The big red digits of the electronic watch showed it to be 3:00 A.M. She couldn’t believe that it had happened again. It was the fifth time in a row this week that the wails from the next door neighbor’s apartment had kept her up at night. It made her nasty and grouchy at work which resulted in her generally amicable boss taking her aside and telling her that the office crowd had been wondering if they should get rabies shots as precaution.
“This is it!” she thought “I’m not going to take this anymore.” Fuming and muttering under her breath she threw on a robe and stepped out of her apartment. Tying her robe around her waist she knocked on Apt.106.
Not waiting for a reply she bent her head and spoke in a loud voice “Nancy is everything okay?” And as an after thought asked “Is the baby alright?”
The cries seemed to get closer towards the entry door. As the door swung open she took a deep breath in and she told herself that she wouldn’t get tongue-tied if Mike opened the door instead of his foxy wife.
But the door opened to reveal Mike clutching the doorknob in one hand and the howling cherub who perched on his side.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked looking at the baby whose world seemed to have come to an end.
Looking frazzled Michael answered in a slightly loud voice “I have no frigging idea! Nancy has left me. She said she doesn’t love me or the baby. I don’t know what to do with the baby. Look at him – he hates me!” He held the baby out towards Susan in a desperate manner.
Susan’s heart melted and she was putty in his hands. Taking the six month howler in her arms she marched into the spacious apartment. Hugging the baby against her chest and patting his little back she asked “Did you feed him? Maybe he’s hungry”
Running a hand through a mane of black disheveled hair Michael sighed and answered “No he isn’t hungry. I just gave him a bottle of milk and right after that he started to cry and wouldn’t stop. I don’t know what to do. Why me? ” His eyes beseeched a solution from her.
His rare show of vulnerability made her smile.
‘All it took was a little bundle of joy to bring this hot shot lawyer down’ she thought and with a sympathetic look she asked “Does the baby have colic?”
He sighed and answered “I don’t know, Nancy took care of Casey. I was just his play buddy. And now I’m not even a good father.”
“Stop berating yourself.” She tilted her head and smiled up at him “My niece had the same problem. It’s gas and here is what you should do when he suffers from it.”
She turned the baby towards him and bent his legs towards his chest and the baby passed wind in a matter of minutes and stopped fretting.
Blessed silence descended in the apartment, Casey made some snuffling noises, tucked his head against her neck and fell asleep. Mike sighed in relief, sat down on the couch and rubbed a shaky hand against his forehead.
Susan looked down at the tired man and said “Why don’t you sleep for a while and I’ll take care of the little one for an hour or so.”
He looked up at Susan with relief and said “Thanks Sue, you’re an angel.”
‘Sue? He is finally warming up to me.’ She thought.
Their interaction had been limited to casual greetings when they had run into each other or just some impersonal smiles as they passed each other in the lobby. It was his Nancy, the beautiful Dallas belle, who had broken the New York brevity and chatted with her. It was Nancy who had given her that nickname and it felt kind of awkward to hear him call her by that name. When he called her Sue it seemed to conjure Nancy’s ghost and made her feel a bit awkward.
Shrugging her shoulders at the thought she watched Mike get up and walk down the hallway to his bedroom.
Hugging the snuggled baby Susan looked around the apartment which showed opulence with its Ethan Allan furniture and antiques that were worth more than what she made in a year.
She didn’t fit in this world. She belonged in a ranch in Colorado, milking cows at the crack of dawn, riding horses or skinny dipping on a nearby stream with the next door boy Chad. Time was of no consequence there but here in New York it was valued more than human beings themselves. She belonged in the world of open spaces not in a tiny hole in the ground where thousands were crushed together trying to irk out a living.
Smelling the sweet baby scent in Susan wondered about the toll New York with its dynamic pace would take on Mike now that he was a single parent. Would Casey be left with a nanny or would his father make some drastic changes in his heavy schedule for his son.
Sighing she adjusted the weight of sleeping baby and moved to the nearby bedroom. Opening the nursery door she peeked in but the crib was not there. Assuming it to be in the master bedroom she tiptoed into Mike’s bedroom and saw him sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.
Not wanting to intrude on him she began to back away but stepped on a toy which let out a loud squeak. He looked up and in the dimly light room she saw despair in his eyes. He missed his wife. Sympathy filled her heart. She always was a sucker for wounded creatures. God knows she had taken in numerous wounded wild creatures back home and they had always broken her heart either by dying or by having to let go.
But this time she told herself that she would be strong and not open her heart again. Smiling in apology she said “I’m sorry to intrude but Casey has gone to sleep and I thought of putting him in his crib.”
Sighing Mike got up from the bed and took the baby from her and settled him in the crib. Looking down at the rosy cheeked angel they both couldn’t help but smile.
Caressing his soft cheek Mike softly said “She left me because I wasn’t really there for her. I got so engrossed with my work that I didn’t see the signs. When she got pregnant I thought the baby would get us closer but things just got worse. Fights gave way to cold silence. It was as if we had nothing left to say to one another and one fine day she just left me.”
Susan touched his shoulder and said “Things will work out you’ll see. Handling a baby isn’t all that difficult once you get a hang of it and you seem like a real capable guy.”
He turned and smiled at Susan and said “Thanks Sue you are a real doll you know that?
Hey would you like a cup of coffee? It’s the least I can do in return for your help.”
Susan nodded in agreement and followed him out of the bedroom. As she walked behind him her eyes fell on his tight butt that was covered by a pair of faded shorts. He had the face of an angel and body of a Greek god.
