Collection Of Short Stories

That's Not A Lullaby

"Can you hold her please?"

Before he even had time to answer the baby was shoved into his arms.
He grabbed at her awkwardly trying desperately not to drop the small thing.
"Uh... I've never held a-"
"It's easy. Your doing great! I just have to get these little ones cleaned up."

Marshall tried to hold the baby the way he had seen people before but he wasn't sure if it was right.

"Len how uhm.... How long?"
"I don't know Marshall! They're covered in mud!" She yelled from the bathroom.

Lenora was his neighbor.
She let him hang out at her place when his dad came home after one too many shots.
Or ten too many.

She had three kids.
Lilly, Lance, and Lory.
Lilly was 7
Lance was 4
And Lory? Lory is 6 months old.

She was also married to a man named Luke.
(Notice all the matchy matchy names? Probably Baptist.)

Luke was at work half the time but Marshall liked him.
The man had told off his dad once when he had left Marshall locked outside during a rainstorm.
Made him the Ace in Marshall's eyes.

But the teen had bigger problems.
Lory was crying.
"Len she's crying. I don't know what to do!"
"Try singing to her."
.... What? Uhm... Ok.
Songs. Songs.
Uhm...

He shifted the baby so her head was up on his shoulder and he bounced lightly.

"Say your prayers little one
Don't forget my son
To include everyone.
I tuck you in, warm within
Keep you free from sin
'Til the sandman he comes."

Lenora poked her head around the corner and looked at him oddly but it was working so he wasn't going to stop now.

"Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land
Something's wrong, shut the light
Heavy thoughts tonight
And they aren't of Snow White"

Lory nuzzled into his neck as he continued to bounce her and sing quietly and Len went back to giving her older two a bath.

"Dreams of war, dreams of liars
Dreams of dragon's fire
And of things that will bite, yeah
Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land"

Lenora walked past him on the way to put the Lilly and Lance to bed. Now she was smirking slightly but said nothing.
His face flushed but he wasn't going to lie.
He had been nervous having never held a baby but he liked the feeling it gave him when Lory fell asleep.

"Hush little baby don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just the beasts under your bed
In your closet in your head
Exit light
Enter night
Grain of sand
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land"

Len came back and took Lory being careful not to wake her.
She took her off to place her in her crib.
When she came back she looked at Marshall with a barely contained grin.
He shrugged.
"What?"
"Did you just put my baby to sleep singing Metallica?"
He blushed.
"Uhm... Yeah?"
Lenora cracked up laughing.
"I've tried ocean sounds, lullabies, and gospel praise. All this time I should have been playing Metallica!"