Page 13 of Kaya's King
“Well, if that’s not the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” she coos, leaning down to undue the seatbelt before carefully plucking the baby from her Noah nest and taking Collette into the burrow of her arms. “Come on, little one, let’s get you ready for bed. Noah, you behave for Mr. Specks.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replies. She tussles his hair then carefully leans down to kiss him on the forehead.
“You’re a good boy, Noah Reed,” she compliments, making his eyes alight and chest puff up from her praise.
Grinning, I push him over to the couches where we’ve got a huge ass television set. Setting his brakes to lock him in place, I quickly set up the console, open up the streaming game, and hand him his steering wheel controller. “Now, here’s how you play, Noah,” I tell him, giving him a tutorial on which button does what move. “You ready?”
“I’m ready!” His energy has my lips tilting up in the corners. He makes me remember how carefree a kid should be and I’m glad he’s able to do that. I wish Tommy and I had been given the same chance.
I’ve lost count of the lives each of us have lost because I’m too busy enjoying the laughter coming from Noah to pay attention to the screen. Every time he crashes into a wall, he giggles which ends up causing me to crash. “Having fun?” I ask.
“The most fun ever!” he exclaims, a bit louder than needed inside, but I don’t correct him. “I like playing when I can’t go outside because I’m hurting, but it’s more fun to play against someone else, isn’t it, Mr. Specks?”
Remembering the hours I spent playing with Tommy, I nod before saying, “I had a little brother and we used to spend hours playing Super Mario Brothers on our Nintendo.”
“Does he still like playing?”
His innocent question has me swallowing back the tears that well up. “He uh, he died when I was sixteen, Noah.”
He turns wide eyes to me and softly says, “My daddy died before I was ever born so I never got to meet him. Even though I get sad sometimes, I think I’d be even sadder if I did know him before he died, Mr. Specks. I bet you miss your brother a lot.”
I somehow manage to push through the lump now sitting in my throat and admit, “I really do, Noah. He was very sick, though, and in a lot of pain before he died. But he sure did like playing games with me, so even though I’m sad he’s no longer here, us playing like we’re doing right now brings up good memories. Do you understand?”
“I think so,” he answers, scrunching up his nose. “You’re sad because he’s not here to play, but playing makes you happy because you remember the fun times the two of you had together, right?”
“You’re a wise little boy, Noah.”
“Mommy says I’m smart,” he matter-of-factly states. “I just pay attention, Mr. Specks. Sometimes, all I feel like doing is watching because it hurts so much to move around. So, I hear things and see stuff. If I don’t understand what I heard or saw, I ask my mom or my granny.”
“That’s how you learn new things,” I concur. “We aren’t born with the understanding or knowing of everything. There’s no logical way we’ll ever read all the books printed with information or do all the millions of things out there to do, so asking other people is a good way to get that knowledge.”
Noticing he’s squirming, I ask, “Are you okay, Noah?”
“I need to go to the bathroom but Mommy’s still busy with the little kids,” he quietly whispers, his face turning red from embarrassment at the admission.
Putting my controller down in front of me, I tell him, “I’ll take you, buddy. No shame in it at all because we all gotta go, you know?”
He giggles a little before he puts his own controller down next to mine. “I think we have our own room here somewhere, but I don’t know where,” he confesses.
Having been part of the crew that moved them in, I stand, unlock the brakes to his wheelchair then disclose, “I know where it’s at and you’re going to be very happy when you see it. So, tellme what I need to help you with.” I decide to be as direct with him as possible so he understands that right now, he’s going to need help with a very basic task.
“Mommy usually holds me up long enough so I can pull my pants and underwear down, then she sits me on the toilet seat and leaves me alone so I can go. After I flush the toilet, I call for her, she comes in and I pull my pants up, then she puts me in my chair and wheels me to the sink so I can wash the germs off my hands.”
“I think we can do that, don’t you? Bet it’ll be easier for me to lift you up, too.”
“Probably because you’ve got more muscles than my mommy has,” he ascertains through his infectious giggles, which have me chuckling along with him.
“Shh, don’t tell her that, she’ll get upset. It’ll be our secret,” I reply as I maneuver him into their suite of rooms and to the bathroom.
CHAPTER
FIVE
Kaya
“We’ve got these four,why don’t you go get Noah and get him settled in for the night,” Granny declares as she, Mary, and Shamus sit with the four little ones left in our care when their parents headed to the hospital. “I’m sure he’s probably hurting by now. A warm salts bath and one of his pain pills will have him comfortable in no time at all.”
Yawning, I nod in agreement. The past few days have been beyond full, with all the appointments and tests, as well as thedrive itself. Plus, carrying Noah around has quite a few muscles aching which tells me I need to consider working out once again. Although truthfully, I don’t expect any exercise regimen to last too long; I’m too busy to focus on anything for myself right now, and I absolutely loathe sweating. Granted, living in Georgia I’m sure I’ll do my fair share of that distasteful function, but as long as the air conditioning doesn’t give out, I should be okay.