More Than Human

‘But something fu

‘What was that?’ Stern asked me.

I laughed. ‘Miriam. She looked and sounded like always but she started slipping us cookies between meals. You know, it took me years to figure out what all that was about. I mean it. From what I’ve learned about people, there seems to be two armies fightin’ about race. One’s fightin’ to keep ‘em apart, and one’s fightin’ to get ‘em together. But I don’t see why both sides are so worried about it! Why don’t they just forget it?’

‘They can’t. You see, Gerry, it’s necessary for people to believe they are superior in some fashion. You and Lone and the kids – you were a pretty tight unit. Didn’t you feel you were a little better than all of the rest of the world?’

‘Better? How could we be better?’

‘Different, then.’

‘Well, I suppose so, but we didn’t think about it. Different, yes. Better, no.’

‘You’re a unique case,’ Stern said. ‘Now go on and tell me about the other trouble you had. About Baby.’

‘Baby. Yeah. Well, that was a couple of months after we moved to Miss Kew’s. Things were already getting real smooth, even then. We’d learned all the „yes, ma’am, no, ma’am” routines by then and she’d got us catching up with school – regular periods morning and afternoon, five days a week. Janie had long ago quit taking care of Baby, and the twins walked to wherever they went. That was fu

‘But one fine day I woke up feeling real weird. It was like somebody had stolen something from me when I was asleep, only I didn’t know what. I crawled out of my window and along the ledge into Janie’s room, which I wasn’t supposed to do. She was in bed. I went and woke her up. I can still see her eyes, the way they opened a little slit, still asleep, and then popped up wide. I didn’t have to tell her something was wrong. She knew, and she knew what it was.

‘ “Baby’s gone!” she said.

‘We didn’t care then who woke up. We pounded out of her room and down the hall and into the little room at the end where Baby slept. You wouldn’t believe it. The fancy crib he had and the white chest of drawers and all that mess of rattles and so on, they were gone, and there was just a writing desk there. I mean it was as if Baby had never been there at all.

‘We didn’t say anything. We just spun around and busted into Miss Kew’s bedroom. I’d never been in there but once and Janie only a few times. But forbidden or not, this was different. Miss Kew was in bed, with her hair braided. She was wide awake before we could get across the room. She pushed herself back and up until she was sitting against the headboard. She gave the two of us the cold eye.

‘ “What is the meaning of this?” she wanted to know.

‘ “Where’s Baby?” I yelled at her.

‘ “Gerard,” she says, „there is no need to shout.”

‘Janie was a real quiet kid, but she said, „You better tell us where he is, Miss Kew,” and it would of scared you to look at her when she said it.

‘So all of a sudden Miss Kew took off the stone face and held out her hands to us. “Children,” she said, „I’m sorry. I really am sorry. But I’ve just done what is best. I’ve sent Baby away. He’s gone to live with some children like him. We could never make him really happy here. You know that.”

‘Janie said, „He never told us he wasn’t happy.”

‘Miss Kew brought out a hollow kind of laugh. „As if he could talk, the poor little thing!”

‘ “You better get him back here,” I said. „You don’t know what you’re fooling with. I told you we wasn’t ever to break up.”

‘She was getting mad, but she held on to herself. „I’ll try to explain it to you, dear,” she said. „You and Jane here and even the twins are all normal, healthy children and you’ll grow up to be fine men and women. But poor Baby’s – different. He’s not going to grow very much more, and he’ll never walk and play like other children.”

‘ “That doesn’t matter,” Janie said. „You had no call to send him away.”

‘And I said, „Yeah. You better bring him back, but quick.”

‘Then she started to jump salty. „Among the many things I have taught you is, I am sure, not to dictate to your elders. Now then, you run along and get dressed for breakfast, and we’ll say no more about this.”

‘I told her, nice as I could, „Miss Kew, you’re going to wish you brought him back right now. But you’re going to bring him back soon. Or else.”

‘So then she got up out of her bed and ran us out of the room.’

I was quiet a while, and Stern asked, ‘What happened?’

‘Oh,’ I said, ‘she brought him back.’ I laughed suddenly. ‘I guess it’s fu

‘She went to jump back on the bed and a whole section of plaster fell off the ceiling on to the bed. The water turned on in her little bathroom and the plug went in, and just about the time it began to overflow, all her clothes fell off their hooks. She went to run out of the room, but the door was stuck, and when she yanked on the handle it opened real quick and she spread out on the floor. The door slammed shut again and more plaster come down on her. Then we went back in and stood looking at her. She was crying. I hadn’t known till then that she could.

‘ “You going to get Baby back here?” I asked her.

‘She just lay there and cried. After a while she looked up at us. It was real pathetic. We helped her up and got her to a chair. She just looked at us for a while, and at the mirror, and at the busted ceiling, and then she whispered, „What happened? What happened?”

‘ “You took Baby away,” I said. „That’s what.”

‘So she jumped up and said real low, real scared, but real strong: „Something struck the house. An aeroplane. Perhaps there was an earthquake. We’ll talk about Baby after breakfast.”

‘I said, „Give her more, Janie.”

‘A big gob of water hit her on the face and chest and made her nightgown stick to her, which was the kind of thing that upset her most. Her braids stood straight up in the air, more and more, till they dragged her standing straight up. She opened her mouth to yell and the powder puff off the dresser rammed into it. She clawed it out.

‘ “What are you doing? What are you doing?” she says, crying again.

‘Janie just looked at her and put her hands behind her, real smug. „We haven’t done anything,” she said.

‘And I said, “Not yet we haven’t. You going to get Baby back?”

‘And she screamed at us, „Stop it! Stop it! Stop talking about that mongoloid idiot! It’s no good to anyone, not even itself! How could I ever make believe it’s mine?”

‘I said, „Get rats, Janie.”

‘There was a scuttling sound along the baseboard. Miss Kew covered her face with her hands and sank down on the chair. „Not rats,” she said. „There are no rats here.” Then something squeaked and she went all to pieces. Did you ever see anyone really go to pieces?’