We were all friends and neighbors so when Michael and Rosie had their first baby, we were excited for them. They had been married two years, they were happy, they were living within their means, and Rosie had wanted desperately to be a mother. We were never sure how Michael felt, but we figured he would go along with whatever Rosie wanted.
Nevertheless, they had a little girl.
As friends and neighbors, we visited often within those first six months, and they seemed to be adjusting well to being a small family. They named the baby Natalie Rochelle, and they called her Naa-na.
She was the first baby in our little community.
During those early months she was developing as normal. Her little body was growing, and she was sleeping, eating, and pooping like babies do. She was making those gibberish, gaga sounds and she was looking around and recognizing mama and daddy, holding your finger type cuteness. We said she was a little advanced for her age but that’s what everyone says when they want to be kind.
But Natalie became UNRULY, or sick or something. We didn’t know what happened. She had been home for six months and suddenly she was a screamer. I mean in the middle of the night, in the middle of the day, early in the morning, any freakin time, she would scream like somebody was stabbing her. It was almost a ‘Minnie Ripperton’ scream, only it came from an infant.
The scream itself lasted a few seconds and it was done, but we never knew when it would happen. She didn’t make a face, she didn’t squirm, she didn’t do anything but open her mouth. As far as we could see, it made no difference where she was or who she was with.
Our houses were close enough that we could hear those screams. We were a small community, and we often had cookouts with each other, we had dinners and sometimes somebody would do a breakfast. We helped each other whenever and however we could. No problem!
I’m saying that we were a good close-knit neighborhood. We sometimes just sat around somebody’s backyard firepit and had a few drinks. We pretty much knew what was happening with/to each of us and Natalie’s screaming worked the nerves of all of us. Let me tell you!
Michael and Rosie took her to the doctor(s) so-o-o many times, but they found nothing wrong. One suggestion was to lightly press on her little tummy a few times during the day because maybe she was a little gassy.
Michael and Rosie’s grandparents, on both sides, came for visits since sometimes the grands have a way of ‘fixing it’ but even they could not understand the screaming.
Natalie would coo, smile, and even laugh when she saw her grandparents. Honestly, she was a little doll, but we figured it was only when she wanted to turn on the charm. Can you imagine? She was only six months old and already a conniving little wrench.
But, well, the grands even took her to their home for what was supposed to be an overnight visit but brought her back quickly. It was the screams!!! They tried this tactic several times, but the fact was that Natalie was a screamer.
The doctors had the parents change her formula. Rosie started using new detergents. They bought special baby food, special baby clothes, and got new baby furniture. They bought toys with sounds, and they even purchased one of those nice baby beds that rotate.
Rosie thought she was holding her too much. She thought maybe there was something about their physical contact. They even stopped listening to music and stopped watching the TV after a certain hour every day and night. I mean they did everything they could think of to stop her screaming.
It did not stop.
We, friends, and neighbors, felt sorry for the couple and we started volunteering to babysit Natalie. We would take her for walks thinking she needed more fresh air. Maybe she needed a break from her parents. We thought just making her tired would make her sleep and not scream.
Besides, Rosie was mentally exhausted and needed a break. She had once or twice given the baby a dose of Nyquil so they could all get some needed rest, hell, so we all could get some needed rest, but she always felt bad the next morning. Natalie was a baby! She shouldn’t have to drug her like that.
Michael loved the baby with all his heart. They were good together because Natalie would snuggle and coo when she saw her daddy. Sometimes she would fall asleep across his chest. There was a light in her eyes when she was with her daddy. But she still screamed and a few times she did it right in Michael’s ear.
Those times he held her out at arm’s length and just looked at her while she wailed. She just opened her mouth and screamed in his face until she was done. It was like a deep belch or a long burp, only it was a scream and afterwards she was her little sweet self again. He, just like his wife, didn’t understand or know what to do.
We, friends, and neighbors, took turns and took Natalie to the park. Sometimes we would bring her home with us overnight. We would sit outside with her and/or take her on long car rides and long walks, out to eat, to the mall. We had that baby everywhere that we were.
Anything to stop the screaming.
Nothing worked, nothing worked!
We were starting to hate the baby. That is not very nice to say but well, it’s no fun having to wake up in the middle of the night because a little person is screaming like somebody is stabbing her. Well, is it?
So, this is what happened.
Marie volunteered to take Natalie with her to the grocery store and maybe stop at the park. She was going to have her all day starting at around ten that morning.
She got the car seat from Michael the night before and by ten she had picked Natalie up and they left for the day. Natalie screamed in the car, she screamed in the grocery store, she screamed in the park, and she screamed when Marie was headed back home. Mind you -Marie had changed her diaper, she had changed her clothes, she had burped her, she had fed her, she did it all.
Natalie still screamed.
Marie said she had turned the corner into our parking lot right in the middle of one of Natalie’s screams when suddenly Natalie stopped screaming. Marie thought she had fallen asleep or something.
She told us that Natalie was quiet, but when she finally parked the car, and she looked in the rear-view mirror she didn’t see Natalie. She said, “I physically turned and looked in the back seat. Natalie’s car seat had tipped over. Natalie was in an awkward position, but her eyes were wide open, and her mouth was open, but nothing was coming out.
Marie was horrified because she thought Natalie might have been hurt. Her little head was twisted. Was her neck broken? Marie jumped out of the car and ran around to the back passenger side where Natalie had been strapped into her car seat.
She almost pulled the car door off because she was frantic. She righted the car seat, unhooked the baby, and picked her up all the while crying and saying to the baby, “I’m so sorry Natalie, so sorry, are you alright” Oh my goodness. Are you alright?”
Natalie was laughing.
What had happened? After that, and for the remainder of the visit, Natalie laughed instead of screaming. What happened?
Who knows?
That evening when Marie was telling us what had happened, she was still a little shaky. She still had Natalie who was content and was cooing and drooling all over her little self. We were watching her and just waiting for the scream. It never came.
Three hours later when Rosie came to collect her baby, Natalie had not screamed. We laughed and talked for a while, had a glass of wine or two and still no scream. Marie took Natalie home and all night, no scream. For a week, no screams.
So now, we were wondering what was happening in that house. Was Natalie still alive? Did they send her off? What was happening? Did Marie secretly do something to the baby?
So………
Natalie turned one, two, three, four and five with no more screams. She was talking now as well as could be expected for a five-year-old. They had enrolled her in a pre-school program for three days a week and she seemed to enjoy it.
The teacher’s all said Natalie was a joy to have as a student. She was smart and played well with the other children, but they said, “Sometimes Natalie hums for at least 30 minutes before she stops”. They said, “She just starts without a word, without a grimace, without a notice.” They said, “She hums a tune sometimes but mostly she sounds like a motor humming. She does it and stops just as quickly as she started.” They said, “She goes ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm and then she stops.” They had no explanation but if she wasn’t causing problems for the other children, it was all right.
Rosie said there were a few times she heard Natalie humming too. Michael said so as well. He said one time when he and Natalie were in the backyard just hanging out, he heard a little hum sound coming from her direction. He looked at her and she wasn’t doing anything unnatural-just humming. He didn’t recognize the tune, so he hummed too just to appease her. She smiled, actually grinned at her daddy. He thought nothing of it.
Time passed and now Natalie was 6 1/2 and in first grade. Rosie and Michael had her tested which was a state requirement and she was just fine. She was still humming every now and then but one day while in class, she screamed.
Of course, it was unexpected, so the teacher had the class leave the classroom. She had them stand in the hallway but kept Natalie with her. She asked Natalie, “What happened?” She asked her if she was feeling sick, she asked her if she saw a bug or a mouse or something, she asked her if she needed to go to the nurse. The teacher was freaked out. But Natalie was all right within a second after letting that scream come out and it happened only once again during that first year.
Now, I could say Natalie was talented and eventually she became a singer, or I could say she was mentally challenged, or I could even say something happened to her vocal cords during her birth. I could say she had PTSD or ADHD or something. She could have had temper tantrums but remember she started screaming at six months old. Maybe her ears were clogged, and she knew to scream would loosen her ear canals.
Michael had a friend whose cousin suggested that Michael take Natalie to Dr. Ranier who was a ‘Root Doctor.’ All else had failed so Michael said why not. He figured he might get some herbs for tea. Maybe something to put around her neck like a little bag of leaves or even something to put under her pillow. He thought the doctor would have some advice that would alleviate the screams.
He was right and the doctor prepared a special box just for Natalie. Michael was excited and he rushed home to try the remedies. First, he put the beet root that was wrapped in lots of spiders’ webs under her little bed.
He made the special tea and gave it to her for a week. Doctor’s orders! Natalie screamed once but then her tongue fell out. It just loosened itself and fell out of her little mouth.
In close examination another was growing and within a week she had grown another tongue. While that was happening, Natalie had started hissing instead of screaming. She would hissssssssss for about 30 minutes. Michael checked back with the doctor who said it was all normal and to keep giving her the tea.
The next thing to happen was one of Natalie’s fingers fell off. That was too much for Michael and Rosie, so they put her tongue and her finger in the same box that the root doctor had given them and rushed Natalie to a hospital.
They still had herbs and unknown concoctions left in that box that they were supposed to start using within the week, but her tongue and finger incidents were just too much for both the husband and wife.
Everything was now in the box, everything! Even the beet root wrapped in those spider webs.
Michael wrapped Natalie’s body parts in ice and put them in the box and put it all in his automobile trunk. He was in shock, he was frantic, he was losing all his cool and poor Rosie, well she was so tired. Now she was drooling and frantic from not knowing what was happening to their baby.
She said or rather she yelled while they were driving to the hospital, “Michael, Michael her tongue fell out, and her finger actually fell off her little hand. Michael, is this real? What is happening?” And she cried all the way to the hospital.
When they finally got there Michael took the box out of the trunk while Rosie carrried the baby inside. The doctor was shocked and even more shocked when he saw what was in the box.
The same mess I just gave you.
HAVE A GREAT HALLOWEEN!!
