Flash tale #2 - "Qualified"

South Haven, MI.

Where’s the baby? He’s around 10 months old but he’s missing in action. I look around the nursery. The baby is well cared for, he has everything he needs. But the only person here is me.

A strange first day at work, so far. But it will get stranger.

There’s a brown teddy bear sitting on the rocking chair by the window. I pick up the bear; it seems out of place somehow; it looks like it needs taking care of. I pick it up, and then I cuddle it. Because I’m a caregiver. Because I have a big heart.

And then something amazing happens.

I’m more than qualified. Oldest of five siblings, you could say that I’ve been looking after kids for twenty years. I worked as a camp counsellor in my teens, but it’s always been the toddlers and preschoolers who I’ve enjoyed watching the most. No filter, so loving and open.

Moms collecting their kids loved me: “You should see my husband; was afraid to pick up his own newborn baby!”

When I left school, I started ‘real’ work, at the same white goods plant as my dad.

The light in your refrigerator that comes on when you open the door? Check the brand, maybe that was me.

“Am I fulfilled?”

“Am I doing my best work?”

No and No, but it didn’t even occur to me to ask these questions until I met Lisa. My pretty, girl-next-door girlfriend who didn’t need taking care of, who wanted to take care of me, or at least my career.

I kept telling her: “I don’t need a perfect job, because I’ve found the perfect girl.”

Yeah, I know; I’m adorable.

I’m sitting on the wooden floor of the nursery, and I’m ready to burst into tears. Because it’s a shock, being a baby. A shock to be so small, wearing a white bodysuit and diaper, just the fuzzy brown teddy in my arms. All I did was pick up the bear. All I did was take the job.

A month ago, Whirlpool had enough of Michigan and moved the factory to Reynosa, Mexico. My dad got a job at the Ford plant, while I spent my two weeks severance on Buddy’s Pizza, not quite enough beer, watching the sunset at the lighthouse. Conversations with Lisa seemed to always go the same way:

“You don’t have to rush out and find a new job. I make enough, I’ll carry the load for a while.” She pointed her bottle of Soft Parade at me. “Find a job that actually fits your skillset. Something you can get lost in.”

“I can’t just go off on some journey, I have responsibilities. I appreciate you trying to help, but it’s my problem and I’m the one who has to solve it.”

She laughed, gave me that look that told me I’d just said something moronic.

“Johnny. You never had someone look after you before?”

“There’s my Johnny! There’s my little Jon-jon! Have you been a good boy? Have you been good for Mommy?”

I look up at Lisa. She is a giant, standing over me. Smiling but huge. Don’t step on me. Don’t squash the baby.

Lisa picks me up, and I am secure. She cradles my rear and kisses my face. I hold onto the teddy bear, and Lisa tells me that everything is going to be okay.

“I found the perfect job for you,” Lisa said, the last time we visited the lighthouse. She teased me, paused the story when she started on a slice of 6 Mile pizza.

My fingers were greasy from loaded fries. “Official Buddy’s taster?”

Lisa grinned. “I’m going to tell you want it is.” She wiped her own fingers on a napkin. “And then you’re going to give it one day.” She dabbed at the sides of her mouth. “If it’s not a good fit, then I won’t offer you any more career advice.”

“And if it is a good fit?” I drank my iced tea.

My girlfriend beamed at me. “Then we’re both happy.”

“Adorable,” says Lisa. She sits down on a rocking chair by the nursery window. She holds me on her lap, and her warmth and love surround me.

I gaze up at her. What if I don’t want this?

“I knew you were qualified,” Lisa says. “It wouldn’t have worked otherwise.”

I have been transformed, and I don’t know how. I’ll never know. I can feel the future in my head. Rocking gently, Lisa holds me and sings to me, she kisses me and loves me, her hair tickling my face, and my world gets smaller.

“You are safe,” Mommy whispers. “You have everything you need. I will take care of you and we will be happy.”

I take a breath, tiny chest rising, and I know that she is right.

THE END

A man starts work as a home caregiver, and he finds a teddy bear in a little boy's nursery  - TT