Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Melli squirmed in bed while his parents were getting ready to turn in for the night. His fussing grew progressively louder. Aeon appeared to check on him once he finished rinsing his face.
“Uwaaaaa—” Melli flapped his long sleeves in front of his father. Aeon covered his ears as the cries reverberated throughout the room.
“Eh, eh, eh!” He hushed his vocal son, whose face was red and covered in tears. “Shhh! It's nap time, Melli.”
Amarantha sat on the bottom bunk with her silcoon and cascoon resting in her lap. “Why don't you pick him up, darling?” She suggested in a soft, tender voice. Aeon lifted the baby out of bed.
“What does he want!?” Melli wailed, wiggling with discontent. “Why is he so upset? Is it something I did?”
“Oh, I doubt that.” Amarantha pulled out a wooden box from underneath the bed which contained lots of toys for the little one. She picked out a wooden rattle that was shaped and painted to resemble a voltorb. “Maybe this will calm him.”
Aeon tried shaking the rattle in front of Melli, who showed little sign of quieting down anytime soon. “What’s wrong? What do you want?” He felt flustered and tired from a long day out in the fields. He wasn’t about to let this child deprive him of the rest he so desperately needed.
“Smell him!” Amarantha chimed in.
“What?”
“Smell his nappy. He may need to be changed.” Aeon lifted Melli’s small Diamond Clan hoodie and peaked into the cloth nappy.
“That explains it… you are so gross, you know that?” Aeon frowned, pinching his nose. Melli frowned back as if to mimic the facial expression he observed and continued to squirm about.
“Oh, no! Is he sitting in his own poops?” Amarantha tucked her silcoon and cascoon in for the night on the top bunk and climbed down the ladder fastened connecting the two bedframes.
“Your son is so stinky and smelly!” Her husband complained. “Like one of those stunky running around outside.” “I can clean him up if you want,” Amarantha offered.
“I might as well do it this time,” he volunteered as tribute. Aeon proceeded to try to change the stinky, smelly baby himself.
“Maybe you can keep him entertained while you do it,” Amarantha gestured toward the rattle in Aeon’s left hand. Aeon shook the rattle in front of Melli to see if he would take any interest in it this time. He placed his son on the bottom bunk where he removed the soiled cloth that caused the baby so much discomfort; the crying diminished into soft whimpering. “Glad that worke—aaaagh!” Aeon backed abruptly away as Melli sniped his face with a stream of pee. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Melli!” He groaned.
“Here, darling. A clean cloth for him... and... for you,” Amarantha giggled.
“Thank you,” Aeon accepted them and proceeded to dab both his son, and himself. Melli reached out to tug on his father’s index finger. “No, no. It’s time for a nap,” he swaddled the now funky fresh baby and set him on the bottom bunk where he would sleep in the company of his parents.
