| Fantasy Fiction posted November 23, 2022 | Chapters: |
1 2 -3- 
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Avi restores some order.
A chapter in the book Grim
Avi Arrives
by Tara Maxfield
The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.
The author has placed a warning on this post for language.
The author has placed a warning on this post for sexual content.
The small skeleton screamed and thrashed in the crib amongst the colorful bedding with pictures of Noah, the ark, and all the animals ready to set sail. The baby wouldn't sleep. It didn't eat. It was only quiet when being held and tightly wrapped.
Although they had a girl and a boy name ready when Meddie went into labor, they just couldn't bring themselves to name a skeleton Jacob Isaac Finkelstein or Rachel Leah Finkelstein. For one thing, they weren't positive the baby was a he or a she as the usual visual cues weren't present. It wasn't like the baby was vocalizing its gender just yet either. So, although it had been several weeks since the baby was born, there still didn't waa no name.
The baby, known as Baby F. to the hospital staff, had brought his parents to their knees with his birth. Meddie had barely survived physically and the ongoing emotional trauma was immense. The baby was a constant mystery and source of much speculation by the hospital staff and the staff physician, one of which leaked the news of the animated newborn skeleton to the press immediately.
Meddie and Daniel had every segment of their lives turned upside down, exposed, and flipped inside out in the public forum for all to see and hear. Meddie was particularly picked apart because, surely this was her fault, right? It's such a shame that people always need someone to blame, and in this case, everyone wanted to blame Meddie.
They did have a few memorable moments, just not the typical ones. The baby's pediatrician was one of them. He obviously had a thing for all things that started with the letter "P." He would just stand around throwing out conditions that sounded like alphabet soup. When thinking hard, he would say a word and then start saying every synonym and then every antonym for that word, all starting with "p" and all the while rubbing his chin. He, at least, provided some amusement for Daniel and Meddie over the weeks after the baby was born.
After the horror of the delivery, Meddie had stayed 2 weeks in ICU and then 2 more weeks in obstetrics and the baby was then allowed to stay in the room with her. If it was a night that Daniel had gone home, Meddie would send the baby back to the nursery where behind curtains in the back, there was a special place for it. Hidden away. She would pretend that her life was anything else so she could rest.
The media was relentless and there would be no rest until a picture was obtained. The new parents had refused requests repeatedly until Meddie said, "Daniel, they are going to get that picture one way or another. If they get it on their own, then there's nothing to be done and we get nothing but speculation and more attention. Let's at least get this money. We need it to get us through your last year of school. We might as well make the most of this and maybe they will leave us alone afterward." So, Daniel and Meddie reluctantly agreed to a single photo and interview in exchange for a sizable cash payment.
The religious zealots came in droves, too. Some even picketed the hospital with the most terrible things on signs about the baby. They called it the devil incarnate, and advocated for euthanizing the infant. It tore Daniel and Meddie apart, particularly Daniel who had to walk past them and their hate to visit his family. Eventually, they figured out who Daniel was and then they got really ugly. The police were called, but nothing could be done except to make them move their demonstration off of hospital property. So, they congregated on a public sidewalk about 50 yards from the entrance and continued with their moronic message.
The one day, Daniel came in to Meddie's room, grinning ear to ear. He swung open his overcoat like one of those flashers in the park revealing his old Red Ryder BB gun he'd smuggled in to the hospital. Meddie was still perplexed at why this was giving him such joy until he took off the coat and folded it over the back of a chair, still cracking up the whole time. Then he locked the door from the inside and opened the second floor window. He pumped the gun and then crouched down, resting the barrel on the window frame. He took aim, and pulled the trigger.
"Bees! Bees!" the protestors shouted and eventually dispersed, but not before Daniel had got nearly all of them at least once. He swore he'd gotten the leader at least 10 times. The last 3 or 4 right in the tail as he ran away. Daniel was laughing so hard in the end, he was rolling on the floor underneath the window and both of them had tears streaming from their eyes.
Talk shows, Podcasts, talk radio, news broadcasts all featured the infant skeleton story over and over for several weeks, but then the media coverage slowed to a stop. And, the worst of it was over, but there was so much damage done to the family in the meantime.
Daniel and Meddie spent all night discussing all the challenges they could foresee. They considered what if the baby could understand what people were saying and how they were acting, which led to a serious discussion about hiding the baby away somewhere. They talked about limiting his exposure to the outside world. Then they talked about why the baby was born as he was, and the implications of any of the answers was just more than they could bear at that time, so it was tabled.
In the end, Daniel came to the salient point, "Meddie, this is where we are going to have to be parents. I don't know how exactly. But, my Dad left. Your Dad left. We said we wouldn't do that to our kids. It's on us to prepare him for the cruelty of the world. It's on us to prepare the world for him and let him live his life. Sure, it's going to be extremely hard on us all, but none of the alternatives are viable. We are going to have to do ourselves what we want others to do and find a place in our heart for our child, which is nothing like we anticipated. That doesn't make the baby less deserving though. This child needs us more desperately than I think we can imagine."
Meddie nodded her head and when Daniel left to go home that night and the nurse came for the baby, Meddie told her to leave the baby with her. She held her child all night. She told it about her life and that they were going to love and protect their child no matter what. The baby broke its hand free of the blanket and wrapped 4 bony fingers and a thumb around its mother's finger.
Both Meddie and Daniel were so relieved when they could finally return home and away from the reporters, the hospital staff, the nosy friends, and every zealot who turned up to see the demon baby. Daniel had actually thrown a chair at a deranged Priest who tried to perform some sort of an exorcism right outside the nursery door. After that two security guards were posted outside the room at all times.
Just before they left, the staff physician was supposed to be consulting with the individuals who'd just become parents to a living skeleton. In the middle of their discussion about getting the best pediatrician for the baby's condition, the doctor totally flaked out and said, "Peculiar."
Meddie and Daniel exchanged looks and wondered if they were supposed to respond to the statement. "Excuse me?" Daniel asked.
A few moments later he said, "Peaked," and began the chin rubbing. Foot tapping came next and escalated until the good doctor was nearly dancing a jig right in Meddie's hospital room.
"Puzzle... Problematic.. Pathological... Perplex... Perturb... non-Plus," he continued in excitement with scattered giggles thrown in-between words.
Meddie and Daniel found themselves totally removed from their sorrow for a moment as they stared at Dr. Dumbass, who disregarded them fully as he moved on from the synonyms right into the antonyms, taking a step toward the door with every word produced. "Pellucid... palpable... plain..." There was a long pause and he froze mid-stride with one leg dramatically held aloft until, "Perspicuous!" brought the leg down and out the door he went.
Apparently, the next "P" was meant for some other Poor, Pitiful Patient's Perturbed Parents. Meddie and Daniel took to referring to him as the "Perpetually Perplexed Pediatrician Physician Phil Prestley" or "He of the 6 P" for short. It was so good to laugh when they could.
The one tangible and slightly meaningful offering "He of the 6 P" rendered was that he suggested that the bone structure of the baby was likely that of a male. Still, they couldn't settle on a name, because nothing fit. Nevertheless, to avoid referring to the baby as "it," they adopted the "he" pronoun and hoped for the best.
"What do you think is wrong with him?" Daniel asked, staring down at his infant son, who looked more like the mortal remains of one.
"It's been days now that he's been like this," Meddie began. "There isn't a doctor in town who will accept him as a patient. They just say they can't take on our case because they don't have any clinical expertise with living skeletons! One even laughed at me and hung up when I told him about the baby, Daniel! All he does is cry, or something like that. He's so exhausted, I guess. He's as abnormal as it gets, and I don't know what to do! Every time I get him calm and resting and try to put him down, he just starts up all over again... I even called Mother F.," Meddie finished with this last revelation. If Meddie reached out to her mother-in-law on purpose then there was a good chance there was a ski resort where Hell had once been.
Meddie sighed and picked her baby up to try to rock him. As she did, the baby's hand came out of the swaddle and his index finger shot out what appeared to be a lightning bolt, which went right out the bedroom door and straight for the pet cat. Noodles jumped up, gave a great and horrific meow, and fell over dead., board stiff, and slightly smoking. One moment he'd been happily napping on the couch, and the next he found himself riding a one way ticket to the Great Litterbox in the Sky.
Daniel picked up the cat, and then looked at Meddie, and then back at the still smoking cat with the shock of the situation rendering him speechless. A knock at the door made them both jump. They had just moved in to the new apartment and hardly anyone knew where they lived.
"Are you expecting anyone?" Daniel asked.
"No, huh-uh." Meddie answered and both walked slowly to the front door. Daniel usually asked through the door who it was, but not that time. He just opened the door wide revealing who, or what, was on the other side.
"What the ---- ?" Daniel murmured.
The great hulking blackness in front of them was at least 7 ft tall. Its tattered and soiled black robe with a hood hid its form beneath. It would've been even taller had it not been hunched over so much at its disproportionately tiny waist. In one skeletal hand was an upright scythe on a long, intricately carved wooden pole. The metal finish was fierce, having been hand forged and hammered by some ancient blacksmith long ago The business edge was smooth and gleaming with a razor sharpness worked into it over the course of millenia. The being's other skeletal hand held a rocks glass with a dark honey color liquid in it.
The thing raised its glass as if toasting to the new family and asked, "Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" It slowly raised the glass to the skeletal face that appeared and took a drink. An almost immediate splash of liquid fell to the ground beneath the creature.
Daniel remained immobile and breathlessly responded, "Who are you?"
"This is 42 Lark Lane, Apt 2e, isn't it?"
"Yes." Daniel said almost robotically and with a dry mouth.
"Then I'm in the right place. Let me see the boy." And the creature bowed its head to get through the doorway, passed right by Daniel and Meddie to enter into the apartment and sat down on the couch right where Noodles had just been toasted.
"Is something burning?" the creature asked.
Daniel shut the door and while still holding the aforementioned recently deceased Noodles under his arm like a football, he joined Meddie who was holding her skeleton son, and they sat on the love seat opposite of the creature. Even with what they had just been through, nothing could've prepared them for the thing making itself at home on their couch.
"I am Avi. Ah- vee. Your son is my replacement. As such, I need to spend the coming years mentoring him until he is ready to take over and I can finally retire. So, I hope you have another bedroom or I guess the couch will do if it has to. Bring me the boy."
The baby had awoken and had started throwing a fit again. Meddie later couldn't understand why she did it, but she handed him to Avi and he immediately began to calm down. Avi unwrapped him and looked him over head to toe. "Does he scream like that all the time?"
"Yes, all the time." Meddie replied.
"Where's his coffin? I'll put him down. And where's his robes and scythe?" Avi asked.
"Clothes won't stay on him and what do you mean, 'his robes and scythe'?" Daniel suddenly could speak again.
"Kid, you picked a couple of winners for parents." He said to the baby and then speaking slow for emphasis he continued to Daniel and Meddie, "He. Is. Going. To. Be. The. New. Death. He. Is. My. Re. Place. Ment." After a few moments to let it sink in he continued, "That is upon him coming of age, completion of his training, and such. So, who has the genetics of the Godly sort?"
Daniel and Meddie said nothing.
"These things don't just happen in the land of the miserable mortals. Nope, straight outta the loins of a God, or at the very least, some half- breed demi-god is the way this happens. So, I ask you again... Who's been having relations with a God?"
Again, no answer. So, he picked the baby up by the back of the neck and turned him towards his parents, his bony body dangling from the boney clutch of Avi. "See this? Does he wook wike a itty bitty wittle human bay beeee to you? Does he?
Let me give you two short buses a clue. He's Death. I'm Death. He has a future duty to fulfill and he will fulfill it until such time whoever dictates his duties see fit to allow him to relinquish his duties. Since he is DEATH, he is only comfortable in his natural elements; the macabre, darkness, the grim and dreary, the morbid, ghastly, and grotesque. He needs these things at all times, but right now specifically he needs robes, a scythe, a coffin to sleep in until he gets at least a little older, black everything, and he won't be sated until he gets it."
Avi's head remained cocked to the side in irritation and disbelief as he waited for one of them to say something and then he asked, "What's his name?"
"We haven't decided," Meddie managed.
Avi looked at the two defeated parents then to the still smoking cat and then at the baby, "Well, Kid, it's just one grim situation after another around here, isn't it?"
"His name is Grim," said Meddie.
Daniel looked to his wife and nodded his agreement. As if in a trance, Daniel got up and grabbed his keys from the coffee table and silently headed out the door still clutching Noodles under his arm. Meddie got up and went to her son's room and pulled down the colorful mobile hanging above Grim's crib. She took the Noah bedding and shoved it in a trash bag along with almost everything else in the room she'd so carefully decorated. She broke down the freshly constructed crib and returned it to the box from whence it came.
She only spoke with Avi to ask, "How did you know the baby was a boy"
Avi simply replied, "How did you not know?"
As if on autopilot, she stripped her son's room of anything and everything a human infant would love. She got out her sewing machine and an old pair of black curtains and sat down in the dining area, cutting and sewing without a word. Grim rested quietly on Avi's lap and in just a short time, Avi's head rolled back and he snored incredibly loudly on the couch, which perplexed Meddie. She was pretty sure that Avi, like the baby, didn't breathe.
By the time Daniel returned with a small lidded wooden crate and a small scythe he got from his Mother's (which had led to a difficult conversation in itself), Grim was still asleep on Avi's lap, but was wearing his new hooded robe. Meddie was in the bed, too, having laid down when her psyche just couldn't tolerate consciousness for another second.
The baby's room was a ghastly site with drapes of black on everything. It more resembled a Victorian funeral home than an infant's bedroom, and the creep factor was complete with the tiny makeshift coffin Daniel placed in there for the baby's bed. He cut the foam from the previous crib's mattress to pad it a little. All Daniel could feel was the agony of the last 6 weeks since his son was born, culminating up to this moment. Over and over in Daniel's head played The Rolling Stones.
With flowers and my love both never to come back.
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away.
Like a newborn baby, it just happens every day.
I look inside myself and see my heart is black.
I see my red door and must have it painted black.
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black.
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue.
I could not foresee this thing happening to you.
If I look hard enough into the settin' sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes.
I see a red door and I want it painted black.
No colours anymore, I want them to turn black.
I see the girls go by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.
I wanna see your face painted black.
The Rolling Stones, Paint it Black
Daniel was outside in the darkness of night burying the cat in the small flowerbed in front of the apartment complex when Meddie awoke and took off her wig and wrapped her head tightly. Daniel would have to sleep with her now and she had to keep him safe. Their houseguest now occupied Daniel's pull-out couch bed. And, Meddie wanted to cry but she just didn't have any tears left. It seemed her punishment and the suffering of anyone who loved her would never end. By the time Daniel joined her in the bed, they both were too exhausted to discuss the evening's events and went to sleep as far from each other as possible.
The small skeleton screamed and thrashed in the crib amongst the colorful bedding with pictures of Noah, the ark, and all the animals ready to set sail. The baby wouldn't sleep. It didn't eat. It was only quiet when being held and tightly wrapped.
Although they had a girl and a boy name ready when Meddie went into labor, they just couldn't bring themselves to name a skeleton Jacob Isaac Finkelstein or Rachel Leah Finkelstein. For one thing, they weren't positive the baby was a he or a she as the usual visual cues weren't present. It wasn't like the baby was vocalizing its gender just yet either. So, although it had been several weeks since the baby was born, there still didn't waa no name.
The baby, known as Baby F. to the hospital staff, had brought his parents to their knees with his birth. Meddie had barely survived physically and the ongoing emotional trauma was immense. The baby was a constant mystery and source of much speculation by the hospital staff and the staff physician, one of which leaked the news of the animated newborn skeleton to the press immediately.
Meddie and Daniel had every segment of their lives turned upside down, exposed, and flipped inside out in the public forum for all to see and hear. Meddie was particularly picked apart because, surely this was her fault, right? It's such a shame that people always need someone to blame, and in this case, everyone wanted to blame Meddie.
They did have a few memorable moments, just not the typical ones. The baby's pediatrician was one of them. He obviously had a thing for all things that started with the letter "P." He would just stand around throwing out conditions that sounded like alphabet soup. When thinking hard, he would say a word and then start saying every synonym and then every antonym for that word, all starting with "p" and all the while rubbing his chin. He, at least, provided some amusement for Daniel and Meddie over the weeks after the baby was born.
After the horror of the delivery, Meddie had stayed 2 weeks in ICU and then 2 more weeks in obstetrics and the baby was then allowed to stay in the room with her. If it was a night that Daniel had gone home, Meddie would send the baby back to the nursery where behind curtains in the back, there was a special place for it. Hidden away. She would pretend that her life was anything else so she could rest.
The media was relentless and there would be no rest until a picture was obtained. The new parents had refused requests repeatedly until Meddie said, "Daniel, they are going to get that picture one way or another. If they get it on their own, then there's nothing to be done and we get nothing but speculation and more attention. Let's at least get this money. We need it to get us through your last year of school. We might as well make the most of this and maybe they will leave us alone afterward." So, Daniel and Meddie reluctantly agreed to a single photo and interview in exchange for a sizable cash payment.
The religious zealots came in droves, too. Some even picketed the hospital with the most terrible things on signs about the baby. They called it the devil incarnate, and advocated for euthanizing the infant. It tore Daniel and Meddie apart, particularly Daniel who had to walk past them and their hate to visit his family. Eventually, they figured out who Daniel was and then they got really ugly. The police were called, but nothing could be done except to make them move their demonstration off of hospital property. So, they congregated on a public sidewalk about 50 yards from the entrance and continued with their moronic message.
The one day, Daniel came in to Meddie's room, grinning ear to ear. He swung open his overcoat like one of those flashers in the park revealing his old Red Ryder BB gun he'd smuggled in to the hospital. Meddie was still perplexed at why this was giving him such joy until he took off the coat and folded it over the back of a chair, still cracking up the whole time. Then he locked the door from the inside and opened the second floor window. He pumped the gun and then crouched down, resting the barrel on the window frame. He took aim, and pulled the trigger.
They did have a few memorable moments, just not the typical ones. The baby's pediatrician was one of them. He obviously had a thing for all things that started with the letter "P." He would just stand around throwing out conditions that sounded like alphabet soup. When thinking hard, he would say a word and then start saying every synonym and then every antonym for that word, all starting with "p" and all the while rubbing his chin. He, at least, provided some amusement for Daniel and Meddie over the weeks after the baby was born.
After the horror of the delivery, Meddie had stayed 2 weeks in ICU and then 2 more weeks in obstetrics and the baby was then allowed to stay in the room with her. If it was a night that Daniel had gone home, Meddie would send the baby back to the nursery where behind curtains in the back, there was a special place for it. Hidden away. She would pretend that her life was anything else so she could rest.
The media was relentless and there would be no rest until a picture was obtained. The new parents had refused requests repeatedly until Meddie said, "Daniel, they are going to get that picture one way or another. If they get it on their own, then there's nothing to be done and we get nothing but speculation and more attention. Let's at least get this money. We need it to get us through your last year of school. We might as well make the most of this and maybe they will leave us alone afterward." So, Daniel and Meddie reluctantly agreed to a single photo and interview in exchange for a sizable cash payment.
The religious zealots came in droves, too. Some even picketed the hospital with the most terrible things on signs about the baby. They called it the devil incarnate, and advocated for euthanizing the infant. It tore Daniel and Meddie apart, particularly Daniel who had to walk past them and their hate to visit his family. Eventually, they figured out who Daniel was and then they got really ugly. The police were called, but nothing could be done except to make them move their demonstration off of hospital property. So, they congregated on a public sidewalk about 50 yards from the entrance and continued with their moronic message.
The one day, Daniel came in to Meddie's room, grinning ear to ear. He swung open his overcoat like one of those flashers in the park revealing his old Red Ryder BB gun he'd smuggled in to the hospital. Meddie was still perplexed at why this was giving him such joy until he took off the coat and folded it over the back of a chair, still cracking up the whole time. Then he locked the door from the inside and opened the second floor window. He pumped the gun and then crouched down, resting the barrel on the window frame. He took aim, and pulled the trigger.
"Bees! Bees!" the protestors shouted and eventually dispersed, but not before Daniel had got nearly all of them at least once. He swore he'd gotten the leader at least 10 times. The last 3 or 4 right in the tail as he ran away. Daniel was laughing so hard in the end, he was rolling on the floor underneath the window and both of them had tears streaming from their eyes.
Talk shows, Podcasts, talk radio, news broadcasts all featured the infant skeleton story over and over for several weeks, but then the media coverage slowed to a stop. And, the worst of it was over, but there was so much damage done to the family in the meantime.
Talk shows, Podcasts, talk radio, news broadcasts all featured the infant skeleton story over and over for several weeks, but then the media coverage slowed to a stop. And, the worst of it was over, but there was so much damage done to the family in the meantime.
Daniel and Meddie spent all night discussing all the challenges they could foresee. They considered what if the baby could understand what people were saying and how they were acting, which led to a serious discussion about hiding the baby away somewhere. They talked about limiting his exposure to the outside world. Then they talked about why the baby was born as he was, and the implications of any of the answers was just more than they could bear at that time, so it was tabled.
In the end, Daniel came to the salient point, "Meddie, this is where we are going to have to be parents. I don't know how exactly. But, my Dad left. Your Dad left. We said we wouldn't do that to our kids. It's on us to prepare him for the cruelty of the world. It's on us to prepare the world for him and let him live his life. Sure, it's going to be extremely hard on us all, but none of the alternatives are viable. We are going to have to do ourselves what we want others to do and find a place in our heart for our child, which is nothing like we anticipated. That doesn't make the baby less deserving though. This child needs us more desperately than I think we can imagine."
In the end, Daniel came to the salient point, "Meddie, this is where we are going to have to be parents. I don't know how exactly. But, my Dad left. Your Dad left. We said we wouldn't do that to our kids. It's on us to prepare him for the cruelty of the world. It's on us to prepare the world for him and let him live his life. Sure, it's going to be extremely hard on us all, but none of the alternatives are viable. We are going to have to do ourselves what we want others to do and find a place in our heart for our child, which is nothing like we anticipated. That doesn't make the baby less deserving though. This child needs us more desperately than I think we can imagine."
Meddie nodded her head and when Daniel left to go home that night and the nurse came for the baby, Meddie told her to leave the baby with her. She held her child all night. She told it about her life and that they were going to love and protect their child no matter what. The baby broke its hand free of the blanket and wrapped 4 bony fingers and a thumb around its mother's finger.
Both Meddie and Daniel were so relieved when they could finally return home and away from the reporters, the hospital staff, the nosy friends, and every zealot who turned up to see the demon baby. Daniel had actually thrown a chair at a deranged Priest who tried to perform some sort of an exorcism right outside the nursery door. After that two security guards were posted outside the room at all times.
Just before they left, the staff physician was supposed to be consulting with the individuals who'd just become parents to a living skeleton. In the middle of their discussion about getting the best pediatrician for the baby's condition, the doctor totally flaked out and said, "Peculiar."
Meddie and Daniel exchanged looks and wondered if they were supposed to respond to the statement. "Excuse me?" Daniel asked.
A few moments later he said, "Peaked," and began the chin rubbing. Foot tapping came next and escalated until the good doctor was nearly dancing a jig right in Meddie's hospital room.
"Puzzle... Problematic.. Pathological... Perplex... Perturb... non-Plus," he continued in excitement with scattered giggles thrown in-between words.
Meddie and Daniel found themselves totally removed from their sorrow for a moment as they stared at Dr. Dumbass, who disregarded them fully as he moved on from the synonyms right into the antonyms, taking a step toward the door with every word produced. "Pellucid... palpable... plain..." There was a long pause and he froze mid-stride with one leg dramatically held aloft until, "Perspicuous!" brought the leg down and out the door he went.
Both Meddie and Daniel were so relieved when they could finally return home and away from the reporters, the hospital staff, the nosy friends, and every zealot who turned up to see the demon baby. Daniel had actually thrown a chair at a deranged Priest who tried to perform some sort of an exorcism right outside the nursery door. After that two security guards were posted outside the room at all times.
Just before they left, the staff physician was supposed to be consulting with the individuals who'd just become parents to a living skeleton. In the middle of their discussion about getting the best pediatrician for the baby's condition, the doctor totally flaked out and said, "Peculiar."
Meddie and Daniel exchanged looks and wondered if they were supposed to respond to the statement. "Excuse me?" Daniel asked.
A few moments later he said, "Peaked," and began the chin rubbing. Foot tapping came next and escalated until the good doctor was nearly dancing a jig right in Meddie's hospital room.
"Puzzle... Problematic.. Pathological... Perplex... Perturb... non-Plus," he continued in excitement with scattered giggles thrown in-between words.
Meddie and Daniel found themselves totally removed from their sorrow for a moment as they stared at Dr. Dumbass, who disregarded them fully as he moved on from the synonyms right into the antonyms, taking a step toward the door with every word produced. "Pellucid... palpable... plain..." There was a long pause and he froze mid-stride with one leg dramatically held aloft until, "Perspicuous!" brought the leg down and out the door he went.
Apparently, the next "P" was meant for some other Poor, Pitiful Patient's Perturbed Parents. Meddie and Daniel took to referring to him as the "Perpetually Perplexed Pediatrician Physician Phil Prestley" or "He of the 6 P" for short. It was so good to laugh when they could.
The one tangible and slightly meaningful offering "He of the 6 P" rendered was that he suggested that the bone structure of the baby was likely that of a male. Still, they couldn't settle on a name, because nothing fit. Nevertheless, to avoid referring to the baby as "it," they adopted the "he" pronoun and hoped for the best.
"What do you think is wrong with him?" Daniel asked, staring down at his infant son, who looked more like the mortal remains of one.
"It's been days now that he's been like this," Meddie began. "There isn't a doctor in town who will accept him as a patient. They just say they can't take on our case because they don't have any clinical expertise with living skeletons! One even laughed at me and hung up when I told him about the baby, Daniel! All he does is cry, or something like that. He's so exhausted, I guess. He's as abnormal as it gets, and I don't know what to do! Every time I get him calm and resting and try to put him down, he just starts up all over again... I even called Mother F.," Meddie finished with this last revelation. If Meddie reached out to her mother-in-law on purpose then there was a good chance there was a ski resort where Hell had once been.
Meddie sighed and picked her baby up to try to rock him. As she did, the baby's hand came out of the swaddle and his index finger shot out what appeared to be a lightning bolt, which went right out the bedroom door and straight for the pet cat. Noodles jumped up, gave a great and horrific meow, and fell over dead., board stiff, and slightly smoking. One moment he'd been happily napping on the couch, and the next he found himself riding a one way ticket to the Great Litterbox in the Sky.
Daniel picked up the cat, and then looked at Meddie, and then back at the still smoking cat with the shock of the situation rendering him speechless. A knock at the door made them both jump. They had just moved in to the new apartment and hardly anyone knew where they lived.
"Are you expecting anyone?" Daniel asked.
"No, huh-uh." Meddie answered and both walked slowly to the front door. Daniel usually asked through the door who it was, but not that time. He just opened the door wide revealing who, or what, was on the other side.
"What the ---- ?" Daniel murmured.
The great hulking blackness in front of them was at least 7 ft tall. Its tattered and soiled black robe with a hood hid its form beneath. It would've been even taller had it not been hunched over so much at its disproportionately tiny waist. In one skeletal hand was an upright scythe on a long, intricately carved wooden pole. The metal finish was fierce, having been hand forged and hammered by some ancient blacksmith long ago The business edge was smooth and gleaming with a razor sharpness worked into it over the course of millenia. The being's other skeletal hand held a rocks glass with a dark honey color liquid in it.
The thing raised its glass as if toasting to the new family and asked, "Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" It slowly raised the glass to the skeletal face that appeared and took a drink. An almost immediate splash of liquid fell to the ground beneath the creature.
Daniel remained immobile and breathlessly responded, "Who are you?"
"This is 42 Lark Lane, Apt 2e, isn't it?"
"Yes." Daniel said almost robotically and with a dry mouth.
"Then I'm in the right place. Let me see the boy." And the creature bowed its head to get through the doorway, passed right by Daniel and Meddie to enter into the apartment and sat down on the couch right where Noodles had just been toasted.
"Is something burning?" the creature asked.
Daniel shut the door and while still holding the aforementioned recently deceased Noodles under his arm like a football, he joined Meddie who was holding her skeleton son, and they sat on the love seat opposite of the creature. Even with what they had just been through, nothing could've prepared them for the thing making itself at home on their couch.
"I am Avi. Ah- vee. Your son is my replacement. As such, I need to spend the coming years mentoring him until he is ready to take over and I can finally retire. So, I hope you have another bedroom or I guess the couch will do if it has to. Bring me the boy."
The baby had awoken and had started throwing a fit again. Meddie later couldn't understand why she did it, but she handed him to Avi and he immediately began to calm down. Avi unwrapped him and looked him over head to toe. "Does he scream like that all the time?"
"Yes, all the time." Meddie replied.
"Where's his coffin? I'll put him down. And where's his robes and scythe?" Avi asked.
"Clothes won't stay on him and what do you mean, 'his robes and scythe'?" Daniel suddenly could speak again.
"Kid, you picked a couple of winners for parents." He said to the baby and then speaking slow for emphasis he continued to Daniel and Meddie, "He. Is. Going. To. Be. The. New. Death. He. Is. My. Re. Place. Ment." After a few moments to let it sink in he continued, "That is upon him coming of age, completion of his training, and such. So, who has the genetics of the Godly sort?"
Daniel and Meddie said nothing.
"These things don't just happen in the land of the miserable mortals. Nope, straight outta the loins of a God, or at the very least, some half- breed demi-god is the way this happens. So, I ask you again... Who's been having relations with a God?"
Again, no answer. So, he picked the baby up by the back of the neck and turned him towards his parents, his bony body dangling from the boney clutch of Avi. "See this? Does he wook wike a itty bitty wittle human bay beeee to you? Does he?
Let me give you two short buses a clue. He's Death. I'm Death. He has a future duty to fulfill and he will fulfill it until such time whoever dictates his duties see fit to allow him to relinquish his duties. Since he is DEATH, he is only comfortable in his natural elements; the macabre, darkness, the grim and dreary, the morbid, ghastly, and grotesque. He needs these things at all times, but right now specifically he needs robes, a scythe, a coffin to sleep in until he gets at least a little older, black everything, and he won't be sated until he gets it."
Avi's head remained cocked to the side in irritation and disbelief as he waited for one of them to say something and then he asked, "What's his name?"
"We haven't decided," Meddie managed.
Avi looked at the two defeated parents then to the still smoking cat and then at the baby, "Well, Kid, it's just one grim situation after another around here, isn't it?"
"His name is Grim," said Meddie.
Daniel looked to his wife and nodded his agreement. As if in a trance, Daniel got up and grabbed his keys from the coffee table and silently headed out the door still clutching Noodles under his arm. Meddie got up and went to her son's room and pulled down the colorful mobile hanging above Grim's crib. She took the Noah bedding and shoved it in a trash bag along with almost everything else in the room she'd so carefully decorated. She broke down the freshly constructed crib and returned it to the box from whence it came.
She only spoke with Avi to ask, "How did you know the baby was a boy"
Avi simply replied, "How did you not know?"
As if on autopilot, she stripped her son's room of anything and everything a human infant would love. She got out her sewing machine and an old pair of black curtains and sat down in the dining area, cutting and sewing without a word. Grim rested quietly on Avi's lap and in just a short time, Avi's head rolled back and he snored incredibly loudly on the couch, which perplexed Meddie. She was pretty sure that Avi, like the baby, didn't breathe.
By the time Daniel returned with a small lidded wooden crate and a small scythe he got from his Mother's (which had led to a difficult conversation in itself), Grim was still asleep on Avi's lap, but was wearing his new hooded robe. Meddie was in the bed, too, having laid down when her psyche just couldn't tolerate consciousness for another second.
The baby's room was a ghastly site with drapes of black on everything. It more resembled a Victorian funeral home than an infant's bedroom, and the creep factor was complete with the tiny makeshift coffin Daniel placed in there for the baby's bed. He cut the foam from the previous crib's mattress to pad it a little. All Daniel could feel was the agony of the last 6 weeks since his son was born, culminating up to this moment. Over and over in Daniel's head played The Rolling Stones.
With flowers and my love both never to come back.
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away.
Like a newborn baby, it just happens every day.
I look inside myself and see my heart is black.
I see my red door and must have it painted black.
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black.
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue.
I could not foresee this thing happening to you.
If I look hard enough into the settin' sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes.
I see a red door and I want it painted black.
No colours anymore, I want them to turn black.
I see the girls go by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.
I wanna see your face painted black.
The Rolling Stones, Paint it Black
Daniel was outside in the darkness of night burying the cat in the small flowerbed in front of the apartment complex when Meddie awoke and took off her wig and wrapped her head tightly. Daniel would have to sleep with her now and she had to keep him safe. Their houseguest now occupied Daniel's pull-out couch bed. And, Meddie wanted to cry but she just didn't have any tears left. It seemed her punishment and the suffering of anyone who loved her would never end. By the time Daniel joined her in the bed, they both were too exhausted to discuss the evening's events and went to sleep as far from each other as possible.
This is one of my favorite chapters so far. I have a dark, dry wit as I'm sure you've gathered and laughter is the most perfect coping mechanism the human experience has to offer.
At this point, I'm going to tell you how this idea came to me. I want to be an artist when I grow up. So, in my forties, I started sculpting with polymer clay. I was learning how to make skulls and one struck me as toddler-like
with the eye sockets made too large in error and the length of the head too short. Those eye sockets seemed to be looking up at an unknown thing. Inspiration is a all encompassing beast some times. I made him a body and heavy black hooded robe. I also made him a small scythe which he drags on the floor behind him. It's like a pacifier or a blankie for him. His head is slightly cocked to the side and he's looking up as if he were probably getting a scolding from a parent.
Then I thought, what if Death were literally born today, in this world? What if he were born to a couple of suburbanites? Maybe a Jewish accountant father. And, since I doubt this thing could happen spontaneously, I threw in some Godly genetics.
For three years. I worked the story out mostly in my head. I did story boards, tons of sculptures, paintings... I was obsessed.
My husband is very supportive of my writing and loves to hear my stories. So, when I told him my concept, and he looked at me like I'd lost some French fries out of my Happy Meal. I knew this was just something I'd have to show him. I wrote the first 5 or 6 chapters in as many days, sat him down, and read it to him.
Now, we talk about Grim like he's part of our family, because he is part of our family as well as Avi and all those who love Grim.
I hope he can be part of your family, too. He'd like that.
I want to add one little but more about Avi's name. My husband had a friend growing up named Avi. Avi was a throw away child. They had some great adventures together, including driving 9 hours to find Avi's father. Avi ended up punching him in the nose. He punched a few in the nose before he tragically died young. There was only a few friends to mourn Avi and when they die, no one will remember him at all.
I asked my husband for a name for old Death when I was sketching him out. Without pause, my husband said, "Avi."
It was perfect.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. At this point, I'm going to tell you how this idea came to me. I want to be an artist when I grow up. So, in my forties, I started sculpting with polymer clay. I was learning how to make skulls and one struck me as toddler-like
with the eye sockets made too large in error and the length of the head too short. Those eye sockets seemed to be looking up at an unknown thing. Inspiration is a all encompassing beast some times. I made him a body and heavy black hooded robe. I also made him a small scythe which he drags on the floor behind him. It's like a pacifier or a blankie for him. His head is slightly cocked to the side and he's looking up as if he were probably getting a scolding from a parent.
Then I thought, what if Death were literally born today, in this world? What if he were born to a couple of suburbanites? Maybe a Jewish accountant father. And, since I doubt this thing could happen spontaneously, I threw in some Godly genetics.
For three years. I worked the story out mostly in my head. I did story boards, tons of sculptures, paintings... I was obsessed.
My husband is very supportive of my writing and loves to hear my stories. So, when I told him my concept, and he looked at me like I'd lost some French fries out of my Happy Meal. I knew this was just something I'd have to show him. I wrote the first 5 or 6 chapters in as many days, sat him down, and read it to him.
Now, we talk about Grim like he's part of our family, because he is part of our family as well as Avi and all those who love Grim.
I hope he can be part of your family, too. He'd like that.
I want to add one little but more about Avi's name. My husband had a friend growing up named Avi. Avi was a throw away child. They had some great adventures together, including driving 9 hours to find Avi's father. Avi ended up punching him in the nose. He punched a few in the nose before he tragically died young. There was only a few friends to mourn Avi and when they die, no one will remember him at all.
I asked my husband for a name for old Death when I was sketching him out. Without pause, my husband said, "Avi."
It was perfect.
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