Miscegenist Sabishii (19 page)

“We’re going to give the baby oxygen and get his lungs going.  He’s a little sluggish.”  And then I got scared.  The baby hadn’t cried yet. Didn’t they have to cry?  Nikki was squeezing my hand, a slow dawning fear appearing in her eyes also.  Of all of the things that I had hoped and prayed for over the last few months, the last thing that I had considered was just to pray for a healthy baby.  I felt my heart begin to sink.  In my selfishness I hadn’t asked God for just a healthy baby and now I was paying for it.

I began praying to both God and Buddha; please let him be okay.  And then I heard him cry.  It was loud and angry and I smiled.  I bent down and kissed Nikki.

“He’s going to be alright.”  I wiped away her last tears and then moved to the incubator where they were pulling a blue cap over my son’s huge American head.  The cap slowly popped off.  There was so much black hair that it couldn’t be contained.  His color had returned and he was now transformed from blue to a tan and pink very fat baby.  His fist waved angrily as he balled loudly, his perfectly formed testicles and penis all perfection.  One lone tear found its way down his cheek and he opened his eyes and took a deep breath in order to draw in another breath to scream again.  Those beautiful almond shaped eyes were just like mine.

T-baby was just a big kid, which is why the Ultra sound technician had guessed him as older.  He weighed in at 8 lbs 7 ozs.  And as soon as he passed his APGAR test, which he passed on his second try, he was wrapped in a blanket and Nikki and I were able to hold him.  I didn’t mention that his eyes were like mine more than hers, and when she held him she immediately counted his fingers before even remembering to check his eyes.  And when she did, I saw her look at me quickly and seeing my smile. 

“I love you.”  She mouthed.

“I love you, too.”  I mouthed.

I took my wife and son home the next day.  We had several friends and family come by.  My Mom loved the garden and had setup an outdoor buffet with several different potstickers, dumplings and cakes.  Mom shared the recipes freely and I spun around and stared at her as she was talking to Jay’s mother.  Now I knew what was different about my mother.

I went over to her.  “Mom, can you help me in the kitchen for a sec.”

“Sure, son.”  Once in the kitchen I stared at her.  “Your English has really improved over the last few months.”

“Eh.”  She agreed.

“Mom…”

“Tony, if we’re in the kitchen we may as well make more tea, eh?”  I nodded.

“You just called me Tony.”  I said as I put the teapot on to boil. 

“That’s your name, isn’t it?”

I sighed.  “But you’re the only person that calls me Toi.  If you don’t call me Toi then who else will?”

Her eyes got watery and she quickly turned to the cabinet to retrieve bags of various tea leaves.  “Where’s the Jasmine?  Americans love Jasmine.”  I found it for her and when I did I took her hand gently and placed the tea in it.

“Thank you, Mom.”

“For what?”

“For holding my Japanese for me until I was smart enough to accept it myself, and for not backing down.”  I put my arm around her shoulder and hugged her petite frame.  “Now I see everything so clearly.”

She looked up at me with a smile.  “I do too.”

“Obasaan!” Little T-Baby yelled. His grandmother was suddenly there in the doorway of the bedroom holding a toddler cup filled with some fragrant drink. “I want my Mommy,” the toddler cried.

The Asian woman lifted her sleepy grandson. “Aw, Is obasaan’s babyboy kimochi warui? Here drink this, you’ll feel better.”

T-baby shook his head and then rubbed his ear, which was slightly red and inflamed. His grandmother gently jiggled him on her hip and then blew a soft but cool breath against it. The baby giggled, his previous tears forgotten and then reached for the cup of juice and drank it down.

“Oishii.” he gasped breathlessly after having drank every drop.

“Yes it is good!” She said proudly. He received a kiss on his cheek from his grandmother who then carried him into the dining room where a gathering of women were seated at the table containing Mahjong tiles, a plate of almond cookies and half filled cups of tea. 

Everyone oohed and ahhed at the little brown

two year old with his head of big black curls and eyes as almond shaped as their own.

“Oh let me hold him, Kayo.”

“No, me. I haven’t held him yet.”

“No, it’s time for his medicine,” she responded. Someone complained that she got to keep him five days a week while his parents worked. But Mrs. Yakamoto didn’t care. They could hold their own grandbabies and she would hold hers! Kayo Yakamoto reached into the refrigerator for T-baby’s Amoxicillin.

Once the ladies determined that she would be stingy with her grandchild the conversation switched to other things.

“Mrs. Lee bought a piano for her ungrateful son and daughter-in-law.”

“A piano?”

“Yes, and none of them play!”

The women chattered away as Mrs. Yakamoto used the baby syringe to squirt some of the medicine into the baby’s unsuspecting mouth.

He screwed up his little brown face to the laughter of the other women and was immediately rewarded with a cookie.

Mrs. Tonisho waved her hand and scowled. “Western medicine only works on Westerners. Take a warm mug and place it against his ear with a hot wash towel-”

“No, mineral oil works best!”

“He has a cold not swimmers ear.” Mrs. Yakamoto scowled but good-naturedly. “Ginger, lemon and honey mixed in with his juice.”

“Ah, he will have the poops for sure.”

She sat down with her grandson, arranging her tiles while T-Baby drooled over his cookie. Mrs. Yakamoto jiggled him on her knee and then smiled to herself.

THE END

Awards

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Pepper Pace is a popular author on Literotica.com. She is the winner of the 11th Annual Literotica  Awards for 2009 for Best Reluctance story, as well as best Novels/Novella. She is also recipient of Literotica’s August 2009 People's Choice Award, and was awarded second place in the January 2010 People’s Choice Award.  In the 12th Annual Literotica Awards for 2010, Pepper Pace won number one writer in the category of  Novels/Novella as well as best interracial story.

PEPPER PACE BOOKS

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STRANDED!

Love Intertwined Vol. 1

Love Intertwined Vol. 2

Urban Vampire; The Turning

Urban Vampire; Creature of the Night

Wheels of Steel Book 1

Wheels of Steel Book 2

Wheels of Steel Book 3

Angel Over My Shoulder

CRASH

THEY SAY LOVE IS BLIND

~SHORT STORIES

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Someone to Love

Blair and the Emoboy

About the Author

Pepper Pace is the pen name used by the author. Born and raised in Cincinnati, she has always enjoyed creativity. At a very young age, Pepper showed a gift for writing. She wrote her first novel when she was 12 years old and had written 2 more by the age of 18. Too shy to share her work with anyone, Pepper stockpiled her many stories into notebooks until she came upon Literotica.com and was compelled to share her craft.

Pepper became instantly popular and won several awards each year in which she submitted a story to the site. After receiving popular feedback, she grew in confidence and created a popular blog entitled Writing Feedback where she encourages her readers to interact with her on topics concerning, music, writing, art and pop culture. She can be reached at her blog: pepperpacefeedback.blogspot.com/