SWAMP PEOPLE- Jay Paul Molinere (Fan Fiction)

CHAPTER #11- The Little Things In Life

A few weeks later, Lisa was babysitting Jaydin.  Jay Paul, RJ and Stacey were at some convention, that had a few of the crews on Swamp People there to sign autographs.  Ashleigh was sick with the flu.  It was just for the weekend, but Lisa was still amazed at the amount of laundry the little boy made.  Since she had the keys to the Molinere house, to feed their dogs and so that Jaydin could play with his puppy, Lisa could get more clothing for Jaydin.  She found a mountain of clothing, that Stacey had not yet had time to clean.  Lisa smiled, the piles were sorted into blacks, whites and colours. So she decided to start doing laundry, figuring it would be a nice surprise for Stacey.  Jaydin wanted to help folding the dried clothing. So she had him matching socks.

"Does this one go with this one?" Jaydin asked holding up two socks.

"Looks like it to me.  You're good at this, usually I end up with totally different socks and sometimes not even the right colour."

Jaydin giggled.  "I know which pants are my dad's and which ones are mine too."

"My mom use to put drawings and notes in my pockets, when she did laundry," Lisa shared.

"Why did she do that?" Jaydin asked curiously.

"Well she did that so when I put my hand in my pocket, I would find something that made me smile." Lisa explained to her little helper.

Jaydin ran and got paper and pencil crayons.  "Will you help me do that for my dad?"

Lisa nodded.  "You draw a picture and tell me what you want to write on the back of it."

Together they put messages in all of the pockets of Jay Paul's pants and shorts.  Lisa also snuck some messages into Jaydin's clothing, when he wasn't watching.  Mostly just little drawings, that she knew would make him smile.  Sometimes it was these little things that could make a bad day, into one of the best.  That Lisa knew from experience.  Jaydin fell asleep on the couch, while Lisa finished folding the clothing. She put the pile of blacks in one basket, the whites in another and the colours in the last basket.  It was all folded and sorted.  She drew a picture of two elves and lay it on top of one of the baskets.  She made lunch at their house and fed the dogs.  Jaydin's puppy slept beside the boy and she took a picture and sent it to both Ashleigh and Jay Paul.  Both texted back, thanking her for the picture. When the boy woke up, then Lisa locked the house and left.

"Does hot dogs sound good for dinner or do you want to help me make a pizza?"

"Pizza please," Jaydin said.

Lisa had made the pizza sauce from scratch earlier in the week. She used the same sauce for spaghetti, lasagna and chilli.  The pizza dough she had bought at the grocery store.  She spread on the sauce and then asked Jaydin what he liked to eat as toppings.  He listed a few things, most of which she had.  Then she put it in the oven to bake.  Forty-five minutes later it was ready to eat.  Jaydin claimed it was the best pizza he'd ever eaten. She doubted that, but she was sure he had never made one himself before and that probably was why it tasted better than any other.

After dinner, they cleaned up and then watched a few movies together. One was an old favourite of Lisa's; the Black Stallion.  Jaydin loved the stallion and said he would be a jockey some day just like in the movie.  It made her smile, because when they watched another movie, with people surfing in it, he wanted to be a surfer too.  That was childhood for you, the possibilities were endless and the future held many adventures.  Before he got too tired, she had him brush his teeth with her.  Then she locked the house and they went to bed. Jaydin snuggled up to Lisa, because he wasn't use to sleeping in a strange house.  She didn't mind and just hoped that he didn't snore.

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In the morning he was up earlier than she had anticipated, but they'd gone to bed early so it wasn't too bad.  She made pancakes for them and Jaydin loved the weird shapes she came up with. They went over to the Molinere house to feed the dogs and go for a walk with the puppy.  

Returning to her place, they played a few games and had hot dogs for lunch.  While he went for a nap, she cleaned her house and booked appointments for Monday.  It was evening when Jay Paul came to pick his son up and get the spare set of house keys.  He asked her if his son had been good and Lisa confirmed that he had been great and they had fun together.  She asked him how the convention was and he said they had the biggest lineup from all the crews, of fans wanting to meet them and get his autograph.  They sold a lot of merchandise, but he had missed his son and was glad to be home.  Right after he left, Stacey called thanking her for doing the laundry.  Lisa explained what a great helper Jaydin had been too.  She got invited to their house for dinner on Tuesday and she accepted.  When she got off the phone, Lisa noticed how quiet her house was without the little boy in it.  She was missing him already.  Lisa had never thought about having children, because she didn't want to be a single mom.  She realized she loved having Jaydin around and wondered if she herself might have a child in the future.  Even if she didn't, there was always babysitting again.

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It was Monday morning, when Jay Paul found the first note in one of his jean pockets.  It made him smile when he recognized his son's drawing and then Lisa's writing.  It had obviously been a joint effort.  He didn't think about checking the other pockets, until he found another note, in a different pocket of the same jeans.  He noticed that the notes were numbered. When he had found all four notes, he put them in order of the numbers.  The pictures when in proper sequence, told a little story.  It was brilliant and it warmed his heart that Lisa had done this with his son.  The day hadn't been going well, since he had been fixing a motor in the lawn mower tractor and lost a part.  Then he found those notes, when he had gone to buy the part in store.  After that, the day just somehow got better.  When he asked Jaydin about the notes, the little boy just said it was to make him happy.  

"Lisa said sometimes you need a surprise smile.  Her mommy use to do that for her. So when we were doing the laundry, she helped me do that for you. Did you smile daddy?"

"Bro, that was the best part of my day."  Jay Paul picked up his son and hugged him.  "Thank you."  

The rest of the week, he kept finding these notes and he realized he looked forward to finding them each day. Even though it was a small thing, it was the best thing too.  A few pieces of the paper he found, had no picture, just writing.  He understood that these were private messages from Lisa, cleverly disguised.

"Your strength is not just in the arm, but in your heart," Jay Paul read softly out loud.  

He put that paper on top of the others, which he had placed in his night stand.  Those notes from her alone, were very few in number, but left the longest smile on his face.  Jay should be the one doing something for her, especially since she'd just saved his son, but he didn't know what to do for her or give her.  He didn't know what she liked, her favourite food or anything really.  Lisa said he was an amazing friend, but Jay Paul felt like he was falling short on that.  This was something he needed his mom's input on.  Together they would think of something special.

Jaydin came running to find his father.  "Look what I got!"

"What's that bro?"

"Lisa gave me a special message too!" Jaydin said showing the piece of paper.

Jay Paul crouched down to look at the paper, since Jaydin wasn't old enough yet to read full sentences.  He saw that within the word, Lisa had drawn a picture, so the boy could understand what she was saying that way. It's the same way they taught Jaydin words using flash cards.

"What does it say bro?" Jay Paul asked his son.

"I think it says that I have a piece of her heart," Jaydin said.

"That's what it looks like to me too."

"Daddy, how do I give her a piece of mine?" Jaydin asked.

"Good question, when you figure that one out, let me know."

"Do you want to give her a piece of your heart too?"

"I think she already has it," Jay Paul mumbled. Then to his son he said louder, "yes I do."

"I'm going to give her a big piece, like a pie. But you and mommy have the rest of it."

The logic of a child, sometimes simplified things that adults made difficult with too much thought and not enough feeling.