Marcus Harrison's Paradise

First Mistake

Some people hate their job, some people love their job and then it's me – I adore my job. My job is to take care of a child. I much say that Kathryn isn't as easy to handle as I thought but, then again I love challenging kids. I know that sounds crazy but, where is the fun to take care of a child that is obedient to a puppet. Kathryn's a fussy child – she doesn't like someone else's company for too long. When I started the day, she was lovely – laughing and giggling for no reason. But soon when she realized that her dad is nowhere in sight for too long – she started getting fussy. But then, I am not some inexperienced nanny – I know that kids take time to adjust with someone new or someplace new. Especially kids like Kathryn – whose father has built a huge wall around them.

To say that my day was quite eventfully would not be wrong. I learned a few things about Kathie today, like – she dislikes peas. When I tried to feed her some mashed peas – she threw them out. When I again tried – she wouldn't even open her mouth. Then I tried to act little smart and mixed mashed peas with mashed carrots but, boy – oh –boy, Kathie outsmarted me and again threw the morsel out of her mouth. Secondly, she loves to take baths. She loves to splash water around. I had to refill her bath-tub twice. She has three toys or what I say her 'bath-time companions'; namely Duckie the duck, Dolly the dolphin, and Occy the Octopus. She never takes a bath without them. Thirdly and lastly, she talks to her dad on the phone once a day when he is in the office or out somewhere – that was the cutest moment of the day when Penelope dialed Marcus's number and gave the phone to Kathy and she blabbed for ten to fifteen minutes. All I could get from babbling was 'dada', 'yeah', 'duckie', 'buggies', and 'bye'. When Marcus cut the call and I took the receiver away from her – she cried a lot. But I handled her easily – it isn't difficult to divert her attention.

One more thing I learned about her today is that she makes friends very fast. For an hour or two she was fussing and dainty but, then slowly she got used to my company. She is a friendly child with very less crowd around her to make friends with.

"Kathie – hey, Kathie look. I brought you your favorite snack – Bananas!" I singsong but, she didn't lookup. She was busy playing with her toys. I sighed, "Susan." I called her and she looked up immediately and grinned. I smiled and sat on the floor with her and feed her bananas, which she gladly ate.

Marcus has built a very bad habit of her – she doesn't respond to her actual name but, with her mother's name. I have been trying to teach her that her real name isn't Susan but, Kathryn. She will learn that and also I will talk to Marcus about it – not today maybe in a couple of days.

"Charlie, dear – why didn't you pick up Marcus's call? He called me and said that you ignore his call – he sounded angry." Penelope walked towards us while wiping her hands on the apron that was tied around her waist.

I rolled my eyes, "Penny, I didn't intentionally miss it. I was changing Kathryn's diaper. And anyway – he already called four times today. Does he always call this much every day or am I the only one getting this special treatment?" I asked her.

Penny chuckled, "I never babysat little Kathie this long. He hardly leaves her for an hour with me. He is worried, dear. This is the first time he left her with someone alone. Give him some time, he will understand. Now call him – before he gets even angrier." Penny suggested.

"Will you please keep an eye on her till I talk to Mr. Harrison?" I asked.

She smiled, "Sure." She smiled and sat down beside Kathie, while Kathie was still busy playing with her toys.

I went down-stairs and fetched my cell phone from my purse and almost died when I saw three missed calls from Marcus. I bit my lip and dialed his number – I didn't have to wait long – he answered the call after the first ring.