WeeklyStoryContests ... Theme 3 - Imperfect Hero ... (2K max.)

"STANLY!" I heard my Mom yell my name in her angry voice.

"Coming Mom!" I hollered back as I jumped up from my spot on the living room floor. I looked at the little two-year-old who I'd been playing with and told him just to stay put cause I'd be right back. But, he never even looked up at me. He was too busy playing with my plastic Ninja Turtles.

I ran to the front door. It was flung wide open and Mom was standing on the front step consoling our neighbour, Miss Wade. Miss Wade looked frantic. I could see she'd been crying. Her eyes were red and swollen and her nose kept running.

When Mom looked at me she gave me one of her I'm-going-to-kill-you-when-this-woman-is gone looks and I found it hard to swallow. I was always getting that look and always getting in trouble with Mom. You'd think I'd get use to that look by now but I wasn't. I could feel my hands break out in a nervous sweat as I stood there looking at both women.

"Stanly," my Mom said through clenched teeth. I watched as a vein popped in her forehead. "You don't happen to know where Eileen's son is, do you?" Her voice sounded strained, even though she was smiling at me as she talked. I wasn't sure what was going on with her face but I knew it wasn't going to end well for me.

"Yes," I said clearly.

Miss Wade burst into tears, aggressively pushed past my Mom, desperately grabbed me by my thin shoulders and asked in a congested and teary voice, "You've seen my baby? Where? Where is my baby?"

I was so shaken up by her bloodshot eyes, runny nose and her generally unstable appearance that I couldn't find any words to reply at all. So, I just pointed down the hall to the living room. She let me go instantly and ran for Ethan, her baby boy, who'd I'd left playing with my Ninja Turtle toys. I'd never seen an adult run that fast before. I thought she'd do well on the track team at school but it was too bad adults couldn't participate.

Next thing I knew, my Mom had a painful grip of my arm and she was hauling me around to face her. She must have followed Miss Wade into the house and shut the door, but I'd been so preoccupied with the snot running down Miss Wade's lip that I hadn't even heard my Mother approaching.

"Gawd Stanly," she swore at me in one of those low angry whispers that only Moms can perfect.

I looked up at her face, which was turning strange shades of red and purple. For a second, I thought that the blood vein in her forehead might actually burst. Looking at it throb and pulse made my stomach turn. I had to tare my eyes away from it and concentrate on her angry eyes. "When did you start stealing babies?" She asked me with a growl.

Stealing babies? The thought was funny and I laughed. Who would want to steal a baby? They cried a lot and you were always having to change their poopy diapers. Only an idiot would take someone's baby!

Mother shook me and I stopped laughing. She looked even angrier now. I suddenly had the urge to swallow but my mouth and throat felt strangely dry.

"Why did you take Eileen's baby?" Mom finally asked, sounding more frustrated than angry just at that moment.

I let out a little sigh of relief. I might survive this after all.

"Miss Wade left him in the van," I said. I couldn't have just left him there. That would have been some kind of abuse for sure.  If you can't leave dogs in cars on hot days, then you sure couldn't leave babies in cars when there were no adults around. Feeling confident I continued to explain. "I came home from school and Ethan was crying like crazy and still strapped into his seat. So, I tried the van door. It wasn't locked and the minute I opened it Ethan stopped crying ..." I would have said more but Miss Wade appeared with Ethan in the hallway at that moment and Mom and I both turned to look at them.

Ethan was as happy as could be in his mother's arms and holding onto Donatello.

Miss Wade stopped in front of me and gave me a hard stare. I'd never seen her look angry before. I wondered if this was her angry face. Her face twisted into an unnatural smile and in a voice, that was strained but still sort of pleasant, she asked, "Why did you bring Ethan here? Why didn't you come and knock on my door, Stanly?"

I looked at her a moment trying to figure out if this was a trick question or not. She was looking pretty serious though. So, I just told her the rule. "Mom says I have to come straight home after school. I'm not allowed to stop anywhere and I can't go to anyone's house."

I looked from my Mom to Miss Wade and back to my Mom. Suddenly Miss Wade broke out laughing and my Mom, well, she rolled her eyes and gave me a good swat in the back of my head. It stung a little but not for long.

Mom told me to go clean up the mess in the living room and get started on my homework, which I hadn't done cause I'd been looking after little Ethan. I gave Ethan a big smile and petted his head of bright orange hair before I trotted down the hallway. Mom and Miss Wade talked for a while - long enough for me to clean up and be half done my homework before I heard Miss Wade leave.

When Mom came in to the kitchen she sat down at the table with a deep sigh and exclaimed, "I need a glass of wine!"

I never said anything. I just kept doing my homework. She talked a lot like that but she was never talking to me exactly.

After a pretty long while Mom sighed again and then I heard her chuckling to herself. I looked up to see her smiling at me.

"Next time you come across Ethan and his Mom isn't around, even if it is after school, you need to go find Eileen. Do you understand Stanly?" She was looking at me pretty seriously now.

I nodded.

She gave me a funny little smile and as she got up from the table, ruffling the hair on the top of my head in the process, she added, "Babies have always got to be with their Moms, okay?"

I smiled and nodded this time. I could tell she was done being angry with me, which was a bit of a relief. Though, to be perfectly honest, I still wasn't sure why she was angry in the first place. But, she was fond of telling me 'you'll understand when you grow up, Stanly'. So, I thought this might be one of those times.

Life, I was learning, was a series of rules with lots of exceptions. Only, kids didn't learn about the exceptions until after they had messed things up somehow. And, I was having a hard time keeping track of all the rules Mom had.

But, I supposed, this one wouldn't be too hard to remember. The Babies-always-had-to-be-with-their-moms rule was a lot like the rule that dogs always had to stay with their owners (or in their own yards at least). Or like the rule that I had to leave strangers where I found them. Especially, the ones that smelt funny and often sat in the same spot every day. I guess, the real lesson was that I was supposed to leave babies, dogs and strangers wherever I found them. Or, maybe the lesson was that Mom didn't like babies, dogs or strangers in her house when she wasn't around? It was a tough call - hard to say. But maybe it was one of things Mom kept telling me I'd understand when I was older.

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