Chapter 19: A Night to Remember

Tuesday 29-May 2007

Chris stood in the doorway; he could hear both Maria and Alyssa crying. He walked inside and picked up Maria. As soon as she started to calm down, he held her upside down and gave her a raspberry. She burst into laughter, and he sighed with relief. Still holding Maria, he went and sat at the table next to Alyssa.

"So, what's wrong with Hassan?"

She took a deep breath. "He had soccer training after school, and when he came home, he said that he had a headache, so he went and rested on his bed. But then he was lying funny, and he put his hands over his eyes when I opened the door to check on him, and he wouldn't talk to me. Shahia checked his temperature, and it was quite high. That's when she called you."

"Did she say why?"

"She said something about meningitis." Alyssa was a bit hesitant about the name, but Chris picked it, since there'd been a rush of cases, and the news had carried a number of warnings to parents about the symptoms.

Chris had no doubt that Shahia had been right to get Hassan to hospital as quickly as possible. He fervently hoped that Hassan was okay. And he understood why she'd wanted to keep Alyssa and Maria at home and out of the way. Well, he'd just do the best that he could.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?"

Alyssa burst into tears again, nodding her head.

"Well, hospital is definitely the best place for him then. But Shahia, she's so worried; she's going out of her mind. You and me, we're going to keep things right here, so she doesn't have to worry about that."

But that was easier said than done. At first, Maria refused to eat, and threw an absolute hissy fit when he tried to stick the spoon in her mouth.

What made it worse was that Alyssa refused to help him. "You're in charge," she said, "You sort it out." Chris sighed. Well, tonight was going to bring things to a head with Alyssa, that was for sure.

"Alyssa, you know that Shahia left you at home so you could look after me while I looked after Maria."

She nodded, but still looked rebellious. "She shouldn't have called you at all. I can look after Maria all by myself!"

Briefly Chris felt a flash of anger. Who did she think she was? But then he imagined Bec saying exactly the same thing. He needed Alyssa desperately — she was the one who knew what should go on round here ‑ and he had to get her on his side.

"Actually, you know, that's pretty much what she's done. It's just that there has to be someone older around here by law. So how about I stay out of the way and let you do it properly?"

Alyssa looked at him suspiciously. "All right, I'll do it."

She moved Maria around so that she could see the television, and went and turned it on. She dug through their DVD collection and pulled one out, putting it on. Once Hi-5 had started singing, she went back and put Maria's food in front of her and handed Maria the spoon.

"When she's upset, it's best to get her to watch TV while she's eating," Alyssa explained.

Chris could see that Alyssa knew what she was doing, so he left her sitting next to Maria while he snuck into the bathroom and quickly changed out of his football gear back into his school uniform. Once that was done, he got his homework stuff out, and set it out on the table next to Alyssa. "Done yours?" he asked her.

When she shook her head, he sent her off to get hers and then spent the next twenty minutes helping her with a weird cards-and-numbers game that she had to do for homework.

"Does Maria need a bath?"

Alyssa looked at him scornfully. "Do you see a bath in this house? You dingo! She showers with Shahia."

Well, that was definitely not something that Chris was able to do. He cleaned the food off her face, and then Alyssa got her out of the high chair and let her go play.

After that, Chris went through Shahia's kitchen cupboards, trying to decide what to do for dinner. He found pretty much what he expected — she had a rather eclectic collection of long-lasting food, cans and stuff, probably bought in bulk when they were on special. At least she had some fresh fruit and vegies. Alyssa said she wanted pizza, so he dug out some pita breads and made pizza, making enough to have some to put aside for Shahia for later, if she made it home.

They'd just finished dinner, and things were going well with Alyssa — in fact, Chris was starting to feel as though he was going to survive the night — when Maria ran by, followed by a terrible odour.

"Oh no, she's filled her pants!"

Chris was filled with a feeling of dread. This was what he'd been most afraid of when Shahia asked him to babysit: he just didn't know how to do this. He looked around in a panic. What now?

"You don't know how to change her nappy do you?"

He looked to Alyssa. "No, I've never done a dirty one. I don't know how to! Don't you know?"