Chapter 4, The Artist Within

Chapter 4
The Artist Within

Sarah wandered into her small bedroom at the bottom of the stairs to change out of her nightgown and find clothes for the day. Mom always set out 2 outfits for her to choose from and set them on top of hr dresser. She was supposed to choose her own socks and panties and then put on one of the outfits. This morning there were no outfits on her dresser. Just a further reminder of her Mom not being where she was supposed to be.

Sarah looked at her dresser, opened a few drawers then selected a pink shirt. Next she opened a different drawer and chose a pair of oranges pants. Laying both on top of her dresser she then looked into her closet she found a long dress. This did NOT look like the types of outfits her Mom would have picked out. Sarah wondered if Uncle Mike might be able to help her.

She peeked out of her room, heard the TV on in the living room and quietly walked to the doorway and peeked in. Uncle mike was sitting in a chair, typing on his laptop and watching the news on the small tv in the corner.

"Uncle Mike?"

"Is there something you need Sarah?" he said, taking off his glasses and setting them on the coffee table.

"I don't know what to wear, Mom didn't give me any choices today."

Uncle Mike sighed "would you like some help choosing some clothes? "

"Yes please" Sarah said bashfully turning back towards her bedroom to wait for Uncle Mike to follow her.

After taking a look at the choices on the dresser and trying not to laugh, he reached into the closet and chose a casual looking sun-dress with a ribbon bow on the front and various pastel colors in polka dots all over it. Next he looked in her dresser for an outfit that might be easier to play in. he found a pair of denim shorts with lace on the pockets and a red tank top with strawberries printed on it. He then places both outfits on her bed and put away Sarah's choices while asking her if those were more what she was looking for.

Looking over the choices, Sarah nodded her approval and waited for Uncle mike to leave the room.

From upstairs "Smush" started fussing, Sarah knew this would mean she would be alone for awhile and that was fine with her. She thought about her plans for the day, playing wasn't part of them so she chose the dress. Finding some panties and a pair of socks with similar colors on them she dressed and put the second outfit away like she did every morning.

Normally Sarah would be watching cartoons on a Saturday morning. Thinking about sharing a room with Smush made her want to avoid any space the baby might be in. She decided to draw for awhile instead. Finding her art supplies she sat at the small desk in her room and went about choosing her materials. Finding a piece of paper and her colored pencils she started drawing a baby, well what she thought looked like a baby. It had a red face, egg shaped body and had stuff leaking out of its nose and mouth. It had a dark cloud behind it and looked generally unpleasant in every sense of the word. Satisfied that she had made her point Sarah then started drawing flowers. Each piece of paper she chose was filled with a different color flower. most looked like daisies or tulips because that was all that she knew how to draw but the sizes and colors were infinitely varied. each piece of art then made its way to a spot on her wall until it looked like Sarah had created her own wallpaper.

She heard Uncle Mike wandering around in the kitchen again and wondered what time it was. Looking at her clock Sarah realized that half the day had gone by and Mom still hadn't called her. what could be taking so long? Surely babies really didn't take THAT long to be born? Why wasn't her mom calling?

She hadn't heard Uncle Mike peek his head into her room and jumped when he announced that lunch was ready. Sarah scowled at him again. He really had no CLUE how Mom did things around here and the sooner that Mom came home, the sooner things would return to normal. She put her art supplies away on her shelf, taped her last picture to the wall and headed into the kitchen to see what had been prepared for lunch. She really hoped it wasn't soup, Sarah HATED soup almost as much as she hated babies.

Settling herself at the table she noticed a yummy smell coming from by the stove. She saw her silverware and her glass but no plate by her place at the table. At the other end of the table was Smush, sitting in a high chair and trying to grab hold of a toy that was attached to the tray withing reach, that is if the baby knew HOW to reach and grab. At the moment, the poor thing just batted at it and then looked startled when the toy moved. Sarah tried not to laugh at how stupid it was that a person, even Smush, couldn't just grab a toy and play with it.

Uncle mike set her plate and a bowl in front of her. She studied it and looked at him with surprise. It was her favorite lunch! How had he known. She had a bowl of Macaroni and cheese, some salad with grape tomatoes and a small cup of ranch salad dressing and a hot dog cut to look like an octopus.

"Thank you Uncle Mike!" she blurted out seconds before the first bite hit her mouth.

"Your very welcome sweety, you looked like you could use some cheering up today. I know how confused you must be right now without Mom here. how about after lunch I call Aunt Bell and see how things are going? would that make you feel a bit better?"

Sarah Nodded while chewing a tomato.

Uncle Mike Made up a plate for himself and a bowl of something orange for Smush and sat at the table with her. They ate lunch in relative silence. Sarah busied herself with eating, Smush was busy trying not to let the spoon full of food get where it needed too and Uncle Mike snagged a bit of food for himself in between making airplane noises for the baby. when she was scraping the last of her noodles out of her bowl, the telephone rang.

"MOM!"

Uncle Mike jumped up, grabbed the phone off the wall and answered it. "Hello?......Yes........thats fantastic!.........I will let her know............What time?.........OK we'll be there!" Hanging up the phone he looked at Sarah.

"Well, it seems that you have a new brother and a new sister! You Mom is resting right now but in a few hours we can go to the hospital and see her and the babies. Your Mom did want you to do something for her though,"

At this comment, Sarah perked up, her Mom didn't forget about her after all.

"Your Mom wants you to think about names for your brother and sister, she wants you to help pick them out."

Sarah face fell, she didn't want to KEEP the babies, why would she want to help pick names for them. She would just have to pick the stupidest names that she could possibly think of for the babies, then her Mom wouldn't WANT to keep them. She finished her last bite, carried her dishes to the sink and headed back to her room to start a list of names.

She had finally figured out how to make sure the babies did not stay with her and her Mom. The names were the critical part. She started looking at her books, trying to find the worst names she possibly could. She started making a list, not separating the names into boys or girls but just making a list.

Fudge
Baxter
Beatrice
Neelix
Totoro
Pikachu
Dumbo
Sam I Am
Neemo
Hermione
Trucker
Scout
Amaranth
Pucky
George


When Sarah thought she had enough names she folded the paper carefully, found one of her small purses and stuffed it inside so she could take it to her mother later. She knew her mother would choose 2 of these names for her babies and would surely think that names as bad as these would make them not worth keeping at all.

She busied herself with tidying up her room so her Mom would be proud of her when she came home. Sarah even retrieved her pillow and blanket from the bathtub and remade her bed like Mom had shown her to do. She then went back into the bathroom, brushed her hair and teeth then washed her face. She found a pink bow that didn't clash with her dress and tied her hair back into a ponytail. She was ready to go see Mom.

Sarah made her way into the living room just as Uncle Mike was strapping Smush into a car seat carrier.

"I was just going to let you know its time to go see Mom" Uncle Mike said

Sarah smiled and bounced on her heels a bit, she had her purse hanging off of her shoulder and her favorite teddy bear in her arms to give to her Mom.

Uncle Mike opened the front door, grabbed the car seat and diaper bag and headed for his van sitting in front of her house. After buckling Smush in place he made sure Sarah was secured as well. Climbing into the drivers seat he said "I think you are going to have so much fun with your new brother and sister, I am sure you picked some pretty awesome names for them."

Sarah smiled and nodded knowing that HER plan was flawless. Uncle mike was none the wiser as they pulled away and headed for the Hospital.