“Shh, baby, shh, it’s all right,” Christian whispered to the whimpering child in his arms.
This is insane. Christian thought. How could that mother just leave her child unattended? To take a sip of water from a fountain? Chastise her other children? No, that was unacceptable. She saw me sitting right next to her, how dare she not take these precautions? At a public park, anything could happen.
Hazel eyes stared up at him bundled in mittens and a brown fleece blanket, if anything it could be left in the autumn leaves for the squirrels to stare at. To tilt their cute little noses at. Christian giggled at the thought. No one would even notice. Maybe the biggest squirrel would take a kindness to the poor baby. Gather nuts and make a nest out of the leaves and when the child cries, the squirrels would feed it walnuts and the like. Shove the walnuts down the child’s throat. Yes, Christian’s brain thought. That would keep the child from crying.
Around him, the breeze nipped at his nose, his breath making fog that coaxed the infant’s hands out of the blanket. Grasping the air as if tiny little dragons were circling only to disappear into the breeze. Christian looked up from the child’s eyes, where was he? Before he was at the local park and now.. Ah yes! A little more than a mile’s away down the main road. Trees decorated the small hill that separated the road from the gated community to his right. The rooftops and flag poles slightly peeking over the fence. The granite stone from the top of the hill nestled under a willow tree persuaded him to sit. To sit and watch the cars go to and fro as the baby in his lap looked up absently.
“Poor thing, your little nose is turning blue,” His gloved hand rested itself on the child’s face. “Shh, it’s alright. It’s alright.” Maybe you’ll be a doctor. Maybe you’ll fall in love and run to Paris and open up a small thrift shop selling freshly baked bread on the side. A smile spread over Christian’s face merely to disappear at an instant. Or maybe.. His hand grew heavier on the child’s fragile head. You’ll grow up a public speaker. A rising scientist, what’s in this little brain of yours? What experiments will you create, what goal will you achieve, how many people will you kill?!
He took his hand away to raise it to his face, hoping his eyes would register in the infant’s mind as mentally incriminating him for deeds he hasn’t done but the child’s head dangled. His nose a bitter blue. Its once pale skin even paler around his shoulders, his cheeks a rose colored red.
Christian turned away from the traffic, noticing a sizeable crevice between the granite burrowed into the ground. The sound of traffic and the cloudy skies was the sign of a good day. A day fit enough for… Feeding the squirrels! Christian walked away down the hill, his heart in complete bliss. The wind embraced the willow tree, the granite rock. As the hours passed, and the sky opened up letting the sun bathe over the grass, the fleece blanket did nothing at all to keep the squirrels out.
