Band-Aids

January 14, 2008

“Are you here for an appointment, Ma’am?” a plump lady asked behind the counter without looking up as she typed away at the keyboard.

The young girl walked up to the secretary desk, shivering the cold air off her body and brushing the snow flakes off the two kids she brought with her. “Yes. Carrigan and Daniel Moffat?”

The secretary pushed her glasses up on her nose and clicked around on her computer as the girl that held the little boy in her arms securely, switched him to her left hip. “Great. I’ll tell Dr. Johnston you all are here and you can go ahead and have a seat.” The receptionist gestured to the waiting area across the dentist’s office.

“Thanks.” Readjusting the two-year-old on her side again, grabbing the hand of the four-year-old standing next to her and somehow carrying a diaper bag and a purse, the girl managed to lead them all in to the waiting room.

As soon as the bags hit the floor and her butt hit the seat, her two kids hopped up and ran to the toys in the corner to play. Breathing out a sigh of liberation, the girl laid her head back against the wall that was behind her chair and watched the two kids occupied themselves as she tried to get the most of the two minutes she would have to herself before the dentist would come and get them and the chaos would start all over again.

She was dressed in fitted pants and an unappealing violet vest that she wore to work everyday. On the left side of her chest was a nametag that read “Jenny” that she had forgotten to remove before she rushed out of florist shop to pick up and bring the kids to their dentist appointment.

Jenny was nothing less and nothing more than average. There wasn’t anything about her that stood out, in her opinion anyways. She was standard height and normal weight. Her thin, dirty blond hair sat uncurling below the shoulders and framed her face helping to bring out her green-blue eyes. She liked what almost every other girl out there loved; dancing to music, shopping, ice cream, spending a night with her girlfriends, late Friday nights and falling in love.

“Excuse me, Miss Moffat? Jenny?” the receptionist called again to the distracted girl. “Jenny? We have some paper work for you to fill out.”

“Right, sorry,” she said loudly, hanging up the children’s jackets along with her own as she made her way to the front. The two kids followed her, one begging to be picked up and the elder using her leg as a pole to play Ring around the Rosie by herself.

“Daniel, I can’t hold you right now, babe,” Jenny said to the little boy. “Carrigan, hey, why don’t you go over and find a puzzle for you and Dan okay?” The two both shook their heads, pouted and proceeded to run around.

“I’m sorry about them,” Jenny smiled apologetically. The receptionist laughed it off and handed Jenny another form.

Dr. Johnston headed for the door to the lobby and held it open for the patient he had just finished up with. As he walked in to fetch his next patient, he no longer felt the serenity that the room had held before, now it was filled with children laughing and foot stomps as two kids disrupted the calmness vibe.

“The Moffats!” Dr. Johnston said happily. “Glad to see you all…so soon…” Jenny laughed and greeted the dentist then set the last of the forms on the front desk.

He walked up to the desk and handed the receptionist a file, talking about another appointment that his previous patient would be needing to set up. Jenny scooted down from her spot on the counter so she was out of the way of the man that was trying to pick a day for his next appointment.

“Carrigan, put your shoes back on,” she said absentmindedly as she bent over to sign one last paper. Suddenly she heard a little boy burst out in to tears.

“Oh shit-oot!” The patient, that had just exited the exam room with Dr. Johnston, was leaned down and trying to help Daniel up. “I’m so sorry, bud!” Jenny looked down and saw Daniel crying, reaching his hands out to her. Taking a couple steps towards the man who had finally gotten the boy up and steadied, she took Daniel in her arms.

“Aw, you’re all right bud,” she said trying to be overly happy in order to cheer the little boy up.

“I’m really sorry,” the man said as he scratched the back of his brown hair. “I-I…I didn’t see him there.”

“It’s really no problem. He was running all over the place; never calms down.”

“Yeah, well I guess I--”

“We have you down for Saturday at noon. Will that work, sir?” the receptionist unknowingly interrupted the man’s apology.

“Tomorrow? Yeah, that works. Thanks.” He turned back to Jenny, going to make sure the boy he ran in to would be alright. Instead he saw the girl kneeled on the ground and trying to get her little girl’s shoes on while the boy he previously had knocked over was smiling and digging through the diaper bag. She looked pretty distracted; using one hand to latch the Velcro and the other was trying to keep the boy out of trouble.

As Dr. Johnston waited for the family, she looked very overwhelmed and stressed, but she was smiling and laughing with the kids, enjoying the hectic moment nonetheless. The man decided to not bother her and he grabbed his jacket off the hanger before he entered the winter air that was waiting for him outside.

Once Jenny got everyone finally situated, she stood up and smiled up at the man who was slipping his arms through his coat sleeves, getting ready to leave. Jenny grabbed Carrigan’s hand and started following Dr. Johnston through the door back to the exam room.
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“Bye,” Jenny called distractedly and Carrigan waved over her shoulder, stumbling over her feet as she looked back at him, intrigued.

“See ya,” he mumbled, tucked his hands in his pockets and left.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was dark outside, snow blurred the night sky and the wind howled against the single-story house as Jenny stood beside the kitchen counter, sorting through papers. The kids were a few strides away in the family room where they had been playing for the past hour.

“Daniel, stop!” Carrigan yelled at her younger brother with frustration as he tugged at his book that she was holding.

“Carrigan,” Jenny scolded. “Give the book back to Daniel right now.” Ignoring the authority, Carrigan continued to shove her younger brother around and Jenny sifted through the mail. “Carrigan, I’m warning you. Bed time is in 20 minutes but if you don’t start behaving, you will go now.”

After being denounced, Carrigan obeyed. Not moments later, the siblings went back to playing and giggling together.

The cell phone that was charging beside Jenny started singing. “Hello?” she answered gracefully.

“Hey sis!”

“Hey Mark,” she said tiredly, but a smile was on her face. Carrigan and Daniel overheard Jenny and ran over to her. “Happy Birthday, big brother!”

“Thanks, Jen.”

“How does it feel to be 25?”

“Damn old.”

“I wanna talk to Mark!” Carrigan protested after overhearing Jenny talk. Daniel joined Carrigan and started jumping up and down, wanting to hear Mark’s voice. Jenny tried pushing the two off her leg as her brother talked.

He chuckled. “Tell those two hooligans I got their message they left this morning.”

Jenny laughed and looked down at Carrigan and Daniel then told them their happy birthday song they sang for Mark on his answering machine was received. Carrigan clapped excitedly and Daniel, not really understanding, started singing “Happy Birthday” softly in the background.

“They were pretty excited to sing for you.”

“They sounded just lovely. You sound tired, tough week?”

Jenny laughed at the foreseeable answer. “You could say that.” She cupped the phone with her hand and shooed the kids to go pick up their mess. “Carrigan and Daniel went to the dentist today. So that was great.” Mark laughed at the thought of the two squirming around in the dentist chair; he had heard past stories. “And I went to Carrigan’s first pre-school parent-teacher conference ever!”

“Oh cool, how’d that go?”

“Pretty well. Her teacher said she is a little pushy…” Jenny commented and looked over at the two in the living room from her spot in the kitchen where she watched Carrigan push Daniel out of the way of the toy box causing him to fall back.

“Eh. That’s to be expected,” Mark joked. Jenny laughed along until she saw the kids starting to get rambunctious.

“Crap. Mark, I have to go, can I call you later tonight and we can talk about your day?” Jenny didn’t even give time for her brother to answer before she hung up.

“Daniel,” Jenny warned. Carrigan was dynamic, but Daniel could definitely fight back and stand his ground for a little two-year-old. “No throwing toys.” Jenny chuckled and rubbed her eyes after looking at the clock. 7:00 on a Friday night? How lame was she becoming; 21 years old with two kids under her wing. But then she looked out to the living room and saw the two playing trucks. Carrigan was wearing her little silk, princess pajamas and her curly blond hair in high pig tails. Daniel had on his dump truck footy PJ’s and his thready, caramel brown hair softly hung on his head that brought out his rosy cheeks when he giggled.

She would never trade this for anything. Ever. No matter how tough it was all by herself. If anyone took those kids away, she would be crushed.

“Come on, kiddos! Race you to the bathroom!” Jenny yelled across the house after she pulled herself out of thought. She started running, pretending to sprint towards the bathroom to urge the kids to follow her. Carrigan ran past her laughing, saying that she would beat both of them and Daniel struggled to keep up with his stubby legs, but Jenny scooped him up and “flew” him to his destination as he pretended to be an airplane.

After brushing their teeth and getting their nighttime glasses of water, Jenny got the two in to their correct beds. “Tucked in?” Jenny shoved the covers in under their sides so they were snug under the comforters like a hotdog. “Check. Nightlight?” She flicked the lights off and automatically the princess nightlight flashed on. “Check.” She walked over to the kids’ toddler beds. “Kisses?” They both left slobbery kisses on Jenny’s cheek. “Check.”

Then Jenny walked over to the door and left it open a crack. She poked her head through the door and looked at the angelic faces as they breathed deep. Thinking, just 30 minutes ago they were running around like a pack of horses, but now calm and peaceful. She breathed in the sweet smell of their room and shut the door fully. “Goodnight. Love you, dears.”