The Cold

Steven was miserable. He sat on his couch, blanket pulled up around his ears, and just shivered. It had been 2 days since the heat had stopped working. His landlord had insisted that it was getting fixed ASAP, but Steven was skeptical. He wanted to call his landlord again, to ask what the hold up was, but that involved moving into the cold, and that was simply out of the question right now.

Steven hated the cold. There was simply no way to escape it. When it is hot, you can turn on a van or drink a cold beverage. Cold isn't like that. When you are cold, truly cold, you can feel it in your bones. It seeps into every fiber of your body. Any temporary relief you may gain, like a hot shower, or shopping in a warm store, are simply stalls to keep the cold away for a moment.

Steven thought about all this as he waited for Susan to get home from work. Steven hadn't had work today because his boss Mr. Elliot, didn't want the employees trying to make it to work in this weather. Of course the old man had inadvertently doomed Steven to a day of shivering and sniffling. His coworkers were probably enjoying their day off, sitting in front of a fire with a good book, or enjoying a nice meal.

Not that Steven was surprised by any of this. This was just another case of the universe conspiring against him. This had always happened to him. Once, when he was 8, he was locked in a refrigerator of a gas station for 30 minutes before his parents noticed that he wasn't in the car. Then they made him apologize to the attendant for giving him more work to do. That had taught Steven a valuable lesson about both heat loss and gas station workers.

The phone rang, and Steven briefly considered moving to answer it, but only briefly. The voice mail would get it. Perhaps it was his landlord calling to tell him the heat was fixed and to beg his forgiveness. Maybe he would even give him a discount on rent. But, it was only Susan, telling him she was stuck in traffic and would be late for work. This was Steven's life now, cold and misery.

The Baby

Steven looked down at the tiny person at his feet, and felt nothing. Susan's nephew, Aaron was staying with him for the afternoon while Susan and her sister Nancy went shopping. Without warning, the little primate had been thrust into his arms and they had scooted out the door before Steven could begin to mount a protest. So now he was stuck here with this little moron for the rest of the day.

Aaron was almost two. He spoke but little, preferring to just stand there and stare at Steven with those cold, lifeless eyes. This was not the worst part. He would bother Steven while he was trying to work with his senseless crying. This was also not the worst part. The worst part was that he was mobile. A child that age, who has just learned to walk, is basically a divining rod. It immediately sough out and found any possibly dangerous or life threatening things in the room. Twice already Steven had to keep Aaron from frying what little brains he had in the light socket.

He had come up with a novel solution. He had completely encased the child with pillows, thereby negating his ability to move, see, or pretty much do anything. The child continued trying to get around, however, and ran around the home like a giant marshmallow with an Iron Man shirt. Steven had turned on CSPAN, to keep him occupied, but that had not yet peaked his interest. Steven had tried playing some Rush, as well, but Aaron did not appreciate Getty Lee as much as he did.

The child seemed hungry, but Steven did not know what small children eat. All he had in the fridge was old brie and chicken Pad Thai. Neither one peeked the tiny person's interest. Steven thought he could get some macaroni and cheese delivered, but he didn't want Aaron getting sick and ruining his beautiful carpet.

In the end, all Steven could do was sit here trying to work, with a small child grasping at his leg, as he waited for the mother to come home