We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly eating and talking.
Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, "Hi there." He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.
I looked around for the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map. We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. "Hi there, baby; Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster," the man said to Erik.
My husband and I exchanged looks. "What do we do?" Erik continued to laugh and answer, "Hi, hi there." Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby.
Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, "Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a- boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo." Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk. My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skidrow bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.
We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. "Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik," I prayed.
As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's "pick-me-up" position.
Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man's. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love relationship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine.
Now, the baby in an act of "total trust, love and submission" laid his head on the bum's shoulder. "Two beings never loved so deeply for such a short time."
He said in a firm commanding voice, "You take care of this baby." Somehow I managed, "I will," from a throat that contained a stone.
He pried Erik from his chest unwillingly, longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, "God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift." I said nothing more than a muttered thanks.
With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying, "My God, my God, forgive me."
I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, "Are you willing to share your son for a moment?" when He shared His for all eternity. The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, "To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become as little children."
I'm not sure what to say about this one.
MIB
-------------------- What it all comes down to is, dyslexics have more nuf. Posts: 1090 | From: Area 51 | Registered: Feb 2000
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hautdesert
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
quote:Originally posted by MIB: Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, "Hi there." He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.
Hmm. I know all kids are different, etc., but both my kids had teeth before they could sit up, and certainly before they could say "Hi there."
quote:Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love relationship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's ragged shoulder.
posted
That is exactly what I thought too... I don't think a baby should be consummating anything! ~Mizu
-------------------- "I am lost in the familiar streets and created the other side of myself in the darkness" ~ Kawaita Sakebi~ Field of View Posts: 302 | From: Nebraska | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by MIB: I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes.
A child who would happily eat rat poison, or crawl over the edge of a steep flight of stairs, or put his hand in a boiling pot of water, because he was innocent.
quote:The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, "To enter the Kingdom of God, we must become as little children."
Hey, you become like a little child and eat rat poison, you'll "enter the Kingdom of God" pretty quick...
quote:Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love relationship.
Agreed that this bit is just nasty ("love relationship"??? What is this, NAMBLA material?), especially considering the old man's earlier description...
quote:It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes...
Had the guy bought anything at the restaurant, or was it their policy to let homeless people in to simply loiter and bother the paying customers?
Arts "maybe consomme with the Campbell's Kids..." Myth
-------------------- Stupid, stupid rat creatures! - Bone "The missionaries told us not to cut ourselves. It displeases Jesus." - Elsie Clews Parsons, Kiowa Tales, quoted in The Mourner's Dance, Katherine Ashenburg Posts: 695 | From: Ottawa, Canada | Registered: Sep 2002
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ZOIDRubashov
I'll Be Home for After Christmas Sales
posted
Here's the real ending....
I brought the happy baby back in the car. Well maybe Erick would sleep all night. Then I got a whiff.... "Phew!" my husband answered. "You'd better change the baby's clothes and give him a bath when he gets home. That's worse than ten full diapers."
Posts: 201 | From: Columbus, GA | Registered: Sep 2000
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NansJns
The Red and the Green Stamps
posted
There isn't enough "ick" in the world to describe this glurge! What kind of mother would let a smelly, homeless old man they'd never seen before hug their baby? And you're all right, that whole "consumating their love relationship" line was just wrong! Eewww! And what did the husband think of this whole thing, anyway? He just srt of disappeared.
posted
I'm sorry, there is no way I'm going to believe that refusing to let that person hold the baby would be an "un-Christian" thing to do. When my children were babies, I would never have let a stranger hold them -- not even a clean stranger. And "consummate a love relationship"? Puh-leeze! Nobody does that with my kid.
-------------------- It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate. Posts: 1034 | From: Central Illinois | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote: We were the only family with children in the restaurant.
It was a strip club.
quote:Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, "Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a- boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo." Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.
Why wasn't he kicked out of the restaurant if he was being that loud and obnoxious?
quote:Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man's.
Uh...do babies do that all the time or something? It makes it sound like the kid flew or something...
quote:His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's bottom and stroked his back.
I find that image disturbing. Well, at least he wasn't stroking the baby's bottom... (ducks)Posts: 1377 | Registered: May 2001
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Hmm. I know all kids are different, etc., but both my kids had teeth before they could sit up, and certainly before they could say "Hi there."
Maybe this kid was really precocious! Either that, or he was a late teether.
-------------------- Leashes?! We don't need no stinking leashes!! Posts: 4771 | From: The Berkeley of the East Coast: Montgomery County MD | Registered: Mar 2003
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![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
I don't think a baby should be consummating anything!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Either that, or he was a late teether. 
