Devil's Work

Gerard doesn’t go to work for two more days, and we all sit around at home.

There is nothing to do anymore. Frank puts on my Baby Einstein and Baby Mozart videos but they are so boring now. All they have are colours and soft music to put me to sleep. I like it better when Frank and Gerard and I play in the Toy Room.

But Frank is cuddled up with me on the couch and he is very, very quiet. He hasn’t said much in the last days and Gerard hasn’t said much either. I am scared for both of them.

I am fussing in Frank’s arms, trying to tell him to turn off the boring video. There is nothing interesting about watching bubbles float by. It annoys me. There is something much more serious going on, and bubbles do not amuse me at this point.

“Stop your squirming, Kaitlynn,” Frank groans. “Here, we’ll put on something better.”

He places me in my soft chair and then straps me in so I don’t fall out of it. Then he goes out of the room, slouching, and returns with the video camera and cords. He begins fiddling with the camera so that we can watch old home videos.

Gerard’s head pops up on the screen after a while. He’s smiling and running and panting. “Today’s the day!” he exclaims wildly into the camera. Frank echoes him, behind the screen.

Frank turns around. “That’s when we went and brought you home,” he informs me. He still believes that I can understand him while Gerard does not. I smile anyways. They look so happy, running around and shouting things out in an empty parking lot.

The screen moves forward rapidly for a while and then Frank stops it. He gets up and uses the remote instead.

“Come on, Frankie, don’t be scared,” Gerard coaxes from behind the camera. Frank is holding me, in a bathtub, just standing there. I look so tiny right next to his arms. Gerard adds, “She won’t shampoo her own hair, you know.”

“She’s so fragile, though!” Frank sighs. “I can’t do this. You do it, Gerard.”

“I’m not going to; you’re the one who wanted to give her a bath first.” Gerard’s scolding voice is enough to make Frank pour some more water onto me. Gerard laughs.

“Boring,” Frank-in-real-life hums, and he scoops me up into his arms again. He presses a button to make the screen whirl once more, and then it stops.

We watch Gerard changing me into my pajamas, Frank playing guitar in front of my crib, my first visit to Grandma Linda’s house and then my first visit to Grandma Donna’s and Grandpa Don’s, the time I tried to crawl, and another bit of Gerard and Frank hovering over me as I sleep. And then we come to two days ago, my first tooth.

“Screw this,” Frank grumbles, and then he presses the same button again. But he doesn’t do it for long. He looks at the screen for a few seconds before calling Gerard downstairs.

Gerard’s hair is wet when he enters the room. He smells like flowery soap. “What is it?” he gasps, out of breath.

“I got it all on tape,” Frank says and points to the screen. He stands and heaves me up with him. “I didn’t know that I left the camera on until it ran out of batteries. I got the phone call all on tape.”

“Are you shitting me?” Gerard asks, and Frank makes that hissing sound he does whenever Gerard uses a swear. “We can call the police and show this to them! We have actual proof!”

Frank is excited, but then his shoulders shrug. “What if it’s true, though, what they told us? That the police won’t be here to protect us?”

“They can’t convince the entire police force to stay away from us,” Gerard reasons. He looks like he is trying to hide a triumphant smile. “Here. Give me the phone.”

Frank picks up the cordless phone and tosses it to Gerard. He dials, waits a moment. And then his face falls.

“We can’t reach 911,” he says at last. “It’s saying that we’re not authorized to use that number. Frank, this is bogus. We shouldn’t be cut off from this number.”

“I told you!” Frank cried. “They’ve got us surrounded! We have nowhere to go!”

“We’ll find out what’s going on,” Gerard promises.