Drown

I: Stephen-Paul

Saturday 10th September 1921
Ajax, Toronto, Canada
NARRATOR'S POV

In three months time, Deryck and I will be welcoming a little baby, little Stephen-Paul Thomas Whibley. You can probably guess why we've chosen those specific names, his first name is after Steve (Stephen) and Jay's middle name (Paul), his middle name is from Tom so you could say it's 'family' based names since we're quite close-knit after the hellish war and the sinking of the Titanic. I have been finding out about the best schools to send Stephen to when the time comes, and I'm also trying to understand the country's school system but you would think after 13 years of living here (since 1908, since Deryck and I got engaged) that I would fully understand this country's customs, but apparently not!. Deryck and the rest of the guys have been quite helpful during this time, but you would usually expect that wouldn't you? Now it's just a case of waiting for Stephen to arrive, which is the 10th December which is his due date.

3 MONTHS LATER, SATURDAY 10TH DECEMBER 1921...

Stephen is finally here!! All worth the gruesome activity of birth (I won't go into much detail), it's quite hard to determine who he looks like more or a mix of both Deryck and I. We will probably start to notice little changes in the next couple of days once I've recovered and we can all go home, now as as a little family of our own. We've received tons of gifts from friends and family for Stephen, so that will be exciting to see what everyone has gotten us for Stephen when we get back home, this time as three. The only thing we have to do now before we're allowed to go home in the next two or three days, is fill out Stephen's birth certificate.

MONDAY 12th DECEMBER 1921

Today is the day we have to fill out Stephen's birth certificate, like so:

PROVINCE OF ONTARIO

Name of child: STEPHEN-PAUL THOMAS WHIBLEY
Date of Birth: SATURDAY 10th DECEMBER 1921
Sex: MALE
Place of Birth: AJAX, TORONTO
Parents: DERYCK JASON WHIBLEY, HANNAH ELIZABETH JEANIE WHIBLEY
Date of Registration: MONDAY 12th DECEMBER 1921

THURSDAY 15th DECEMBER 1921

We're now heading home with little five day old, Stephen who I would say looks more like Deryck than myself (studies have shown that children look more like their dad rather than their mum, or sometimes a mix of both) but he has the same hair and eye colour as myself, because apparently brown hair is more dominant than blonde also it would be unlikely for him to inherit the same eye colour as Deryck, although there was a 50/50 chance of him receiving either or but I would say that brown eyes are probably the most common eye colour I'd imagine, the least common probably blue, maybe. I have been wondering, since Deryck has been sensorineural deaf since the war could it be possible that Stephen could inherit it also? I think it would be worth finding out, but I guess we'll worry about that once the time comes. I know the next few weeks will be tough, especially at night where Deryck and I will be barely getting any sleep due to Stephen's nightly, crying demands of being fed at ungodly hours! But, as they say it's all worth it in the end, isn't it? On second thought, with Stephen's nightly crying would it perhaps remind Deryck of the war and resurface the memories and nightmares that we had to deal with during the early stages of his shell shock? I certainly hope not, because it would seem that I would have to look after two children! An overgrown 30 year old and an actual child, Stephen. I'm quite looking forward to the future, seeing what's the world has to offer us - especially Stephen and what he might accomplish later on in life, perhaps he will become a musician like his Dad and 'uncles' (Jay, Dave, Frank, Tom and not forgetting, Steve) or he may want to pursue a a completely different career path, so if he's happy with whatever he chooses then I am too and I'm sure Deryck will be as well. So, I guess the three of us will be seeing you in the near future with this little rascal to deal with!.