The Infant

Part Three: Emma

        A long time went by since the big nice man gave her to Frank.

        Frank took care of her. So did Lisa. And they taught her about those sounds that big people used with each other. They were called words, and she learned many of them. Unlike the others like her, who were stupid and mean.

        Lisa walked into Emma's cell, pushing a tray cart.

        Her cell was not as big as the room that the body had been in. But Emma liked it anyway. It was surrounded by warm bodies, and when she held out her arms to Lisa or Frank, they picked her up and held her. It was so much better than when she lived in the house. When she was in the house she'd felt lonely, but until being brought here had no word for it.

        Frank came in after Lisa. Emma could see a bowl with a lid on it sitting on the tray cart that she brought in. That meant food. But not like the body or the things that scurried in the walls back at the house, no, this food was different.

        Lisa took the top off the bowl, and the smell coming from it didn't smell like food; it smelled like vegetables.

        "What's that?" Emma said. Lisa picked a long, thin metal thing up and put it in the bowl. The metal thing, it had a name, but it took Emma a second to remember what they called it. Oh that's right! it was a 'spoon'. Emma said the word: "Spoon."

        "That's right. It's a spoon. Now open up."

        Emma opened her mouth and Lisa put the hot spoon with the wet 'soup' stuff inside. It had a lot of flavors, but didn't have that wonderful taste of meat. Emma ate it anyway because as long as she did as she was told she got rewards. Yesterday they gave her some creamy, sweet and squishy stuff that they called 'pudding'. The pudding stuff wasn't meat, but it was so different and interesting that Emma ate all of it without argument.

        Emma kept her mouth open, as Lisa fed her more of the wet soup stuff. When she finished, Lisa wiped Emma's mouth and then handed her a round, light brown colored thing with dark brown, bumpy things sticking out of it. The round thing smelled odd: sweet, yet smooth. Emma sniffed at it and then looked at it curiously. A few days ago someone gave her a similar round and sweet thing and called it a 'vanilla wafer.'

        "Cookie?"

        "Yes. It's a cookie. This one is called 'chocolate chip'."

        "Chok-lit chipp!" Emma said it again. "Chocolate chip."

        "Have a bite. It's yummy."

        "Yummee." Emma said and then bit into it. She could taste so many different flavors; so many different kinds of sweet that she could not describe it, but she liked it, and so she ate the whole thing.

      Frank took out a plastic cup, this one had a blue lid and a film on the top. It was a milking cup.

        "Are you ready to bite the cup?"

        "Yes." Emma said.

        Frank put the cup in front of her face, and Emma bit down on the plastic, pushing out her venom into the cup until she couldn't give any more.

        "All done?"

        "All done." Emma said.

        "Are you ready for play time?"

        "No." Emma didn't like play time. She didn't like the others. They were the same kind as her but she didn't trust them. They would take away Lisa and Frank for themselves. And they were mean and stupid.