Contest Entries and Short Stories

That Thing

Ginger nervously rubbed the satin edges of the baby blanket between her fingers.  Normally she would be distraught having people see her in this state-unkempt hair, heavy bags under her make up free eyes, chapped lips, a mixed match pyjamas set-yet the thought was the furthest thing from her mind.  Her husband, Elliott, sat next to her on their sofa absentmindedly rubbing her back.  If she had not been so preoccupied Ginger would have brushed his hand away.  Her eyes were transfixed on the blanket.  It was a gift that she had received at her baby shower, woven on a loom from her aunt.  It was beautiful; soft white cotton with a pull of pastel colors running throughout.  The edges finished with a satin pink ribbon.  It worked perfectly with the neutral hues of the nursery.  When Lila had come, the blanket became a mainstay.  Rubbing the satin between her chubby little fingers had been a way for her to self sooth. 

Tears welled in her eyes as she thought to her angel.  Lila's large almond shaped eyes, a powder blue accentuated against her darker complexion.  Cupid lips, little round nose and plump chubby cheeks with a dimple on the right.  Lila was her perfect, her happy place, her everything.  Nothing else mattered but that toothless smile.

The only thing that kept Ginger from going over the edge was the lack of blood.  The detective who had taken their initial statement had informed her that was a good thing.  Ginger could not see how anything about her missing baby could be classified as good.

Now, over the last twenty hours a barrage of agencies had traipsed through her home.  You would never know it though from their hazmat suits to the shoe covers they left the place as sterile as it had been when they arrived.

The flashing lights of the car parked in their lane way bathed the living room in an eerie glow.   It was drawing the attention of the neighbors in their small suburban subdivision and when the phone rang for the first time it was almost more than Ginger could bear.  "Could someone turn off that god forsaken vehicle," she all but snapped.  Elliott pulled his arm back in shock and rushed to answer the telephone yet Ginger cared not.  

Elliott's voice turned to a dull buzz as he spoke into the receiver.  The words made no sense, just a drone of noises that added to the sounds of the home.  Someone must have listened to Ginger as the living room grew dark again. 

She let it bathe over her, clawing its way up her arm and into her heart.  Ginger wanted to feel cold, let the emotions drain out of her as the blood had from her face that morning.

Lila had a particularly rough night, cutting her first set of teeth.  Ginger had been up with her for the last three nights doing everything that she could to settle her young child.  Elliott worked long shifts, something that he did in order for Ginger to stay home with their daughter.  She loved that he did this for, for their little family and so she could never bring herself to ask for some extra help.  Ginger thought it would be selfish to wake her husband who would be getting up at four in the morning, only having gotten home at eight o'clock in the evening dragging his feet through the front door to eat a cold dinner.  So on the fourth night as Ginger swung her legs over the side of the bed to do her best to figure out what Lila could possibly want now did she pause when Elliott clutched her hand.  

"Let her cry it out dear.  You need some sleep, and you are going to have to let her eventually."

Ginger did not argue with her husband, she had no energy for it.  That day she had put a disposable diaper in the wash, let the sink run over and burnt her coffee.  Lila had a fresh diaper, been swaddled, rocked, fed and given medication.  There was nothing more that she could do for her daughter other than fight with the baby to get her to go back to sleep.   So Ginger relented.  Closed her eyes and found slumber quickly despite the beckoning cries of her infant.