The New Baby

                                        The New Baby
         “I don’t know what’s going on,” said six-year-old Billy Andrews to his buddy, Max.  “Everyone’s having babies and I don’t like it!”

         “My mom isn’t having a baby.”  Max answered, tossing a baseball into the air and knocking down the set of books sitting on Billy’s dresser.

         “Well, my mom is,” Billy frowned, getting angry, “She says that pretty soon I’m going to have a little sister.  She says I’m going to have someone to play with all the time.”

         “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,” Max jumped up laughing, dancing around Billy, “you have to play with a girl.  You have to play with a girl.”

         “Even my dog had babies,” Billy said, ignoring Max’s laughter, “Now she won’t even play ball with me.”

         After Max went home, Billy sat down to eat dinner with his mom and dad.  They ordered pizza because Billy’s mom was too tired to cook. Billy was very happy when he saw the delivery man, because pizza was his favorite food.

         “How was school today, Billy?”  asked Billy’s dad.

         “Okay,” said Billy quietly, looking down at his plate.  He had gotten into trouble at lunch earlier for pushing Sarah B. off the slide.  He hoped that his dad didn’t know.  But, Billy had realized long ago, that parents always know when kids get into trouble.  Billy’s dad called it his, “SUPER-HERO TROUBLE -DETECTOR”.
         “Mrs. Patsy called me again today, Billy.”  Billy’s dad said, frowning, “She said that you’ve been misbehaving a lot lately.”

         Billy’s mom looked up from her plate, “Is something wrong, Billy?” she asked, with a look of concern on her face, “Maybe we should talk about what’s bothering you.”

         “I’m all done with my pizza,” Billy said, pushing his plate aside, “Can I go play in my room now?”

         “Yeah, sure, Sweetie,” said Billy’s mom, “Please make sure that Trixie has food and water on your way upstairs.”

         On his way to his bedroom, Billy stopped and opened the door to the laundry room where Trixie and her three puppies were sleeping.  Trixie was laying on her doggy bed, with her little puppies nuzzled up next to her.  When she saw Billy, she started wagging her tail excitedly.  He sat down next to her and she put her head on his lap.  She licked his hand lovingly, and then started cleaning her puppies.  Billy filled her food and water dishes, and then went upstairs to his room.  Seeing Trixie made Billy sad.  They used to play all the time.  But, ever since Trixie had her puppies all she wanted to do was sleep.

         Billy climbed up the stairs and opened the door to the room next to his bedroom.  It was the new baby’s room.  It was the first time that Billy had ever been in the room.  It was a nice room for a girl.  The carpet was a light blue and the wallpaper had little pink bunnies and kittens all over it.  There was a crib in the middle of the room filled with brand new teddy bears and dolls.  There was a book shelf with brand new books over in one corner.  In the other corner was a giant doll house.  But, what really caught Billy’s attention was the huge toy box next to the closet.

         Billy walked over to it and opened the lid.  It was sparkling with new toys.  He saw Barbies, rattles, balls, and a Jack-in-the-box.  Billy picked up the Jack-in-the-box and started twirling the handle.  Old McDonald Had a Farm played for a minute before a farmer popped out of the box.  Billy’s favorite toy used to be his Jack-in-the-box, but he broke it when he took it to school for show and tell.  He wanted a new Jack-in-the-box.  It wasn’t fair that the baby got one and he didn’t.

         Billy could feel tears welling up in his eyes.  Why was the new baby getting all this; new toys, new books, and all of his mom and dad’s attention?  Billy wanted a new teddy bear or some new books.  He wanted his parents to play with him, and tell him that they still love him.

         Billy wiped the tears off his face.  He wasn’t going to let this stupid baby take over his house and his mom and dad.  He needed to come up with a plan.  He grabbed the Jack-in-the-box, left the baby’s room and went into his own room.  He put the toy under his bed so that no one would know that he had taken it.  He lay down on his bed to think of a plan, but quickly fell asleep.

         When Billy woke up the next morning he could smell breakfast cooking.  He jumped out of bed, threw on his dinosaur slippers, and ran down the stairs.  Saturday was his favorite day of the week.  Grandma always came over on Saturdays.  They would eat breakfast, watch cartoons, and then go to the park or the beach.  Sometimes, Grandma would even take him to the toy store.

         “How’s my Billy Boy?” Grandma asked, giving Billy a big hug.
         “Good, Grandma.” Billy said, smiling at her happily.  Maybe she could help him come up with a plan to stop the baby from taking over.  She wouldn’t want him to be unhappy.

         Billy sat down at the table and Grandma filled his plate with sausage, grapes, and Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes.  Pancakes were Billy’s second favorite food.  And Grandma made the best pancakes in the whole wide world.  She could make them into almost any animal that Billy could imagine.

         “Where are we going today, Grandma?” Billy asked with excitement sparkling in his eyes.

         “Oh, Billy.” Grandma said quietly, “We can’t go anywhere today.  The baby is due any day now and your mom isn’t feeling very well.  I need to stay here and take care of her.  But we can play together at home.”

         Billy sat quietly, not knowing what to say.  Grandma was his last hope!  Now, she too, was being sucked into the baby’s trap.  Even she didn’t love him anymore.  Billy’s thoughts were interrupted by his mom slowly walking into the room.  She looked very sick.

         “Mom,” she said in a very shaky voice, “I need to go to the hospital, now.”

         “Oh, dear.” Billy’s grandma said, jumping up from her chair, “Billy, go and grab your mom’s bag out of the closet while I call your dad.”

         Billy grabbed his mom’s bag, and ran back into the kitchen.  Grandma told him to run and get into the car.  Billy was getting very upset.  Now he wasn’t going to be able to play with Grandma.

         Billy’s mom and grandma got into the car quickly.  Grandma was driving and his mom was sitting next to her.  She was breathing very hard.  Billy thought his mom looked like she was in a lot of pain.  The baby was hurting her!  Maybe after Billy’s dad heard how badly the baby was hurting his mom, they could just get rid of it.

         When they pulled up to the hospital, a nurse with a wheelchair came running over to their car.  The nurse opened the car door and helped his mom into the wheelchair.

         “I’ll park as quick as I can, and I’ll be right in, Honey.” Billy’s grandma said to his mom.

         “What’s going on, Grandma?”  Billy asked as Grandma pulled into a parking spot.

         “Your mom is having the baby today, Billy,” Grandma said excitedly, “Come on.  We’ve got to go and meet your mom inside the hospital.”

         Billy’s grandma grabbed his hand and they ran up to the hospital doors.  It was too late for Billy to come up with a plan!  The baby was already on her way.  It was too late for Billy to stop the horrible baby.

         On the way to the elevator, Billy and his grandma ran into Billy’s Uncle Tom.  He got into the elevator with him.  Billy watched as Tom and his grandma talked excitedly.  They were acting like he wasn’t even there.  Uncle Tom didn’t even say hello to him.

         Billy decided he wasn’t going to put up with everyone ignoring him anymore.  When the elevator stopped, Billy’s grandma and Uncle Tom stepped off, and turned right.  Billy stepped off and went the other way.  They didn’t even notice he was gone!

         Billy walked past a few rooms that had people sleeping in them.  Then, Billy ran across a room filled with lots of toys.  There were three other kids playing in there.  One of the kids was playing with play dough.  Billy loved play dough!  He ran over and sat down by the older boy.

         “Can I play with you?” Billy asked.

         “Yeah, sure,” said the older boy, “My name’s Andy.”

         “I'm Billy,” he said looking around the big room.

         “What are you doing in the hospital, Billy?” Andy asked curiously.
         
                “My mom is having a stupid baby.  And it’s a GIRL!” Billy answered angrily.

         “That’s cool!” said Andy, “When I was six years old my mom had a baby.  There’s my sister over there.” He pointed to a girl of about four years old playing with logos.

         “No, it’s horrible!” Billy was getting even angrier.  Who did this boy think he was!  It was not cool that his mom was having a baby and didn’t love him anymore.

                  "Little sisters can be a real pain.  But sometimes they're not too bad."  Andy laughed as he watched his sister try to do a sumersault in the middle of the room.

         “But this baby is ruining everything!” Billy sighed, “My mom and dad don’t even love me anymore.  All they talk about is the stupid baby!  They even bought her all kinds of new toys.  They don’t need me around anymore.”

                Billy heard someone come up behind him, “I know it seems bad now, but it will get better.  Your parents still love you and they are going to need your help now more than ever.”

                Billy turned around to see one of the workers sitting in the chair next to him, "“What do they need me for?” Billy asked curiously.


                  “You’re a big kid now.  They are going to need your help with everything.  You’re going to have a little sister.  That’s a big responsibility.  You’ve got to protect her.  Don’t let any other kids pick on her. It’s also your job to teach her everything you know.  I promise, even though she’s a girl, you’ll have fun playing with her,”The worker smiled, “Plus, you can play with all of her toys.  So, if she has a new toy that you like, you can play with it too.”

         Billy smiled.  Maybe Andy and the worker  were right.  He was, after all, going to be a big brother.  That must be an important job.  It wasn’t that his parents didn’t love him.  They had just been really busy.  Maybe Max was wrong, playing with a girl wouldn’t be so bad.

         “Billy!”  Billy’s dad ran into the room and picked him up, hugging him tight, “We’ve been so worried!”

         Billy looked towards the door and saw his grandma and Uncle Tom running into the room.  Grandma’s face was all red and she had tears running down her cheeks.

         “Oh, Billy.”  Grandma gave him a big hug, “I’m so sorry.  We’ve all been so worried about your mom that we let you wander off.  We never want to lose our Billy Boy.”

         “I’m sorry, too, Billy,” Billy’s dad sounded sad, “We’ve been so busy with the new baby that we haven’t been giving you enough attention. We all love you very, very much.”

         “Come on, Billy,” Grandma said taking Billy’s hand after his dad put him back down on the floor, “Let’s go down to the gift shop.  We’ll buy you a new book.  We’ll read it while we wait for the new baby.”

         Billy turned back to Andy and smiled.  Andy smiled back and gave him a thumbs up.  Billy turned back around and went with his grandma to the gift shop.

         Everything was going to be okay.  Everybody still loved him, and now he was going to have a little sister who loved him too.  He had a big job ahead of him.  He would have to teach her how to color with crayons, read write and even how to play with a jack-in-the-box.  Maybe he’d even go home and see if Trixie wanted to play ball with him.