don't have any children?" The first awoke and asked in a tone that Shelly didn't like. It was the arrogant sort, a bit like Shelly's mother who always told her she was too selfish.
"Well," Shelly yelped as if she always talked to babies at this age who usually only cried when they needed a diaper change or a bottle, perhaps.
Before Shelly could say more she was sucked back to reality and sat up straight in the dark of night in her own bed. She could hardly catch her breath. How dare that baby ask her about children, she thought. She scrunched a face of sour emotion, got herself out of bed, slipped on her slippers, and stomped all the way to the kitchen for a glass of almond milk.
Yes, skinny Shelly was lactose intolerant and she rarely let herself have anything over sixty calories at a time. She was a firm believer in nothing processed, so all she had in her cabinet was some unsalted peanuts and walnuts for baking, but of course, she never baked anything.
A shiver ran through her after she poured the milk and put it back in the fridge. Why would she have such a foolish dream? What did it mean? Char's daughter didn't even have a baby, especially not two.
Shelly sighed. No way would she mention this crazy dream to anyone. But as luck would have it..what was the first thing she said to Char when she got to work?
Well, Char was full of doubt. Her daughter was taking all sorts of medications to have a baby. If this didn't work her her husband was going to Poland to see if his sperm could find a new home to grow inside someone.
Of course, Shelly told her dream which made her boss believe it must be a good omen. She left out the part where the baby was a genius and talked to her. At least it gave her bossy boss (who loved to micro-manage her) a genuine smile and Shelly got off early that day (well at least by an hour).
She got home before Ed left for work. He lived in the closet in the basement. They rarely saw each other. Just in passing.
"What are you doing here?" Of course, he was frying up a Spam sandwich and tots were in the air fryer.
"Why can't I be here? It's my house."
She looked at him blankly and her mouth must have been open because he popped a tot in her mouth which was hot on the outside and cold in the middle.
"I think these need to be in the air fry longer," she spit it in the trash. He put them in the microwave for about a minute instead.
"So what have you been up to?" He asked holding his paper plate of food.
"Oh you know-" She looked at him as if he could finish her sentence. She thought by now they were telepathetic or something along that line..maybe just pathetic.
"Uh-huh."
See, she knew they could talk this way. He was the best roommate she ever had because they hardly ever saw each other.
"I'm quitting my job," he said.
"No, you're not." She wasn't sure she said it out loud or not.
"I'm going remote."
"Remote?"
"Is that a question?" By then he'd squirted ketchup on his tots and sat down to eat his precious sandwich.
Shelly watched and wished she could eat it.
"You want some?"
Before she could answer the phone rang. Someone was congratulating her about having a baby.
"You must have the wrong number." Shelly gasped and slammed down the landline phone. No one ever dared to call the landline.
"What's wrong?" Ed's wide eyes startled her as if she knew those eyes very well and they weren't his. Exactly.
Suddenly, Shelly felt very cold. She looked at her hands. Something about them was so wrinkled and old. She thought of the baby in the dream. Those were Ed's eyes.
Well, she needed a nap. She was exhausted. All the running around she did for other people. She just needed to get her shoes off, her pants off, OK and her bra too. She climbed under the covers. She was leaving Ed. They saw too much of each other as it was. All she needed was her vapor cream and she would be a goner.
"Wait," Ed called.
She wasn't listening. She didn't need to listen. She crawled under the covers as if she were diving into a deep ocean of grief of some kind. How come time was like this? So much time. All that time, having to babysit at those parties her mother always had to bring her too. Oh her mother could party with the best of them. And then it was babysitting her mother at home from all that alcohol, the coughing, the respirator.
Shelly was deeply sad. She couldn't remember when she lost her smile (that cute impish smile of hers that many told her would never grow old). Shelly was just a glob in her existence.
And then someone said, "Mom?"
Now she was just a turtle in her shell. She didn't know if she could ever come out of the covers.
"Mom?"
She knew that word. Didn't she?
"Mom!" Someone was shaking her shoulders, bringing her from the depth of misery.
"What is it?" She weakly sighed.
"I'm home," the teenager with stringy hair that covered his face said. "I made it to level six hundred and sixty-six! Isn't that amazing!" His grin was of perfect teeth. Oh, he would have been a pretty girl.
Shelly shook with laughter.
