Peek a Boo Boo by Kajakat "No Sis, I don't mind watching Christina."  Johnny told his sister Amy as he held his niece on his lap. "Johnny, are you sure?  Eleven month children get into a lot of trouble." Johnny rolled his eyes at his older sister.  No one could tell him about the troubles any child could get into. Amy saw her brother's reaction.  "I know you know everything a child can get into.  And you don't have to remind me what kinds of trouble you got into on the reservation."  She reached over to take her daughter back from her loving uncle."  Christina pouted, as she liked being held by her uncle.  She loved playing with his hair. "So you don't believe I can watch a kid for a couple of hours?  You should call my partner Roy up and ask him about all the times I've babysat for his two.  I'm sure he'd tell you they've never even had a boo-boo while I'm there."  Johnny's posture became defensive as he tried to prove to his older sister that he was capable of watching his niece.  He continued, "and it's not like you're going far with Aunt Roe.  You're just going to the De Lamo mall in Torrance." "It's a big mall, bro.  Roe and I could get lost for hours there." "Good you should do it.  You two deserve it and I deserve spending time spoiling my niece who I never get to see."  Johnny reached over and took Christina away from her mother. "Now who's fault is it that you don't see your niece?  You rarely come and visit us."  Amy knew she was going after Johnny. "You know my job doesn't give me much time off and when I'm off I'm either sleeping or doing laundry or…" he trailed off. But Amy continued, "or chasing nurses."  The two giggled.  "Alright, Johnny.  Christina will stay with you.  I'll pick Roe up and go shopping and we'll stop here to rescue this little whirlwind from you in a couple of hours."  Amy looked around for her bag.  "In this bag are all the things you'll need including food and formula." Johnny frowned.  "I know what to do with a baby, Amy."  He was bouncing Christina on his knee and she was cooing, enjoying the motion. "Remember Johnny.  Chrissy is walking pretty well.  And you place isn't exactly baby friendly." Johnny stood up and walked over to Amy.  He pushed her toward the door.  "Go.  Go now.  There are sales you're missing.  We'll be okay.  Won't we precious?"  The last sentence was directed toward his niece as he blew bubbles on her neck.  Giggles erupted from Chrissy as Amy left her baby with her baby brother. *** Johnny took Chrissy back into his apartment and put her down on the couch.  He needed to go to the bathroom and didn't think it appropriate to bring her with him.  Used to using the facilities at breakneck speed, Johnny took care of his business.  When he returned to the livingroom, his niece wasn't where he left her. "Chrissy, where are you?"  Johnny asked in a singsong voice.  A giggle was the response coming from his kitchen.  Johnny smiled but then ran into his kitchen.  Amy was correct; his place was not safe for a toddler. When Johnny got into the kitchen he saw Christina sitting on the floor with pots and pans all about.  However, under Johnny's sink, he also had his detergent, bleach, ammonia, boric acid, and other chemicals stored.  Chrissy's hands were reaching toward one of those containers. "No Chrissy.  Stop."  Johnny said with a loud tone. Just like many children her age, stop means stop for the moment and continue.  A broad smile on her face, her little right hand continued reaching for a container.  Johnny rushed over to pull her hand away, but mis-stepped on a pot handle and landed unevenly on his rump.  His actions were funny to a toddler's eyes and Christina stopped reaching for the container and giggled instead. Johnny rubbed his bum and muttered under his breath, "figure you'd find this funny."  He moved closer to Chrissy and pulled her onto his lap and gave her a hug.  "You know you're not suppose to play down here."  He ran his fingers on the floor and was dismayed that it wasn't as clean as a floor should be for a little one.  "Why don't we have a cookie or somethin' like that." "Ookie?"  Christina gurgled. "I knew that would get your attention."  With the little girl in his arms, Johnny slowly got up.  His back hurt due to his fall and he was stiffening up.  When he placed Christina on a kitchen chair, he determined she wouldn't meet the table's height.  Looking around for a booster, he saw a phone book on the counter. "Stay there, pumpkin."  He pointed to Chrissy indicating for her to stay put.  Chrissy put an impish smile on her face but listened to her uncle and didn't move. With speed, Johnny swiped the book off the counter. "I'm going to pick you up and put this under you." Hearing the words 'pick up' Chrissy motioned, lifting her arms up.  Johnny picked her up, put the telephone book on the seat, and deposited Chrissy there. Johnny went to his refrigerator to get some milk.  "I guess Amy has one of those sippy cups."  He looked at Chrissy who was playing with a dirty sneaker Johnny had on his table. "Don't move.  I gotta get your mom's bag."  A tiny crooked smile appeared on her face.  "On second thought…" Johnny picked her up and carried her to follow through on his chore.  He lost track of his positioning and stepped into a pot.  He would have lost his balance if it weren't for the counter.  Instead his legs split apart a bit more than anyone would want them to.  "Ouch," Johnny muttered feeling the pull in his groin.  If he hadn't been holding onto Chrissy, he would have reached to the wounded part of his anatomy.  Instead, he took his foot out of the pot and stood up straight.  He kicked the pot away and it crashed into two others making a rather loud noise.  Chrissy screamed with delight from all the noise. He went to the livingroom and picked up the heavy bag without further incident.  "What did your mom put in here." Chrissy looked at Johnny and said, "ookie?" "Yes my dear, ookies."  Johnny walked back to the kitchen, but paused to ensure there were no other hidden dangers on the floor.  After settling Chrissy back on the chair with a cookie and milk in a no-spill cup, Johnny relaxed.  He sat down on his wooden chair and realized that he hurt his tail bone.  When he reached around to rub himself he discovered the pain he had elsewhere. "Good thing you're a little girl and not a grown up girl or we'd have trouble on our 'date'."  Johnny giggled as he watched his niece slowly eat her cookie.  He remembered Amy wanted Chrissy to have some yogurt so Johnny dug in the bag and found a thermal lunchbox with a yogurt in there.  He stood up and went to the kitchen cabinet to get a spoon. As he opened the container and mixed the yogurt around,  Chrissy reached for the spoon. "Oh no, you can't have this." Her demands for the spoon became more insistent and bordered on tears.  "Okay, you win."  Johnny got up and got another spoon.  Content that she had her own spoon, Johnny moved his chair closer and began spoon feeding her.  Chrissy played with the spoon crashing it onto the table as if it was a drumstick. Since Chrissy was a willing eating participant, he didn't have to revert to any 'open the mouth here comes the choo choo', sayings he used on Jennifer DeSoto when she was a baby.  Thinking of that reminded him of the game he wanted to play.  Johnny stood up and got a clean oversized towel from the pantry.  He moved his chair closer to Christina so he could play the game. He raised the towel over his face and held it for two seconds.  He quickly moved it down and said, "Peek-a-boo!" Chrissy squealed with delight, which made Johnny smile.  As much as this game was fun for the little ones, it was fun for him too. He teased Chrissy a couple of times by moving the towel up but not to cover his face.  Each time he taunted her, she responded by laughter and drumming the spoon on the table.  Johnny moved closer to do it again.  He moved the towel up and held it there for five seconds.  As he moved it down and said peek a boo, a sharp pain and exploding light affected his left eye.  In her excitement, Chrissy held the spoon and poked her uncle in his eye. Johnny covered his face with both his hands.  Little Chrissy thought it was part of the game and giggled non-stop.  The pain forced Johnny to stand up.  He staggered blindly, not knowing which way to move.  Unfortunately the pots and pans were on the floor and he stumbled over them landing on his knees.  One hand covered his face while the other reached down to break his fall.  His right hand landed on one of the pots and with his weight falling on it landed painfully on the floor. Johnny fell down on the floor in agony.  He writhed from pain in almost every part of his body.  Chrissy clapped her hands encouraging her uncle to do more.  After several excruciating minutes, Johnny gathered his wits.  Clearly he could not open his left eye.  He squinted with his right eye and saw Christina sitting on her chair eating the remnants of her cookies with her hands.  The weapon, the spoon, was resting comfortably on the table, unlike Johnny who couldn't sit up comfortably without his tailbone aching or his groin hurting, or his wrist throbbing and his eye, well there weren't too many words to describe his eye. "Oh Gage what did you do to yourself?"  He slowly got up but found his balance was uneven.  Thankfully his phone was nearby.  Using his rotary phone he dialed Roy's house. "Come on, come on, answer."  After twenty rings and no answer, Johnny remembered Roy saying something about a day trip to Mount Baldy or something to that effect. Johnny hung up the phone and looked at the mess of pots and pans.  He kicked a dutch oven, which gave him no satisfaction and hurt his big toe.  He decided to dial another number. "Hi, it's Johnny.  I need a favor from you.  Can you come over to my place?  I think I need to go to Rampart."  Johnny listened to the response. "No it's not an emergency and I'm not calling B shift." There was more talking at the other end. "Don't you think I'm qualified to determine if it's an emergency or not?" Again more of a response was given. "Thanks.  The door will be open.  I owe you one." More comments were made. "I SAID I OWE YOU ONE!" Johnny slammed the phone down causing it to fall off the counter.  He bent down to get it, but his vision was off and he hit his head on the counter.  He saw stars; different stars from the ones he saw when Christina poked him.  With his bad right hand, he touched the top of his head and was dismayed to feel it wet. "Great, just what I need, blood." Slowly, the weary man got up.  He saw Christina trying to wiggle off the chair.  "No you don't you monster.  Don't you move from there."  He wiggled his finger at her.  Instinctively Chrissy knew by the tone in her uncle's voice not to move.  She looked at him, assessing him without knowing anything was wrong. Johnny put the phone back on the counter.  He slowly walked to the freezer to get some ice.  The problem was he didn't know what part of his anatomy needed it the most.  "Oh well."  He cracked open the ice tray and put some in the towel he used in his peek-a-boo game.  He applied it to his head.  Slowly he made his way to the table and gingerly sat down.  He leaned his head on his good wrist and used the bad wrist to hold the icepack in place. *** Ten minutes later the door to Johnny's apartment opened.  "Okay Gage, what the hell did you do that made me change my plans just to rescue you?" Chet hollered as he lumbered toward the kitchen. "What the hell happened in here?"  Chet's face registered surprise as he took in the pots and pans littering the floor. "Would you please stop using that word?  And could you stop shouting?" "What word?" "The 'H' word."  Johnny pointed to his niece. "Now who is this little girl?"  Chet walked over to her and picked her up.  Immediately Christina played with his moustache since she never had seen one before.  Chet didn't notice Johnny's discomfort as he made soft cooing noises to the girl in his arms as she gently pulled on his mustache. "Chet, will you put Christina down.  I need your help."  Johnny slammed the icepack on the table causing the small icecubes to scatter along the table and fall on the floor. "You don't have to get be a grouch, Gage.  I know she's too young to be a date plus she's too cute to even like you.  So what gives?  Who is she?" Johnny slowly got up and the room spun.  He reached for Christina.  "Chet Kelley, this is Christina Gage Arroyo, my niece. "Wow, she's beautiful.  I guess the good genes are on the female side of your family."  Chet baby talked at Christina. "Are you forgetting why I called you here?"  Johnny was holding onto the chair for dear life. "Oh yeah.  What happened?"  This was the first time Chet looked at Johnny and noticed his swollen eye.  He reached over to touch the eye and Johnny batted his hand away.  Christina pulled on Chet's moustache since he was so close.  "Ow."  Chet squeaked as Chrissy pulled a hard on his moustache.  Tired off being a pull toy Chet gave Chrissy back to Johnny. "First, I fell on my, eh, well I fell.  Then I slipped and hurt my, eh my, well I hurt myself.  Then we were playing and she poked me in the eye.  After that I fell on the floor."  Johnny sat down as his kitchen continued to spin and the weight of his niece, not normally a problem for a fireman, was a bit much. "Is that how your wrist got swollen?" He shook his head. "What was the ice for, your arm?" "No." There was silence. "So are ya gonna tell me?" "The phone fell an' I hit my head up when I got up." Chet walked around Johnny and touched his head. "OUCH.  That hurt."  Johnny yelled.  His sudden outburst startled Christina causing her to cry.  "Now look what you did!" "I didn't do anything.  You were the one that yelled."  Chet calmly replied. Through gritted teeth, "I'm the one in pain here."  Johnny shifted Christina in his lap.  He pointed to the bag on the floor.  "Gimme that bag." Under other circumstances Chet would say something biting to his pigeon but saw Johnny was under some duress.  Chet grabbed the heavy bag and hoisted it on the table.  Christina continued sobbing. "What's in that bag, bricks?" With Johnny's good arm holding Christina, he used his sprained hand to look in the bag.  He found a pacifier and a stuffed toy.  He pulled both out." "Here ya go, Chrissy."  Johnny offered her the pacifier, which she took.  He then handed her the stuffed dog, which she took from his hand and brought to her chest.  Her sobbing eased a bit.  Seeing his 'girl' was taken care of he turned his attention back to himself.  "Can you drive me to Rampart?" "Is there a pacifier for you?"  Chet asked. Johnny muttered bad words under his breath. "What about her?"  Chet pointed to Johnny's niece. "Gotta take her with us." "I don't have a child seat thingamajig." Johnny frowned; knowing Amy took hers with her, not anticipating Johnny would need it.  "I'll hold her and sit in the back seat." That seemed reasonable to Chet so he started toward the door. "Ah Chet?"  Johnny was standing. "Yyeess?"  Chet responded. "I can use some help here.  I can't see straight and I'm holding her.  We need to bring that bag too." "Okay."  Chet walked back to Johnny and took Christina from his arms, leaving Johnny to deal with the bag. *** The three arrived at Rampart after a fifteen minute delay.  Chet was pulled over by a police officer because Christina was not in a child seat.  Although Johnny and Chet argued with the officer, Chet was given a $20 ticket. The two adults were grumpy and so was the little girl who would need a nap real soon. Chet held Christina in one arm and stabilized Johnny with his other as they walked toward the base station.  It was unusually quiet for an emergency room, much to their surprise.  Mike Morton slowly sipped a cup of coffee as he watched the three approach.  He figured out that Gage was the one who would need his help. Under his breath Johnny muttered, "No, not Morton." "Serves ya right, Gage.  That's getting back at you for me getting a ticket."  Chet laughed under his breath. "You wouldn'ta gotten that ticket if you weren't driving such an old klunker.  Your car stands out." "Hey that klunker got us here didn't it?" Johnny didn't answer.  This whole ordeal was bordering on one hour's time but to Johnny it felt like an entire shift carrying wet hose back to the engine. "What happened here?" "Gage, the walking disaster, had a run in with this girl."  Chet answered before Johnny had a chance.  Morton stood up and took the little girl from Chet.  Thankfully Johnny left the bag in Chet's car.  "Who is this beauty?"  Christina played with Morton's glasses. "Gage's niece and the reason this 170 pound guy is here.  She beat him up." "She didn't beat me up!"  Johnny said but no one was listening.  Morton was having fun pouring attention on this little girl and Chet was watching him.  Neither man noticed Johnny swaying until it was too late and he fell to the floor. Mike gave Christina back to Chet.  "Orderly, I need some help here."  He motioned with his arm. Christina didn't understand what was going on but saw her uncle on the floor.  She didn't recognize any faces here and got upset.  She cried.  Chet had the sobbing child in his arms and looked like a fish out of water.  Fortunately Betty saw Chet's predicament and took Christina from him. "Do you have a bottle for her Chet?" "Huh?" "You know a bottle?"  Betty made a motion indicating a bottle.  "She appears to be tired.  See how she's rubbing her eyes.  I bet this little lady needs a nap."  Betty sat Christina on the desk and softly talked to her. "Um, there may be one.  Lemme go see."  Chet left the emergency room and went to his car to retrieve the bag. In the meantime Johnny was brought into treatment room two.  Mike Morton was in there with the orderly and a nurse. "John Gage what did you do to yourself?"  Mike asked of no one in particular.  The orderly and nurse removed Johnny's clothes and placed him in a hospital gown.  Mike was examining him when Johnny showed signs of consciousness. "Mmmm."  Johnny reached to rub his bad eye. Mike stopped Johnny's motion.  "Don't do that John.  I still haven't finished checking you out." "Wha happened?" "You fainted." Johnny didn't say anything.  When he opened his good eye the room spun.  If he kept it closed, the room rotated.  To compound Johnny's misery the turning made him nauseous. "Doc, I think I'm gonna barf." Within two seconds the nurse had an emessis basis next to Johnny just in case.  And as Johnny predicted, he proceeded to throw up. After his heaving subsided, Morton noticed how his patient was holding himself.  "Do you want to tell me where you hurt?" "No, not really." "I can't help you if you won't tell me." With his good eye Johnny stared at Morton, sizing up the man.  Ultimately he knew what he was about to say would stay within these walls.  Before he was about to answer he noticed Christina was missing. Trying to sit up unsuccessfully, Johnny asked, "Where's my niece?" "She's outside with Chet and Betty." Hearing Betty's name Johnny relaxed, knowing that Chet was not a long term solution to his babysitting dilemma. "You were about to tell me…" "Um, first I fell on my rear end.  Then I did a split that even a trained gymnast wouldn't attempt.  Chrissy poked me in the eye with a spoon.  I fell and sprained my wrist and hit my head on a cabinet.  An' I guess I passed out here." Mike would have laughed if it were anyone other than Gage.  "Okay this is what I'm going to do.  I'm going to check your eye and call someone from opthamology.  I'm going to have x-rays done on your wrist and head.  Do you think your... derriere needs to be x-rayed?"  Mike asked that with a straight professional expression. "No, Doc, I don't think so." "Okay, let's get started." *** After an hour Mike went to look for Chet.  What he saw would soften even the hardest man's heart.  Chet was holding Christina in his arms as she slept.  Chet's head leaned on the wall as well.  Chrissy's little hand was wrapped around his thumb and her other hand held her stuffed dog. "Don't they look adorable?"  Betty asked the doctor. "If Christina wasn't sleeping I'd wake Chet up." "How's Johnny?" "He'll live.  No concussion, a sprained wrist and a bruised... well several other bruises." "How about his eye?" "Grainger saw some slight swelling, but no damage to the retina.  She patched his eye and wants him to rest for several days.  I guess he will miss several shifts." "Is he staying overnight?" "You know Betty, I wanted to admit him, but he said no.  He said his sister's in town and she could stay with him.  It's the least she can do for all the trouble he went through with Christina."  Mike laughed. "You mean that little angel there?  I can't believe that."  Betty heard her name paged and walked away from Morton.  He knew he had to wake Chet up so his discharged patient could be taken home. "Ehem, Chet."  No response.  A bit more forcefully, "Chet." "Wha?" "Johnny's ready to go home." Chet started stretching but realized he had a little bundle in his arms.  He realized it was a smelly little bundle. Morton smiled.  "You may want to do something about that, Chet." "Hey Doc, I don't do diapers."  "Give her to me.  We'll do it in treatment two.  Then you can take them home." "So will his eye be okay?"  Chet asked after he picked up the bag as they walked to the treatment room. "He's got to rest it and let the swelling go down, but it should be okay." The two men and a baby walked in the treatment room and found Johnny there.  On his wrist was one bandage and covering his eye was another.  Mike found a disposable diaper in the treatment room and proceeded to change her diaper.  This aroused the sleeping girl.  Seeing a stranger standing over her and being in an unfamiliar place startled the baby.  She cried. Hearing his niece cry made Johnny sit up.  He watched Morton expertly change the diaper. "Thanks Doc.  Give her to me when you're done." Mike did as was asked.  When Christina saw her uncle all bandaged up she let out a scream. "Shh, Chrissy, it's me.  Your Uncle Johnny."  He cooed, trying to calm her down.  Nothing worked.  For five unforgiving minutes she wailed on.  Finally Chet had enough.  "Lemme have her."  He extended his arms. Much to Johnny's surprise, Chrissy responded and reached out to Chet.  Once he had her in his arms her crying lessened. "So Doc, I can take him back to his place?" "Yes Chet."  He turned toward Johnny.  "Remember, you need to rest.  Stay off your feet for several days to ease those sore muscles.  Your wrist needs to be given time off and you know what Grainger said about your eye." "I know.  Thanks Doc for everything." Johnny slowly got off the gurney.  Chet was still holding Christina.  When Johnny moved closer to her, her sobbing increased. "I don't understand this.  She was fine until a couple of hours ago." "You see Gage, once a girl really gets to know you, they get scared off.  Chrissy is no exception.  She's going on gut instinct." The two men and the baby left treatment room two. "What are you talking about?"  Johnny asked as he hobbled behind.  "Where's the bag?" "It's in the car.  Like I was saying, any reasonable girl should be scared by you.  You don't know how to cook, you're always late…" "Whaddya mean I'm always late…" The two continued their verbal volley as they walked toward Chet's old car. The End or Is It? comments for Kajakat Author's note.  I play peek a bird with my conure CoCo.  One day she got so excited that when I lifted the towel she was right in front of my face.  Her beak was even to my right eye and she could have taken a nice chunk out of it if she was the biting kind.  That's what inspired me to write this story and it's dedicated to CoCo Nut. return to main menu