Juliana Cade

Juliana Marie Cade

                       ~Five months later~
                          October 3rd 1965

For the first time in my life, my patience was running thin. Ma went into labor now 10 hours ago and my little brother or sister would be born any minute now. Me and the gang sat in the hospital waiting room. I kept drumming my fingers on the arm of the chair and sighed. I was nervous but excited to meet him or her. No one really ever talked too much. It was the middle of the night and everyone was tired.

     "I think Imma head out Johnny. I'll swing by later." Dally said. It was 2:30 in the morning now. Everyone was dead tired. And when Dally's tired bad stuff can happen. Luckily this time Dal said he didn't feel like gettin' jailed again.

     "Alright man.....you guys should go too. It's gettin' pretty late." I yawned. Everyone looked pretty tired. Darry got here from work at 9 and Soda and Steve were right on his tail. Two-bit and Pony came at 5:00 with me.

     "Your sure, Johnny?" Darry asked. I nodded my head. I wasn't upset he was leaving. Darry always looked tired and he deserved to sleep a few hours. I even noticed he was dozing off every once-in-a-while. I grinned at him.

     "Ya, I'm sure. It's pretty late and y'all look exhausted." I reasoned. Darry yawned and handed Soda the keys. He looked the least tired of the three brothers. Soda already knew what he had to do.

     "You drive tonight, Soda." Darry told 'em, and right as he said that he yawned again.

     "Alright, bye guys see y'all later." I waved. They waved back and started to leave. I watched as the three of them walked out of the door. Now it was just me, Steve and Two-bit. I sighed uneasy. This has definitely been a long night. I just don't know how much longer I can take. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening.

     "Family of Patricia Cade?" A nurse asked. I stood and walked towards her.

     " I'm her son." I said. She smiled at me and told me to follow her. I glanced back at Steve and Two-bit but only Steve was left and he was asleep. Just as I looked at the door leading to the parking lot I saw Two-bit walk out. The nurse led me down a hallway in front of a large window. I looked in it and saw there in the front a little baby in the a bassinet. It read "Baby Girl Cade" on it. She was wrapped in a little pink blanket and a even smaller pink cap on her head. .

     "Does she have a name yet?" I asked. I looked up at the nurse and noticed she was frowning. She sighed and shook her head no.

     "No not yet. Your parents said they didn't want to name her. They told me to give you all of the responsibilities. Only thing they said they would do was sign her out when she was ready to leave." She explained. That sounded like something they would do. We stood there for a moment. I just kept staring at her and thought. She looked so sweet and innocent, even from where I stood she looked so nice. She needed a name to match. 'Jamie...no, Jeni...nah'. Then it hit me. It was the best name in the whole world and it fitted her perfectly.

     "Juliana Marie." I said, "Juliana Marie Cade." I smiled at the name. The name sounded so sweet and it really did fit her perfectly. I could already tell she would be a great person when she's older. The nurse smiled at me before she wrote something down.

     "That's a lovely name!" This nurse was very sweet. I could see why she worked with babies and their mothers. I nodded at what she said and smiled.

     "Thank you. Juliana's one of my best friend's name and Marie is Ma's middle name. It suits her..." I trailed off. She looked very similar to me when I was a baby. She nodded in agreement to her name.

     "It really does. She's a pretty healthy baby, too. Weighing in at 9 pounds and 5 ounces. Having no major problems either. From all of your mother's kidney and liver problems I'm surprised she's so healthy."

"Ya, it's probably from all of the stuff she's done in her life. That much booze can do that to someone..." I trailed off again. I just kept looking at her. Something in me made me really want to hold her. But I didn't want to break her. She was still so little.

     "C-can I hold her?" The nurse, who's ID said was Gabrielle, nodded her head happily. I just then noticed her name. She was a nice lady and a nice name fitted her well.

     "Of course you can!" I thanked Gabrielle as she walked off. I took a deep breath and walked into the room over to Juliana. She made a little noise before looking in my direction. Her blue-green eyes met mine and she smiled. I smiled in return and carefully picked her up. Making sure to support her head and hold her close. She seemed to enjoy me holding her. Juliana smiled up at me even more and I just smiled back down at her. She was so beautiful. It may have sounded creepy but it wasn't meant that way. And it was true. Her skin only half a shade lighter than mine. She had the same crazy black curly hair I had and something told boys were going to be after her in the future. Her eyes reminded me of the ocean with different tones of blue and green. All of her looks made her look like a baby goddess.

     I walked over towards the rocking chair in the corner of the room and sat down in it. I looked down at her, and I could feel my eyes welling with tears of joy and confusion. I finally have a little sister. And that makes me so happy. But I'm only just 17, I can't do this on my own. I'm just a kid, but...I'm not alone, I mean I've got the gang and all. I know they'll be able to help me out, I'll definitely need it. But in the end I know it going to all pile on me. I can do this...ya, of course I can...right?