Lark's End

by Christina Leigh Pritchard

  “Enter destination code.”

  “Wallet’s personal address.”

  “Invalid entry. Please try again.”

  Charles repeated, “Wallet’s personal address.”

  “Destination confirmed. Please watch your step.” He held onto the pole appearing from below ground. There was a circular platform for his feet. “Prepare for trip in three seconds.”

  Charles watched small neighborhoods and commercial buildings pass him. His travel circuit ran along the track. It was slightly bumpy. He inputted a complaint on the digital panel, then closed his eyes.

  Charles was still in college. He and Donna had plenty of time to think about a baby. And, besides, she’d just started school herself. She never got to go because right after high school her parents died and she had to move into their house, the house they lived in now, and raise Maya. That’s where he’d met Donna. They both started college on the same day almost two years ago. She was nervous. He could never forget how her fingers trembled while in line. He wanted to wrap his hands around her so she’d stop trembling. He’d said, “Hi” instead, which got Donna started. She talked too much when nervous. He figured that one out real fast. She talked so fast and only stopped long enough to breathe. She worried about people, animals and her sister.

  Charles jerked about as his circuit pulled off the track and began hovering. It led him into oncoming traffic. He wondered how David survived in local traffic since his blinkers didn’t work. David’s father had given him the car as a wedding gift and for the baby—a house.

  Donna had a house. Her parents paid it off years ago and left it to her. They lived in it and he made decent money as a bank teller. Who knew, maybe when he graduated to being a banker and if she really was barren, then they could adopt. Maybe they’d find Maya as well. He could save money and put her picture on the local channels during commercial runs. If they stayed on a strict budget he could even use hologram technology. It was expensive but if it would help find Maya…

  Charles slammed on the circuit’s emergency breaks. He squinted to make sure of what he was really seeing. He was parked in his driveway, staring at a man with old, wrinkled skin who wore a striped sailor’s suit and hat. His hair was gray and unkempt. What did he want?

  When the old man saw Charles, he jumped, startled. “Hello!” Charles waved. But, the funny man in the sailor’s suit raced away behind his home and into the small wooded area that separated David’s house from his.

  Charles’ heart pounded. Donna. Had that crazy guy done something to her? He didn’t bother to remove his bank stick or to turn off the meter. Charles raced straight inside and up the stairs to their room. “Donna!”

  She wasn’t there. Was she taking a shower? He peeked inside the bathroom. Glass littered the ground. “Donna!” He ran back downstairs and searched the kitchen and then he ran out back into the woods. The thorns on the rose bushes slapped into his bare shins but he didn’t seem to notice. “What’ve you done with my wife?” He looked inside every little nook and cranny of the forest; “Old man!”

  Charles kicked little pebbles, breathless. Where could she be? He needed to call the police before the loon got too far away. He ran back into the house and up the stairs to his bedroom.

  At the top of the stairs he stopped abruptly. Was someone crying? Charles stared at Maya’s bedroom door. The house was a small two-bedroom home. His fingers trembled. Why was he afraid? What was in there?

  “Donna?” The old guy hadn’t hurt her, had he?

  “Charles,” Donna said. “I’m in Maya’s room.”

  WHAT THE OLD MAN BROUGHT THEM

  Donna sat on Maya’s old twin bed with something cradled in her arms. She smiled and rubbed her nose on whatever was inside the little blanket.

  “Donna.” Charles inched forward. “What’s in the blanket?”

  “Look what that funny old man gave me.” She smiled wide. Was she happy? His eyes watered as he leaned over and took a peek.

  Charles gasped, jumping back. “Where did you get that?” Had his wife finally lost it? What was she thinking? Okay, so she couldn’t have a child of her own but that didn’t justify stealing someone else’s.

  “An elderly man in a striped sailor suit and hat came by today,” she answered.

  “Yes, I saw him when I came home. He ran off into the bushes like he was caught doing something wrong. I thought he hurt you.”

  “No, he was scared when I opened the door. I don’t think he planned on me being home. I’m happy I was, though, or else who knows what would’ve happened to poor Tahmi.”

  “Tahmi?” Charles sat next to her and took a good look at the “gift”. It was a girl. A little baby girl with glassy eyes in which when you stared into them long enough you could see the ocean or at least you felt like you were sitting on the sandy beach watching the waves crash around you.

  Charles shook his head. “You can’t just accept babies from strange people. Where did she come from?”

  “I don’t know.” Donna frowned. “He said to keep her safe. There’s some big package over there by the basket he brought her in. You must let me keep her, Charles. I promised him I’d watch her.”

  “Why?” He bent down and picked up a big manila envelope. “Why didn’t you call the police? How do you know he didn’t steal her and figured, hey, here’s a sucker. Lemme leave the baby here and let these people get arrested.”

  “Stop being so negative.” Donna didn’t care. She had what she’d always wanted and there was nothing Charles could say to change her mind. “He said it was Maya who suggested we keep her for him.”

  Charles looked up. “Maya! She’s alive, then. Where is she? Is she safe? Can I go get her?”

  “I don’t know. He wouldn’t say. The old bum just said everything we needed to know was in that envelope and that I had to keep her. Maya said so.”

  “You just let him leave without finding out where she is?” Charles’ faced burned red. “How could you, Donna?”

  “He said as long as the baby is safe then so is Maya. Her life depends on this child’s safety, Charles.” Donna looked up, worried. “What do you think that means?”

  “It means we need to search harder for her now.” Charles sat back down. This time he held the baby in his arms.

  Tahmi was warm and felt perfect, as if she were meant to be his. She smiled. “Babies don’t smile this young, do they?”

  “No, not this young.”

  “Maybe she has gas.”

  “Yeah, maybe.”

  Charles rocked Tahmi back and forth. “What kind of name is Tahmi anyway for a little girl?”

  “It’s short for Tahmelia.”

  “For what?”

  “Tahmelia. That’s what the crazy guy called her. She has to keep her name, I think. I feel it in my bones. You can’t rename someone. Names make a person who they are. It would be a crime for us to change it.”

  “But, Donna, we can’t keep her. We have to call the police and see if someone is missing a child.”

  “No, Charles.” She snatched Tahmi from him and turned so her back faced him. “She’s mine. I promised I’d keep her safe. Look in that envelope already and see what the guy left us.”

  “Fine.” He sighed, pulling out a huge stack of papers. They felt funny and foreign in his hands. His eyes widened. “Donna, when did you ever know a woman named Maryanne Andrews?”

  “Never, why?”

  “Well, apparently, as long as you have this notarized, she’s giving you her daughter—to her ‘good friend Donna Russo’. Are you sure you’re telling me everything?”

  “Who cares how we get a child?” Donna looked helpless, almost the way she did back when he first met her on their first day of college.

  “How will we pay for her?”

  “The house is paid off and you make pretty good money as a bank teller.”

  “We’re both still in college, Donna. You can’t quit again. First, when your parents died, you didn’t go because you had Maya
and now, finally you’ve got time.”

  “I don’t need to go to college. I can stay home and take care of Tahmi. She needs me, Charles.”

  “Donna.” He covered his face with his hands. “What about me? How can I go to work and college and take care of a baby? I won’t be able to afford it.”

  “Go part time.”

  “Donna.” He stamped his foot. “This is too fast.”

  “Stop it and take a good look at this little girl. Do you really wanna turn her away?”

  Charles closed his eyes. He could feel her staring at him. Was that possible? It was as if the child was subconsciously telling him to open his eyes. When he did, his heart melted. There, the blonde smiled once again; impossible.

  “Well, we need to get a lawyer and find out how legal this is.”

  Donna squealed and leaned against Charles. She looked up at him with the happiest eyes he’d ever seen her possess. “You were right.”

  “About what?”

  “You said that good things do happen to good people. I think Tahmi is going to fix everything bad that ever happened to us.”

  “She’s a baby, Donna, not a cure.”

  “No, Charles, there’s something special about her.” She motioned for him to look inside the blanket.

  “Weird,” he admitted, covering her back up. “No diaper.”

  “And, she hasn’t had an accident, either.”

  “Well, we’d better borrow some diapers from Peg and David anyway.”

  “At least now Peg and I will be mommies together, just like we planned!”

  “And I won’t have to worry about buying baby furniture.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Peg had a boy.”

  Donna burst out into laughter. “Oh, that is good for us; bad for David, but great for us. See, everything is going to be just perfect.”

  “I’m still going to call a lawyer.”

  “You do that. I’m going to read a book to my daughter. I’m glad I kept all those old school books my great grandparents left me. Now, I can pass them down to our little girl.”

  Charles opened his mouth to protest, to remind her that just because some crazy man gave her legal documents with her name on it did not mean it was a solid deal. He wanted to put his foot down and tell her she was insane but at that very moment, Tahmi looked at him and all his fears floated away.

  NOT SO PERFECT

  Everything was not as perfect as Donna thought. Sure, she had a child. The court system granted her rights to the child under probation (a child services representative was going to pop up every so often to check on their home environment and parenting skills).

  The Child service visits weren’t the problem, and it wasn’t staying home every day of her life that bothered her or the lack of privacy and sleep. What did disturb Donna was the child.

  Tahmi really was different. Charles bought tons of baby ebooks because he had to make sure he fathered her correctly. But none of them helped. She was standing and pointing at things she wanted after only one month. The books said nothing about this.

  Donna was afraid to have Peg and Angelo over. The babies were only a few months apart but Tahmi seemed to be progressing much faster. And the last thing she wanted was to make Peg think her baby wasn’t developing properly.

  At first, Donna really thought maybe her daughter was brighter than Andy (the nickname they gave Angelo) especially when at just six months Tahmi took her first steps. But when only a month later, she was running through the house—fully potty trained and communicating through hand signals and what Donna called “the look”. She grew afraid. Was this why the old bum asked her to keep the baby safe? Were people after the child? Tahmi was extremely intelligent, listening and absorbing everything Donna and Charles said. It seemed impossible, but no matter what, Donna and Charles loved Tahmi—just as much as if they were her real parents.

  By the time the two babies were five years old, Tahmi was teaching Andy how to read and write. And, by first grade, they were the smartest in their class. Peg thought she’d given birth to a genius, but Donna knew better. It was Tahmi. She knew things. And Andy just happened to be the one on whom she chose to bestow that knowledge.

  The real trouble came later on when Tahmi turned twelve. It was during the summer, hot and the wind—dry. An oddity since South Florida is normally very humid. Tahmi lay in bed, tossing and turning…

  THE DREAMS

  “Hide my children!” A woman in a long silk dress raced down a marble corridor. Her golden hair flew behind her and she cradled a baby in her arms. “Hurry, Missy, he’s coming.”

  A young girl with black hair and raven eyes pulled on the woman’s dress. She was maybe two years old. “Mommy, what’s happening?”

  “Teri, hurry—here, hide your sister.”

  The toddler could barely hold the baby in her small arms but she did her best, crawling under a sofa. “Mom, what’s that noise?”

  The walls shook violently, as if an earthquake was settled underneath them. Pictures fell from the walls and grey smog infiltrated the room. The woman fell. She rolled along the ground smacking her head against the wall.

  “Mom!” Teri screamed.

  “Be quiet! You’re supposed to be hiding.”

  “I can’t find Teri,” a tall white Persian cat, the size of a human said. “I told her to stay close.”

  “She’s fine, she has the baby.”

  “What are we going to do? Are you okay? You’re bleeding!”

  “Hide my other children.”

  “But your head—”

  “Missy, please just hide my kids! He’s coming.”

  “Are we going to die?”

  ***

  Tahmi shot up in bed. She threw the covers off her body and took deep breaths. Her blonde bangs stuck to her forehead and she couldn’t seem to hear anything except her beating heart. Had that been just a dream? It’d felt so real.

  She snuck across the hall and into her parents’ room. Charles snored loudly and Donna lay curled up against him. Tahmi squeezed in next to her mom. Donna kissed her on the forehead. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I just had a weird dream about a talking cat.”

  “Try to get some sleep. You’ve got a long day tomorrow with Andy. You’re supposed to go horseback riding at Tradewinds.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Don’t want to fall asleep on the horse; might fall off.” Donna teased, ruffling her hair.

  “Mo-om!” Tahmi intertwined her fingers with her mother’s and closed her eyes. “They’re just virtual horses, anyway.”

  ***

  The baby was in the arms of a tall man with white hair and eyes that sparkled like diamonds. His hands were strong. “Let me go!” Teri, the toddler, was in his other hand wriggling around, “Help!”

  The man stopped in front of a rotted wooden plank bridge held together by rope. There, a short man full of feathers stood. He wore spectacles and a Hawaiian tee shirt with trousers. “I can help,” he said.

  “Mr. Owl, please take this one. She’s a menace.” The tall man handed Teri to the talking owl. “Have you seen Jon Landers?”

  The owl shook his head. In the distance, monsters marched forward with spears in their hands and they grunted like pigs. They were pigs, with rat tails and rat noses. They stunk and were coming for the baby. They chanted something.

  Kill her. Kill her.

  They wanted the baby.

  “I came as fast as I could.” An old man in a sailor suit breathed heavily. He bowed before the tall man. “I have the documents you asked for. Should I take her now?”

  “I guess we have no choice.” He handed the baby to the old man then disappeared.

  “What are you doing with my sister?” The toddler screamed. “Give her back!” Teri struggled in the owl’s arms. “Tahmi!”

  ***

  Tahmi fell to the floor knocking her head into her mother’s nightstand. She was the baby. What did it all mean?

  Donna
sat up and scratched her chin. “You okay?”

  “No.” Tahmi’s lip trembled. Was she going to cry?

  “What happened this time?”

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Figures.” Donna stood and stretched. She wore a long silk robe. It wasn’t as glamorous as the dress in her dream but it made her mom her mom. “Lemme guess, orange jello?”

  “Do you have some made?”

  “I put fruit in it for you.”

  “Thanks mom.” Tahmi went down the stairs with her mother right behind her. At the kitchen table, Charles had her name engraved into the back of her chair. He loved to personalize things. Tahmi figured it was more so that she wouldn’t sit in his chair. He was a little uptight; nothing like her mom. Donna was calm and doted on her. Charles was all about statistics. Like her odds of falling out of the tree in the backyard was about 49%. Wow. That was Charles for you, though.

  “Tell me about this dream you had.” Donna placed a bowl of orange jello in front of her. “Was there another talking cat in it?”

  Tahmi grinned. “How about an owl this time.”

  “Owl?” Donna smiled, “What was he wearing?”

  “He had on trousers, wore little round spectacles and a Hawaiian shirt.”

  “What a creative imagination you have.”

  “Well, that’s not the worst part.”

  “Worse part?”

  “Yeah, there’s this woman holding a baby, right.”

  “What’s she doing with the baby?”

  “Trying to hide her from someone or something, I guess. She’s got more than one kid, too.”

  “Does this woman look scared?”

  “Oh, yeah, terrified. So, she gives the baby to a little kid that’s maybe two or three years old and they hide. The walls shake, she falls and then the next thing I see is a big man with eyes like diamonds holding the baby and the toddler. He gives the little girl to a talking owl.”

  “Did you watch a scary movie last night? I warned you and Andy about that. I’m going to take the movie channels off of our plan.”