Untitled Chapter 12
Okay, I'm going to start putting this in one chapter at a time under the recommendation of QuantumBreed. I tried to get the ball rolling on the whole concept of the story, though in that process I didn't put in nearly as much detail as in the previous 11 chapters. I would really apreciate your input on whether it was rushed or not and if you would prefer the details, ect. ect.
Chapter 12
The week passed by in a blur, the house was filled with the sound of Noah's laughter and smiles. A man from the telephone company came out and fixed the broken phone jack and Nathan spoke to him about getting an unlisted number. Whisper talked on the phone with Ben almost every night, talking about their date and some of the cute things that Noah does.
Whisper wakes up on Friday, the day she and Noah were going over to Ben's; she stretches and gets out of bed and checks on Noah. He was asleep, he face laying against the mattress of his crib and the blanket balled up at his feet and smashed against the bars; a river of drool streaming from his little lips and his hair matted at the nape of his neck with sweat. Whisper smiles and strokes his tiny, warm cheek and folds the blanket that was balled up at the foot of the crib. She dresses and heads downstairs and into the kitchen, where the aromas of bacon, eggs, and fresh brewed coffee are emanating from. She stretches and yawns as she crosses the threshold of the kitchen, she sits in one of the kitchen chairs and leans against the table; Anne looks over her shoulder and smiles at her.
"Well, good morning Sunshine." Anne says in a cheerful tone, "Ben called this morning"
Whisper perks up, a slight sparkle in her eye; she notices her excitement and simmers down, "he did?" Anne turns to face the island counters with a pan of eggs, she looks over at Whisper and smiles.
After scraping the eggs onto a plate she turns, pan in hand, "he said that he is coming over this afternoon to get you and Noah." Whisper's lips mold into a wide smile as she stares out the kitchen window and out into the yard. As she sits and thinks about her date with Ben, Whisper notices that the car is gone. Her eyebrows narrow and her head tilts to the side; she sits up in the chair and looks about the kitchen, just taking notice that her father is no where to be found.
"Where's Daddy?" she asks over the sound of sizzling bacon.
Anne lays a couple more stripes of bacon in the pan, "Frank called in a favor this morning." Frank was Nathan's high school buddy, they were both on the football team and both part of the Future Farmers of America. Frank owns a farm a couple miles out of the north side of Cherry and often needs help hauling in the hay from his fields; Frank also has a slight drinking problem and occasionally wakes up in his field, not knowing how he got home the night before.
"Frank?" Whisper frowned, "what's he up to?"
Anne chuckles, "well, apparently he woke up in the cow pasture and he doesn't know where he left his truck." she forks the bacon onto the plates. Whisper laughs aloud.
"So Daddy is driving around town looking for Frank's pick-up? Why don't they just go back to where Frank was drinking?" Whisper giggles.
"You know how Frank is, he probably tried to drive home again and go stuck on that muddy ass road he lives on" Anne shakes her head, "is Noah up yet?" Just as Whisper opens her mouth to answer, Noah cries out.
"Well, he is now." Anne laughs and brings the plates to the table.
After breakfast Whisper took Noah up to get dressed to go out with Ben; she dressed him casual, just jeans and and his favorite long-sleeve shirt, so as to keep him comfortable. After getting Noah settled in the living room with one of his movies going, Whisper went in and began getting ready herself. She pulled her long black hair back into a half ponytail with a bright yellow scrunchie to match her daffodil sundress; just as she finished getting ready, the telephone rang.
"Hello?" Whisper says as she smoothes the wrinkles out of her dress.
"Hey" says the deep, sultry voice on the other end.
Whisper takes a moment to think before answering, "oh, hey Ben." she smiles and sits on the arm of the chair.
Ben chuckles, "I was just wondering if you and Noah were ready."
"Yeah, we're all set to go when you are." she seats herself on the cushion of the chair and crosses her legs. Noah looks over from his movie.
"Okay, I was about to head that way and wanted to make sure you guys were ready. I didn't want you to feel rushed or anything." he giggles nervously.
"Well, we are all ready to go whenever you are Ben." she says with a smile, Noah walks over and crawls up onto his mother's lap.
"I wanna talk to Ben too, Mommy!" he says.
Whisper laughs, "Uh, Ben...Noah wants to say 'hi' real fast. Is that okay?"
Ben laughs aloud, "sure, that would be great."
Whisper smiles, "here sweetie," she hands the phone to Noah, "say 'hello' to Ben real quick."
Noah takes the receiver in his tiny hands and holds it up to his ear, "hello, Ben. I can't wait to go to your house later" he smiles.
"Hi there, Noah. I can't wait either buddy, is Vincent coming too?" Ben says with a big smile.
"Yes, he is. I have to go now..." he lays the phone in Whisper's lap, "here mommy." he runs and sits down in front of the tv with Vincent.
Whisper grabs the phone and laughs, "you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm still here." he laughs, "but I'm gonna go ahead and head that way to pick you guys up, okay?"
"Alright, we'll be here."
"Okay. Bye, Whisper." he giggles nervously.
"Bye" she clicks 'END' on the receiver and cradles it. "Come on Noah, let's get ready to go."
Whisper sits on the steps and watches as Noah plays with Vincent on the porch; Ben's red pick-up comes rubbling up the gravel driveway and Whisper smiles. She gets up and takes Noah's hand as she leads him toward the truck. Ben gets out of and smiles to them, "hey guys."
"Hi Ben!" Noah waves wildly and smiles brightly. Whisper giggles and waves too, a broad smile spreads across her face as she locks eyes with Ben.
"Well, hey there Noah! You ready to get going, buddy?" he asks as he shuts the truck door.
Noah smiles and begins to jump up and down, "yeah!" he lets out a happy squeal.
"Oh, I almost forgot his booster seat. I'll get the extra one from the shed." Whisper releases Noah's hand and turns to head back the way she came.
"Oh, don't worry bout it...I went and bought one yesterday." Ben says as Noah comes up and leans against his legs.
"You bought Noah a seat for your truck?" she asks, her head tilted slightly to the left.
Ben laughs, "yeah, I hope that was okay?" he ruffles Noah's jet black hair.
"Yeah, of course. Just caught me by surprise is all." she smiles and walks towards them.
"Alright then," he lifts Noah up into his arms, "we ready to go then?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Let's go, let's go. C'mon Mommy!" he reaches his tiny hand out for his mother.
Whisper giggles, "okay, okay...let's get going then." Noah reaches his arms out for his mom and she scoops him up. Ben giggles and opens up the door for Whisper to put Noah in his new seat; then he goes and opens her door too. Once everyone was in the truck, Ben put it in gear and backed down the drive.