The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: A Leap Day Paradox

Chapter 12: Farewell to Privacy

A week passed since the vacation in Miami. Sure enough, the phone rang. It was a reporter wanting to do a story for Channel 8, Nimbleburg's local TV station.

When Stacy asked about who told them, the reporter just told her that he was tipped off by an anonymous source. Before she could refuse, they told her that Linda Perkins, their reporter, would be interviewing her about Zachary. Before she could say anything else, they hung up.

This angered Stacy. The first thing she did was call Dr. Langdon. The doctor came clean, insisting her that he did not tell anyone.

After a few calls, Stacy found out that it was Richard, her sister Mary's husband.

Stacy sulked. "Mary! Why is your husband trying to ruin my privacy?! Not just mine, but my poor Zachary's...."

Mary sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Don't yell at me, sis. It was not my idea. He went and did it. Yell at him. I didn't even know about it until after he did it. If it will make you feel better, I'll help support you on this. I'll call the station and tell them that it's a phony story."

Stacy sighed. "Thanks Mary. I don't know if they'll believe you. Thanks for the effort anyways. Bye."

Stacy hung up, now in tears. It was only a matter of time before Stacy said goodbye to her privacy forever.....

While Stacy was worrying about her soon to be loss of privacy, Mary called Channel 8. She told the person on the line that her husband was the one that provided the anonymous tip. To add to this, she mentioned that the story was phony, and they shouldn't run it.

The woman on the line, however, was unconvinced.

"I'm sorry," the woman said. "We're already on the story. The news van is on its way to the Willowbrook house. Even if the story was phony, we need to see for ourselves first. If this story is true, it's going to be real big, miss...."

"Wittenberg," Mary snapped. "You are making a big mistake. My poor sister wants her privacy, and you're about to take it away from her."

The woman sighed. "I'm sorry. They're already on their way. You're making a mistake in deciding to delay what could be a big story. This is how we make our money, Miss Wittenberg. We're sorry about your sister...."

"No you're not!" she fired back. "And you're right. It's all about the money. And making that money is clearly more important than jeopardizing my sister's privacy. Bye!"

"We're very sorry about...." But Mary hung up before she could even finish her sentence.

Meanwhile, Stacy was in a state of panic. "I don't want to do this...." she whispered.

Audrey, who was playing with her dolls, looked up at her mother and removed her pacifier. "What's wrong, mommy? You look kind of sad...."

Stacy was despondent. "The TV station is coming here to interview Zachary." she cried.

At this, Audrey smiled, and she ran up to her mother. "Are we going to be on TV, mommy? I wanna be on TV!"

Stacy shook her head. "Mommy doesn't want to be on TV. Mommy doesn't want Zachary on TV."

Audrey frowned. "Why? Is it because he's special? You told me that before...."

While Audrey was talking to her mother, Zachary got up from playing with Timothy and approached Audrey. "What big sis doing?"

Stacy sighed. "No no. She's your little sis. You're older than her...."

Zachary smiled. "Big sis!"

Stacy shook her head and ignored Zachary. With the reporter coming, she didn't have time for this. She then noticed a foul smell. "Zacky, I need to change you!" She scooped up Zachary and ran upstairs.

In the middle of changing Zachary's diaper, the doorbell rang. Stacy shook her head. Not now. I'm changing my eight-year old toddler!

The doorbell rang again. "Mommy!" Audrey shouted. "Somebody is at the door!"

"Someone ring doorbell!" Timothy shouted.

Stacy finished cleaning Zachary with the baby wipes. She powdered him, put a new diaper on him and threw the old one away. She made a tally in her notebook and put Zachary's pants back on.

The doorbell rang once again. This time, twice in a row. "I'm coming!" she shouted. Stacy picked up Zachary and ran downstairs with him. Here goes my privacy, she whispered, fighting back tears.

She opened the door to find a cheerful woman standing there. She had a large smile and wore a lavender shirt with matching skirt.

"Linda Perkins," the reporter said, introducing herself. "Channel 8 News. I see that it took you a while to get to your door, Miss Willowbrook. Is anything wrong?"

Stacy let out a deep breath. "It's nothing, Miss Perkins. I just had to change Zachary's diaper."

Linda's face lit up. "Zachary....Miss Willowbrook. I got a tip from an anonymous source that the child you have there is very special."

Stacy smiled. "Yes, Miss Perkins. He's very special."

The excited reporter looked down to see a smiling toddler next to her. "Is that him?"

Stacy nodded.

"How old is he?"

Stacy picked up Zachary and held him. "How old is Zachary? He's two years old, aren't you, Zacky?"

Zachary laughed and giggled with excitement. "I two years old."

Linda frowned, and shook her head. "That's not what the source told me. He said that your son is eight years old!"

Stacy laughed. "Does this look eight to you?"

Linda then had a quizzical look on her face. "Okay. If he's two, then he was born in 2010, right? You are on the record, Miss Willowbrook...."

Stacy shook her head in reluctance. She didn't want her son to be famous, but she had to tell the truth. "No. He was born on February 29, 2004."

Linda looked all the more curious. "Okay. I'm going to need to see some proof. Do you have family pictures and birth certificates?"

Stacy sighed, and got out some family pictures. She showed Linda pictures of Zachary. Pictures of when he was one and two. She then showed her pictures of when he was three with Audrey. With each additional year, Audrey grew at a normal rate while Zachary's growth was very slow.

"And this is our most recent one," Stacy told her.

Linda looked at the pictures again, from age one to eight. She was shocked at how slow he grew. "Wow. He really is eight. With that being the case, I will bring Jake, our cameraman in and we can start recording the interview. Not all portions will be used. The best ones will be chosen during editing and that is what will be aired. One more thing before we start, Miss Willowbrook. We will be contacting your pediatrician and will interview him. It will be a much shorter interview, and we only need a few questions from him. This segment will air sometime during the five o'clock news, the six o'clock news, the ten o'clock news and the 11 o'clock news."

Prior to the interview, Stacy told Audrey to play with Timothy upstairs.