Charlotte Gaspel: Demons and Ghosts

II: Good Times

Jeff Gaspel was retiring to go to work. Clara could no longer provide for the family because Charlie had just been born, so she had to stay home and he had to work twice as hard. He grabbed his leaky hat, put on his brown coat, kissed his wife, kissed his son and walked away. She closed the door, put the newborn on the table, grabbed a broom and set about cleaning the shack.

Charlie was wrapped in yellow sheets. By then he could only recognize blurry gray dots on the ceiling, black patches and a shadowy confusion. Clara couldn't see how to spend the free time she had. At that time of the day she used to work in a cafeteria doing the cleaning. She used to wash all the dishes, dozens of glasses, dozens of cutlery and two coffee pots. Everything a cafeteria could lend to strangers eating their food she would leave sparkling clean, but this time, she only had to wash two plates, two glasses, six pieces of cutlery and no coffee pots.

She thinks a lot about organizing her time, but barely remembers the child she left on the table, who rolled slowly and silently to the corner. She whistles as she cleans out the grimy blue refrigerator. She stuck his head all the way into the bottom of it to wipe the walls; meanwhile, Charlie managed to visualize brown and yellow stains vaguely organized in a pattern as his small arms supported the weight of his torso. If you are attentive, you may have already noticed that the infant is with half of his body off the table, looking at the floor like a child looks at the surface of the pool from the bottom. Charlie feels the need to stabilize his position; you know, to stop feeling so dizzy, so he tries to move his feet, which are enclosed in a sheet that surrounds his body, which is very peculiar, since newborns can't move that way.

What are you doing, Clara? Cleaning the refrigerator? Attend the child already, so this anxiety will finally dissipate!

Charlie begins to lean up and down.

Clara pulls her body out of the blue refrigerator, straightens her back and turns her head to spot the boy on the table. Surprise! He's 1.4 seconds away from landing.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that yes, Clara managed to save the baby in time. It would be a bit disappointing to end the story here.

Illusive anyone who thinks Clara was going to let go of the baby after that. After dusting and dusting everything possible in the house, Clara started cooking lunch. She couldn't do that with the baby in her arms, so she made sure to put him on her bed surrounded by pillows. While Charlie was still quietly visualizing nothingness, Clara pondered the future as she sliced the bread. She thought: "How can I ensure my son's education and health?" And, "How are we going to support ourselves with so little income and so much demand for the baby?"

Charlie is two days old, and it is curious that, since his initial cry, he has not cried again. Charlie has received his feeding and comfort needs by communicating with only slight newborn whimpers. Anyone would say that he had developmental problems, but that was not the case, Charlie was born healthy, although with a curious meteorological coincidence: The day Charlie was born, the weather was sunny; not perfect, but there were no imposing clouds, at least not until Clara went into labor. Gray clouds blanketed the sky and sounds of thunder peeked timidly across the landscape. It began to rain just as Charlie directly exposed his skin to the outside world. From the time Charlie left his mother's placenta until he stopped crying, the rain was incessant, the wind blew hard and the birds began to leave their nest.

At the end of the storm, Charlie could be seen covered with lots of fluids, breathing for the first time. His little heart was beginning to beat on its own. Too bad that lack of awareness will be by far the greatest blessing Charlie will ever have had.

Back to the matter at hand, two days after his birth, Clara was cooking meat in the pan when there was a knock at the door. It was The Coffin. Two men in purple suits introduced themselves. Clara's heart began to beat frantically as soon as she opened the door to them, for she felt confused. What could be the reason for the Mafia to visit her and her newborn at such an hour of the morning?