Baby Boy

“Baby Boy”



At four Cameron wakes with a queasy stomach and a pounding head. He squints at the blazing light from the window and turns to sit on the edge of his bed with his face in his hands. From his high place on the wall, Bruce Lee stares across the room. Cameron leans forward and falls onto his carpet on all fours, almost banging his head against his bed table. He peeks over the bed and smiles to see that a young woman still asleep on her stomach.

Judith is an angel; he can already picture the wings despite her snoring. Her pink elbows stick out from under the pillow revealing and a little bit of rib cage on her side. He crawls onto the bed towards her and kneeling down he runs his fingers at the base of her brown curls. She grabs the pillow and clutches it over her head, catching his fingers.

He pulls his fingers out and hovers them just over her back, and his nostrils pick up a metallic scent. He leans over and sniffs her back and the scent is rather strong. He follows the length of her back and pulls the sheets back. His eyes widen at the blood trailing down her legs towards the bottom of the bed and he grabs the sheet with two fingers and throws it back over her as he rolls backwards onto the floor, generating a loud thud as his butt hits the carpet. Looking up at his ceiling, Cameron realizes how little attention he has paid to his apartment room. The roof is cracking at one corner, the brown fan and the light needs changing. The closet door needs repainting near the bottom, his desk has a leg with the bottom missing, and the carpet has dried red something on it. 

A man’s voice came from the end of the bed. “What was that? Oh Jesus!”

         “Who’s there?” Cameron reaches onto his bed table and grabs a large flashlight. “I warn you, I’m armed.”

A hand covered in red appears from behind the bed. Cameron holds the flashlight in front of him like a crucifix. His tongue is sticking out the side of his mouth a little. The hand grabs the bedpost and Cameron hears a body dragging itself along the floor. A bloody head peeks from behind the post.

“Da-” Cameron throws his light at the head before it has a chance to duck. “Ouch. Dad what are you doing?” The speaker ducks out of sight. Cameron stands up to fight the guy and stumbles against the bed. The man is naked and slowly rises with one hand covering his forehead and the other groping for the bed. “Dad I don’t know-“ Cameron swings at him and slips on some gunk and does a half split. The man steps over and picks him up and says, “Look. Your favorite actor is Bruce Lee, you collect shark teeth, your favorite animal is a black bear, and you like cantaloupe. I really don’t know what’s going on.” He bends over with his hands on his knees. He’s very tall and has what Cameron thinks is brown hair under that all that red. He looks like he works out everyday.

Cameron steps back, the fresh metallic smell is too much. “Who are you?”

“I’m CJ Anders. I’m your son.”

“Guy I, I don’t have a kid. I’m twenty-four and what are you like twenty?”

“I’m twenty-two. I don’t know why I’m here covered in blood and stuff. Can I take a shower? I think that the situation would be less stressful for both of us.”

“I don’t know who you are!”

CJ looks at Judith. “Is that mom?”

“You don’t need to know who that is.”

“Judith Anders Costa. She likes horror novels, beavers, green, emeralds, and wants to be a physicist. Can I please get this blood off me? Please? My toes are pruning.”

Cameron points to the hallway and CJ tiptoes out the room with one hand on his ass and the other over his privates. Cameron leaps over the mess and closes the door. He grabs a pair of pants and socks from the closet and puts them on. He walks over to Judith and pokes her side. Nothing happens. He pokes her again. From under the pillow she says, “Come on dad stop.” Cameron starts to poke her rapidly. She throws the pillow off the bed. “What?” Her eyes are half closed.

“Hey.”

“Cameron?” She whispers. “Cameron we said we wouldn’t do this.”

“Judith, that’s no longer the issue.”

“What do you mean? We said we wouldn’t. I should’ve left the party early.”

Cameron puts his hand over her mouth and pulls the bed sheet off her legs. She gasps from behind his hand. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know! That’s not the only thing.” Cameron removes his hand from her mouth to point at the red footprints leading out the door. “There’s someone here that keeps calling us his parents. He’s like twenty-one or something. He knows stuff about us.”

“Well let’s call someone before he kills us. Why am I covered in this stuff?”

Cameron grabs her arm. “There’s a bathtub of it on the floor. Watch your step.” She uses her arms to slowly turn towards the side of the bed, making wet noises as her legs slide across the soaking surface. She places her legs on the floor and stops. “Judith, what’s wrong?”

“My legs feel weak. I don’t think I can get up.”

“Ok don’t move.” He walks around the desecrated patch of carpet and reaches towards the desk for his chair. He cringes as he tiptoes into the warm sanguine mess, dragging the chair behind him. Judith grabs onto his arm and pulls herself up and he helps her onto the chair.

“Ok wears your phone we need to call the cops.”

“Let’s call my Dad’s friend.” Cameron looks down and finds his old clothes on the floor. He picks up his pants and pulls the legs to get the phone. He punches the number in and nearly throws the phone over his shoulder. The dial tone is lasting too long. Someone finally picks up.

“Hey.”

“Mitt! Hey its Camer-“

“Gotcha! I’m not at the phone right now but please leave your message and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Tootles.”

“Damn it.”

“Hello?”

“Mitt?”

         “Hey Cameron! Congratulations buddy!”

         “For what?” Cameron’s grip tightens around the phone.

         “Come on Superman! We’ll be sending the new member his present tomorrow. Give Jude my regards. Duty calls.” The phone clicks.

         Judith drags the chair around using her legs. “What happened?”

         “He congratulated me and told me that he’s sending a baby present over tomorrow. Then he said he had to leave and he told me to tell you he said hi.”

         “I don’t know him.”

         “I know that.” Cameron leans against the desk.

         There’s a knock on the door. “Dad?”

         Cameron throws his pants at Judith. “ It’s him!” He opens his closet and gives her a shirt. Judith puts the clothes on. Cameron walks to his closet and grabs his father’s signed bat. He picks up the flashlight and hands the bat to Judith. “Just in case.”

         The door handle turns and opens. CJ steps into the room. “Can I have some clothes? I don’t think you want to see me naked.” Cameron grabs some old basketball short and throws them at CJ. He starts putting them on and says, “Now this is really strange-“

         “Yes it is.” Judith begins to back away from the door.

         CJ moves into the room. “But I think I only know as much as you do.”

         Judith says, “Do you know Mitt?”

         “Yeah grandpa’s cop friend. Maybe we should stop with the questions. I think that if we put our heads together and think this out, we can move forward and get to know each other.”

         “But you say you’re my son. I want answers.”

Cameron looks at CJ. Both men are breathing heavily and their tongues are sticking out a little to the side. CJ is wiping sweat off of his hands as Cameron puts the flashlight down to do the same.  He opens his mouth and after a pause, he says, “He knows the answers. He’ll answer everything right. We need to figure something out. Maybe we can retrace our steps from yesterday-”

Judith throws the bat on the bed and puts her hands behind her head. “But that’s completely irrelevant. I need to get this blood off.” She turns to Cameron. “We’re going to have to have a talk.”

“Maybe I can call my father or Greg.”

“No, lets keep the circle of people to a minimum. Let’s go over the facts.”



The next day is Monday and Cameron is finally wearing a fresh pair slacks and a shirt. He admires the clean bedroom before him. CJ is not bad at cleaning. In fact, he cleans rather diligently, bordering on obsessive. He walks into the living room where CJ is sitting right in front of the TV watching some reality show. The kitchen is spotless. The plates and utensils are all in cabinets. Cameron plops himself onto the couch and watches CJ, how he sits the way Cameron used to sit in front of the TV with his arms wrapped around his legs. A knock on the door emanates to from across the room and Cameron shakes his head. He gets up to let Judith in. She’s at the door and Todd the mailman is behind her, which is fortunate because he always has terrible breath.

“Uh hey Todd.” Cameron opens the door to let Judith in.

“Hey congratulations Cameron. Where’s the little fella?”

“He’s sleeping Todd.”

“Oh let me have a look-see huh?” Todd is always trying to poke his way into people’s business.

“Sorry Todd. He wakes easily.” Cameron closes the door.

         She wore a shirt from the Physics Honors Society, jeans, and sandals. She had a green gift bag in her hands. “We need to talk.”

         Cameron looked towards CJ. “Hey buddy can you hold down the fort?”

         “No problem pops.”

         Judith grabs Cameron’s arm and drags him into the bedroom. She hands him the bag. “This is from Tabby. Look.”

         Cameron reaches into the bag. There’s some sort of soft fabric. He could feel stitches. “Clothes?”

         “Yes.”

         “For a baby right?”

         “Uh-huh.”

         Cameron sits on the floor at the edge of the bed. “What the hell is going on?”

         Judith sits next to him. “We shouldn’t have done it Ron.”

         “I know we said we wouldn’t. It was a mistake and this was a very unexpected thing that happened.”

         “I don’t regret it. It’s just that we said are past was history and that we shouldn’t do anything to start anymore ties. I was going to go my and you yours.” She tosses the bag over the bed. “I just don’t understand how everyone is acting as if we had a child.”

         “But we did. There’s no other explanation.”

         “But he knows another life. Where did twenty years go?”

         “It doesn’t matter, separate dimension, time paradox, whatever. We can’t understand it. We have to play it by ear until we can fix it.”

         “Take it from a psychics major, it’s highly unlikely.”

         “Tell it to the guy writing out my future.”

         Judith grabs his arm. “We should get rid of him.”

         “Are you kidding?” Cameron puts his hands up. “Look what he’s done to the place. Hasn’t been cleaned in two years.”

         “Ron you’re not thinking practically.” How’re we going to feed him? Do you have the money for that?”

         “But we can’t just toss him out.”

         “Then what?”

         Cameron stands up. “Let’s take him out and show people.” He extends his hand to her.

         “They’re going to see us walking with a grown man. What’s that going to do?”

         Cameron smiles. “Exactly! And when they point it out, he’ll realize that we can’t be his parents.” She takes his hand.

         “That’s not a bad idea.” Judith smiles and leans in a little. Cameron is looking at her lips. She nods and withdraws back. “Ok let’s do it.”

         

         

         Café Brava is a small coffee shop next to a one-way street. It sells ten flavors of coffee, but it’s home brewed at least, and its only open during the weekends. Cameron is always wondering how it stays in business. The trio is waiting for Mitt and his wife. Judith’s arms are crossed and her leg is fidgeting. Cameron’s tongue is out again and his palms are starting to sweat. CJ, on the other hand, is talking to a pair of girls.

         “So I think I might double major in physics because I like my mom’s work. That’s her over there.” He points in her direction. Judith puts her hand over her head and mutters something to herself.

         The girl nearest to him pinches his cheek. “Isn’t he adorable?”

         CJ can’t get enough attention. “I think it’d be cool to be able to study two fields of science don’t you? What do you think about that?”

         The doorbell rings and Mitt and his wife are in the doorway. Cameron waves them over. Judith stops fidgeting and puts on a smile.

         “Hey Superman! Jude. Where’s the little man?”

         Cameron points at CJ. “Over there.”

         Mitt looks confused and whispers to him, “Cameron, shouldn’t you be keeping your boy close? Someone might take him.”

         Cameron turns to Judith, who looks bewildered and says, “Have you seen him? How big he is?” He calls CJ over.

         Mitt’s wife laughs and says, “Not yet, but I can’t wait until he grows up to be as tall as his daddy.” She pinches CJ’s cheek and he blushes.

         CJ’s face lights up. “So I figured I would double major in-“

         Judith stands up. “Wait a minute. Don’t you see him?”

         Mitt puts his hand on CJ’s head. “Oh yeah he’s going to be as good looking as his parents.” Mitt stands up and fixes his pants. “Now what can I get you?”

         “Sorry Mitt, Cameron and I have to go.” She walks out the door.

         CJ follows her and Cameron stands up. Mitt puts a hand on his shoulder. “Hey buddy, here’s the gift.” He hands Cameron a present.

         Cameron takes the gift. “Uh, thanks Mitt. She’ll be all right. We’re just a little overwhelmed.”

         “Welcome to the club, son. Take care of your boy. I want Robert to see his grandson when he comes back.”

         Cameron nods and leaves the café. Outside the sun warms his skin. Pigeons search for scraps in the parking lot. CJ is looking at him from Cameron’s crappy Chevy. Judith is leaning on the hood. Cameron opens the gift and finds a check for a hundred dollars, made out to CJ Anders.





“Mom, shouldn’t I slow down?”

Judith is in the passenger seat. Cameron is in the back, hoping that he dies before relieving the contents of his stomach. CJ is driving at ninety miles per hour.

“No sweetie, keep on. We got to get home quickly.”

Cameron closes his eyes to focus on the nausea only to hear police sirens. Judith thanks god. CJ hits the brake and pulls over. Cameron opens his eyes and turns to see the cop walking with his ticket book. The road is empty.

Judith touches CJ’s shoulder as he rolls the window down. “Just let me do the talking.”

The cop peers in. He has a pointed nose and flat cheeks. “Ma’am can I see your license and registration?”

Judith says, “Officer, what about the driver’s?”

“Ma’am I pulled you over because you allowed a baby to drive the car. I’m going to have to give you a ticket.”

Sensing that Judith might have a cow, Cameron rolls his window down. “Actually officer this is my car.”

“Then you’re going to have to suffer the consequences sir.”

Cameron gives the policeman the paperwork. As he’s about to leave, the officer turns and says, “Congratulations to you.”





It’s four in the afternoon and Cameron leads the three of them into his apartment. CJ runs in, turns on the television, and sits in front of it. The couple sits on the couch.

Cameron passes Judith the check. She smiles. “Never thought having a kid would be this tough, huh?”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“Cameron we didn’t work out before. What difference is this going to make? I didn’t want strings attached and look at this. I bet if they ran a DNA test it would match. This is just too otherworldly for me.”

Cameron slides his hand down her arm and locks his pinky finger with hers. He sees her eyes fixed on television and sighs.