Burned

36

          Teddy Solomons' first word, thankfully, was not 'fuck'. Alfie was certain that if that word had slipped out of the baby's mouth, he wouldn't sleep in the same bed as his wife ever again. What was more surprising was what he actually did say because Alfie certainly wasn't expecting it.

Alfie was entertaining the baby while Louise peacefully read in the parlor. He held Teddy up on his lap, making faces to make him laugh and shriek with glee. It amazed Alfie how easy it was to make Teddy happy. Sometimes all it took was crossing his eyes and sticking out his tongue to make the baby erupt in a fit of giggles.

"Da!" Teddy squealed and reached to tug on Alfie's beard, one of his favorite past times as of late.

Louise looked over the top of her book. "Did he just say what I think he said?" She perked up in surprise.

"Just gibberish." Her husband shook his head and wrote it off as nothing. "Babbling on as usual, aye?" He teased and wiggled Teddy's toes. "Speaking your own little language?"

He giggled and pulled a bit harder on his father's beard. "Dada!" He chirped again.

Louise stood up, setting her book aside, and walked over. "Alfie, he's saying dada." She insisted.

Alfie wasn't sure how old children were when they took certain milestones. Ollie had given him an estimate but all of his kids ranged from early to late bloomers so it was hard to say for sure. Time seemed to pass by so fast as Teddy grew so it seemed far too early for the baby to be saying any intelligent words. "It's an easy sound for him to make, I'm sure it's just nonsense."

"You don't think he's smart enough to be speaking yet?" She challenged and put her hands on her hips.

He made a face at her remark. "He's me son, innit he? That means he's fucking smart." He asserted. "Ted, who's that?" He tested out the theory by pointing at Louise. Teddy giggled and mimicked his father pointing but didn't say anything.

"Who's that, love?" Louise pointed back at Alfie.

"Dada!" He responded and beamed as if he knew exactly how substantial his first word was.

She looked smug with herself. "Told you."

"I stand corrected then." Alfie chuckled and gently patted Teddy on the back. Pride bloomed in his chest. He was his son's very first word. It made him feel more important than anything else he'd ever done in his life. "Fucking bright as can be, innit he?"

"Hush, you can't swear around him anymore because he'll start to pick up on it!" She reminded him. But it was hard to be stern, Louise was also pleased to hear Teddy address Alfie first. She wanted him to know how important he was to the little boy.

"Sorry, love. Right, gotta start biting my tongue." He couldn't get the great big smile off his face though and eventually just began to laugh. However, mid-way through, his chest seized and he erupted in a coughing fit.

It was hard to forget about their reality for too long. Although Alfie was in good spirits and was able to stay fairly active, there was always something reminding them of his cancer. The frequent headaches that never seemed to end. The deep ache he felt in his body every morning and every night. He became out of breath often and sometimes became light-headed from how severe his coughing fits were.

Louise picked up Teddy from his lap and sat him down on the rug for a moment. "It's okay, try to breathe slowly." She soothed

Alfie's face turned red and stood up to walk out of the room, staggering a few steps. More often than not, his violent coughing upset Teddy and he couldn't have that. He wasn't sure what his son would remember of him, but he certainly didn't want his only memories of him to be a coughing bout. Alfie walked into the foyer and put a hand on the stair railing to steady himself. After a painful few moments, he managed to get the coughing under control. He took a few wheezing breaths and looked up.