Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle (15 page)

“Well, but, Mama,” Lloyd said, “you’ve got to come up with another girl’s name now.”

“I know,” she sighed, “and I love Lindsay too, but I’m afraid that’s out.”

“I should say so,” Etta Mae chimed in. “And Britney too, for that matter. You wouldn’t want to name those babies for two of the wildest girls in Hollywood, would you?”

“No, I guess not,” Hazel Marie said, as I mentally thanked Etta Mae for saying what I was thinking. “Anyway, I’ll wait for J.D. and see what he says.”

“I thought you had to have names that rhyme,” Lloyd said. “You know, like Loyce and Joyce, or Annie and Fannie or Frannie or something.”

Hazel Marie smiled. “People don’t do that so much anymore, honey. Besides, I can’t think of any rhyming names I like.”

Etta Mae said, “I used to know some twins named Carrol and Farrol. They were brothers.”

I wanted to add my two cents’ worth, but it hadn’t been asked for, so I refrained. I couldn’t imagine what names Mr. Pickens would think up. You could never tell with him, and with a last name like Pickens, I hoped he would carefully consider the aptness of whatever he chose.

“Knock, knock.” A nurse pushed in through the door, holding a cocooned baby. “We have two hungry babies here.”

Another nurse, carrying the other baby, followed her in, and Hazel Marie’s face immediately lit up.

Lloyd and I backed away from the bed to give them room. I thought we’d be told to leave, but Hazel Marie began unwrapping one of the babies.

“Look, Lloyd,” she said. “Come look at her little tiny feet. You want to hold her?”

Lloyd edged closer, but not too close, as the baby began to cry, its little arms and legs waving in the air.

“No’m, I’ll wait,” he said.

“Good thing too,” the nurse said. “This little girl is hungry.” She began to disrobe Hazel Marie as the other nurse propped up some pillows for the second baby.

I couldn’t believe it. They were putting both babies to the breast at the same time, and right out in view of us all.

“Lloyd,” I said, “let’s you and me go to the snack shop. I could use some coffee right about now. You can hold them when we get back.” And, I thought to myself, when the feeding spectacle is over. There are some scenes to which children just should not be exposed.

After asking Etta Mae to join us and being turned down in favor of staying to make sure the babies nursed properly, Lloyd and I left. I was just as glad to be out of the room, and more than glad that he was out of it. It was amazing to me, given my limited experience with newborns, that babies have to be guided and coaxed into nursing. The last straw for me had been when one of the nurses had shown Hazel Marie how to encourage the baby to
latch on
—a concept too graphic for me to take in.

Lord! I had to get out of there and get Lloyd out too.

After hot chocolate for Lloyd and coffee for me, along with toast for both of us, in the snack shop, we went back to the room. By that time I’d warmed up enough to come out of my coat, feeling guilty about Lillian and Latisha at the same time. Here we were in the warm hospital while they were shivering in that frigid house.

“I should’ve brought all the cell phones, Lloyd,” I said as we stepped off the elevator. “We could’ve recharged them here.”

“Yes’m,” he agreed, but his mind was on something else. “You think the babies are still with Mama?”

“Probably,” I said, nodding. “We haven’t been gone that long. But now that I think of it, Lloyd, even if I’d brought the phones, it wouldn’t have done us any good. We wouldn’t be able to call them if all the phones were with us.”

“Maybe they’re at Mr. Sam’s house getting warm.”

“I hope so.” But I feared not.

He pushed open the door to his mother’s room and I walked in behind him. Hazel Marie had one baby on her shoulder, patting its back, while Etta Mae stood by the bed with the other one.

“Here they are,” Etta Mae said. “Come sit down, Lloyd, so you can hold your sisters. They’ve had their breakfast and this one told me she wanted you.”

Lloyd grinned as splotches of color tinged his cheeks. He went over and sat in the chair that had been Etta Mae’s bed. “Is it all right for me to hold them?”

“Of course it is,” Hazel Marie said. “Just crook both arms and Etta Mae will give them to you.”

I bit my lip, wondering about the appropriateness, to say nothing of the safety, of such seeming carelessness. Oh, I knew Lloyd wouldn’t drop them or hurt them in any way. It was just that I’d always thought you shouldn’t handle newborn babies too much. Like puppies, you know. Why, I once knew a woman who’d had a baby, and she carried that infant around on a pillow for the longest time. It must’ve been sitting alone before she ever picked it up and held it without that pillow between her and it.

I’ve often wondered how that child turned out.

When Etta Mae stepped back, I could see Lloyd holding both babies, one in each arm. His face was beaming with pleasure and, I think, with embarrassment at being the center of attention.

“Get your camera, Etta Mae,” Hazel Marie said, as she leaned over to watch her three children. “I have to have a picture of that.”

Etta Mae got out her fancy phone and snapped away. “Just hold real still, Lloyd.”

“Well, but they’re wiggling,” he said, frowning as one kicked out. “Are they all right?”

“They’re fine,” Hazel Marie said. “I think they know their big brother has them.”

The nurses came in then to take the babies back to the nursery. They oohed and aahed at the sight, everybody thinking it was so cute, as they said, for big brother to be taking care of his sisters. But it was a relief to me to have those babies back in professional care. I think it was to Lloyd too, because he’d barely taken a deep breath the whole time he’d had them.

“You did real good, Lloyd,” Etta Mae said. “There’s only two things you have to watch out for with little babies. One is to always support their heads, because their neck muscles aren’t strong enough yet. And the other thing to watch out for is the soft spot on their heads. The bones in their heads haven’t grown together yet, so you have to be careful about that.”

Lloyd’s eyes grew big. “You mean they have
holes
in their heads? Where? I didn’t see any.”

Etta Mae started laughing as Hazel Marie began explaining newborn anatomy to Lloyd.

I pulled Etta Mae to the side, whispering, “Etta Mae, I’m worried to death that we mixed those babies up. Do you really know which one came first?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do. Lillian told me to tie a bow on the first one and a knot on the other.”

“A bow and a knot? Where?” Thinking of hair ribbons for little girls, I went on, “And with what?”

“With Lloyd’s shoelaces, Miss Julia, and if you think about it, you’ll know where.”

After the babies were gone, we all found chairs and sat around watching as Hazel Marie’s eyes got heavier and heavier. Actually, I began to nod off myself, in spite of the hard chair I was sitting on. It had been a busy night with little sleep for anyone. If I’d had a car and if the streets had been passable, I would’ve gone home. If, that is, home had been as warm as the hospital.

As it was, Lloyd and I were stuck, which wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been worried about Lillian and Latisha. Still, I had no desire to spend the day watching Hazel Marie catch up on her sleep.

It was midafternoon before things began to change. Hazel Marie had been brought a lunch tray earlier than we normally ate, then the nurses appeared again with the babies. At that point, Lloyd, Etta Mae, and I went to the snack shop and had lunch ourselves. Then we all settled down again to doze in between assuring Hazel Marie that Mr. Pickens would soon put in an appearance.

Unless he and Sam were in a ditch somewhere after skidding off the road, but I didn’t bring that up. Actually, though, I was as eager for them to get home as Hazel Marie was. It would be a relief to turn Sam loose on the bank and on that magistrate who wanted me in court. We’d just see who’d made a mistake then, and believe me, I was just outraged enough to bring a lawsuit against that bank for putting me in the untenable, not to say deeply embarrassing, position of having an arrest record. Sam could handle that too.

Just as I squirmed in my chair, reliving the humiliation, the door swung open and Mr. Pickens came flying in, almost stumbling over my feet, and headed across the room. He practically picked Hazel Marie up from the bed, burying his face in her neck. She clasped her arms around him, while I was mesmerized by the intensity of their greeting. At the same time, I looked around for Sam. I might not have greeted him with the same powerful display of emotion—it was in public, after all—but I would’ve been mightily relieved to see him.

“Honey,” Mr. Pickens murmured. “Oh honey, I’m sorry I wasn’t here. Are you all right?”

Hazel Marie disentangled herself and with a glowing face reached up to run her hand down his unshaven face. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered. “I’m all right. I had the best doctor and the best nurses in the world.”

Mr. Pickens straightened up and looked around. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you all did. Etta Mae, thank you for taking care of my girl.”

“Not me,” Etta Mae said brightly. “It was Lillian who did the honors. I think she must’ve been a midwife in another life.”

“But you did a lot,” Hazel Marie said. “And Miss Julia did too. She held the first baby while the second one was coming. Everybody was so good to me, J.D. And, of course, Coleman came with some other men and got us all to the hospital.”

Mr. Pickens rubbed his face, making a scratching sound. “I have a lot of folks to thank, and, Lloyd, you’re the first one,” he said, turning to him. “Thank you for looking after your mother.”

“Well, but I didn’t do anything. I would’ve, though, if I’d known what was happening.”

“You were there,” Mr. Pickens said, “and that’s enough for me.” He reached over and drew the boy close to him. “Have you seen your sisters?”

“Yes, sir, and held them too. They’re awfully little.”

Hazel Marie ran her hand up and down Mr. Pickens’s arm, as if she needed to feel him. “Have you seen them?”

“Not yet,” he said. “You come first. Always, you come first.” And then to Lloyd, “Want to show me where they are?”

Lloyd’s face lit up. “They’re in the nursery. Come on and I’ll take you.”

Before the door swung behind them, Mr. Pickens stuck his head back in. “Almost forgot. Miss Julia, we found a generator, so you have power now. And Sam has Poochie Dunn and a helper cutting up the limb that fell on the cars.”

“Oh my word,” I said. “Poochie with a chain saw? Etta Mae, our cars might not survive.”

Mr. Pickens laughed. “That’s why Sam didn’t come. He didn’t want to leave him on his own. I’ll run you all home soon as I get back.”

The glare on the snow hurt my eyes as Mr. Pickens drove Etta Mae, Lloyd, and me home. I declare, who would’ve thought that so much snow could have fallen in just a few hours the night before, then have the next day turn out as clear as a bell. But it was cold, bitterly cold. What lay on the ground would be with us for a while. The old folks say that when snow stays on the ground for any length of time, it’s waiting for more.

I tell you, I don’t think I could live where snowstorms were as common as weeds. I knew that what we’d just experienced would be laughable to folks who lived farther west or north of us. But we’re unaccustomed to and unprepared for such shocks to our weather systems.

I closed my eyes against the glare and held tightly to the armrest as the back end of Mr. Pickens’s car slid on a curve, then straightened out as his big tires got traction.

“Be careful, Mr. Pickens.” I couldn’t help but caution him. We didn’t need anybody else in the hospital.

He glanced at me, a smile on his mouth. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”