Under Shifting Glass by Nicky Singer

Author:Nicky Singer
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Published: 2011-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

41

The following day we go to the hospital.

“We’re going to bring your mom home,” says Si.

“And the babies?”

“No, not the babies. Not yet. And Mom only for the afternoon. Apparently I can’t be trusted to bring in the right change of clothes.”

In my pocket I have the flask. It has been quiet and almost colorless every day since I tried to paste the name Liminal onto it. But I’m aware of the breath, its quiet ins and outs. Sometimes I think I even hear it when I’m sleeping. Which is impossible.

Only, recently, I’ve begun to believe that nothing is impossible.

Si turns the radio on and we don’t talk much and eventually we arrive at the hospital and ascend fifteen floors in the elevator.

In the Intensive Care Baby Unit, Mom is not on a bed anymore; she’s sitting in a chair beside the babies. I’ve been doing a lot of worrying about the babies, but maybe not enough about Mom. She looks drained and thin.

“Here you are,” she says, and she gets up to greet me. “Missed you.” She gives me a hug and I think I can feel her bones.

“Here’s your big sister, boys,” she says to the babies.

I look into the incubator and I expect to see that the twins have grown, because babies do grow fast, everyone says so. My, how they’ve grown! But my brothers still look tiny, their heads still not filling their tiny knitted hats. I pay particular attention to Clem—is he really smaller than his brother? I don’t know, maybe not, but his little hand is on Richie’s shoulder, so it still looks like he’s holding on.

Both babies are asleep, facing each other, their little mouths occasionally munching at precisely the same moment, as if they are having exactly the same eating dream. And then I wonder about their dreams. Do they share dreams, or do they have separate ones?

“Happy dreams,” I whisper down at them. “Have happy dreams.” And they munch and their eyelids flicker, too, and I suddenly feel overwhelmed with love for them.

It seems no time at all before a nurse comes to wheel them away for yet more tests.

“They’ll have done so many tests by the time they get out of here,” jokes Si, “they’ll be able to go straight to college.”

The nurse laughs, but Mom doesn’t. She just watches the babies leave as if somebody were wheeling away her life.

“Come on, now,” says Si. “Let’s make the most of the time.”

He takes Mom’s suitcase and her hand and helps her into the elevator.

When we get down to ground level and the doors swish open to the outside world, Mom seems to stumble a little, blink in the daylight.

“Are you all right?” says Si. “Are you sure you want to make the journey? I mean, for such a short time?”

“Sure,” says Mom. She nods at me. “I have to see my other baby, don’t I?”

Si helps her into the car and we begin the journey home.

“It’s amazing,” says Mom.

“What?” asks Si.

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