A Little Help From my Friend

Saturday, Spring Year 15

Imagine my surprise, coming home from work one night to find my house relatively empty. Angel was quietly sleeping and a neighbor was babysitting. Turns out Spanky drove Allyn to the hospital, baby #3 was too impatient to wait for me.
That’s the good news, now for the bad news. Doctor said Allyn needs help. She’s addicted to the contraption and will need rehab to go cold turkey. Apparently my woman was exhausted constantly and the stress of raising two children had taken its toll on her, and with her third pregnancy she was reglarly abusing the machine in order to feel ‘normal’.
That left me at home with three kids and a job. Granted the older two could more or less fend for themselves, but what about the baby? If I stayed home, I’d lose my job, we’d lose the house… but a nanny… I’ve heard the horror stories.


I remembered the company Allyn called before to get set up with a suitable live in nanny. One with training and credentials, none of those old biddies who’s waiting for Grim to come calling. I’d hire Gabriel if he was still available. Naturally he wasn’t.
The first girl they sent was great… dare I say perfect? It made me nervous. If something appears too good to be true, chances are it is… but I was desperate…


Besides, Frank adores her… he’s a peculiar little guy… not the screamer Angel was, but he had a way of spotting bad people. Like any baby, he would fuss if he needed a bottle, burp or a change of diaper… unlike others, he would also fuss if someone with bad karma picked him up. Like I said, peculiar little guy. If Frank loved her, who was I to argue?


A university student in her senior year, she only had finals left to graduation. I offered her our home now if she’d like to get out of the dorms early. She immediately said yes. Come to find out she was not one for college. She loves learning as much as possible, she enjoys the classes yet the dorms and their ‘icky bathrooms’, ‘stinky co-eds’ and ‘ungodly cafeteria food’ scares the ‘bejeebies’ out of her. Hey, her words, not mine.


I didn't mention the rehab for contraption abuse when I had put in the request for a nanny. I started to feel a bit guilty. Before I let her move in with us and take the job, I was compelled to let her know why my wife was absent. Figured she should know what she’s getting in to before making a final decision.


Apparently contraption abuse is widely known at college. She witnessed a co-ed stumble out and die once. She’s been too frightened to try it herself. She’s a rather level headed kind of girl.
I had torn down and destroyed Allyn’s. How they’re legal is beyond me. Maybe I should go in to politics and… nah that’s too much work. I enjoy my job way too much.


She moved in right away. Things were working out great. Angel was a bit hesitant to warm up to her at first. She thought I was trying to replace Mommy. I explained no one can replace Mommy, Mommy is just sick and needs to be in the hospital for a while.
Spanky had no qualms about another woman in the house. He understood it was for the benefit of his mom and truth be told, I think he has a bit of a crush on her.


The girls got to know each other and are pretty good friends now. Turns out they have a common passion for music. Built in music tutor for Angel, how lucky can a guy get?


Angel is back to her happy fun loving self. Says I should have gotten help for Mommy a long time ago. Everyone's a critic.


I look forward to coming home again. I've made my mark on Plumbbobware. So, I don't push myself at work any more and I've turned down over time in order to spend time with my kids.


When I come home I get a status report before I even walk in the door. Its an interesting new development, knowing what you're about to walk in to. It comes in handy. No surprises of the negative sort. Kids fed, homework done and checked, house is clean, baby fed, bathed and sleeping, son out back on the beach with a girl…
Thank the Twelve Gods. I was starting to worry about my boy. He’s such a loner. He studies all the time. He’s working on scholarships and I commend him for his efforts, but no after school activities? No girlfriends? No friends, period? I was worried I was raising the next uni bomber, yanno?


Allyn came home. I’ve missed her so much… the kids have missed her… she’s still frazzled and exhausted… She spends a lot of time sleeping.


Frank doesn’t want anything to do with Allyn. She’s slumped in to a deep depression. She insists Lisa has to go…
I know I’ve always said whatever the little woman wants, but I think this time she is being irrational… and… well… there’s a new contraption out front.

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