A Tear For Tomorrow

Afternoon

The sun was high in the sky by the time Kyle's eyes opened again.

"Welcome back to the land 'o' livin' Kylie!" Uncle Marcus wraps an arm around his niece.

"Mhmm, where's..?"

"Right her baby doll, he sleeps like a rock just like his momma."

Uncle Marcus transfers the baby boy from his arms into Kyle's embrace.

"He looks like an angel," Kyle says, sweeping her hand across her son's little face. "Thanks Uncle Marcus."

Marcus looks at his niece for a second before sighing and shaking his head, "There ain't nun you gotta be thankful for, I'm just glad we can be here for ya." He lightly squeezes Kyle's shoulder before turning around to grab a plate of food.

"Here ya go, eat up, restore your body's nutrients. I'll hold onto the little man for ya." Uncle Marcus and Kyle do a trade off with Alexzander and the plate of food.

Kyle looks at the food. "Don't tell me Aunt Maggie and cousin Katie risked their lives to get me this meal."

Uncle Marcus just chuckles and says, "Don't pity them, you just eat up now, and see if we can train some muscle back into you."

Kyle smiles, scooping spoon fulls of eggs, bacon, and pancakes into her mouth. She almost chokes on the food as it goes down.

"Woah there, slow down, it's not running from you."

"Well it sure did run while it was alive."

"I don't think those pancakes really had a life before they became pancakes."

Kyle sticks her fork up into the air, "Nonsense Uncle, pancakes live their lives as separate beings, until joined together within the bowl of colony making, before they are cooked to perfection in a pan." Kyle points her fork at her plate saying, "Then, they are served to me to be eaten, to end their very much fulfilled lives."

"Zander I think your mom's lost a couple screws givin' birth to ya. I pray you got some spares on you cause I gave all mine up for ya' aunt Maggie."

Alexzander looks at Uncle Marcus with a stone faced look. He barely had eyebrows so he looked like a little albino monkey.

"Uncle quit talking to my son about me in front of me, I birthed him ya know...It's not like he's gonna be all there either."

"You hush, I still see some eggs on that plate. Mildred will be heart broken if I have to tell her that you didn't cherish her fresh batch."

Kyle mocks hurt before scooping the rest of the food on her plate into her mouth and then licking up the remnants. "There, now you can tell Mildred that I absolutely cherished her eggs. Every. Last. Bit."

With a toothy smile, the two trade off their items; Uncle Marcus hands Alexzander back and Kyle gives the older man her cleaned plate. "You think you'd like to sit out on the porch for a bit, maybe feel the grass between your toes it's...real nice out."

Kyle attaches her son to her nipple, allowing him to feed. "I'd love to, but I've yet to take a bath...think aunt Maggie can help me out?"

"Course she can, I'm pretty sure it's her turn after me to keep you company."

Kyle's attention shifts back to her baby once her uncle is out of the room. The baby boy looks up at her with bright brown eyes. Kyle smiles at him. Everything about the baby boy was small, from his head to his toes.

"It's like holding a marshmallow."

"Huh, I ain't heard that one before." Kyle's Aunt walks over to the bedside.