Deaf & Dumb

Peter Becomes a Father

Peter sat silently his heart pounding. Only a few hours before Rosemary went into labor, and Peter had to call a cab and rushed her to the hospital. He was waiting in the lobby for hours. He worried so much for Rosemary and the baby.
Peter couldn't stand sitting anymore so he stood up and started pacing the lobby. The receptionist stood up and walked to him.
"Can you please sit down? You're making the other people nervous," She whispered.
"I can't sit down. I'm too nervous," Peter whispered back.
The receptionist gave him a little smile and took him by the hand. "There's a hallway in that no one goes down. You can pace all you want down there," She said.
The hallway was, as the receptionist said, empty. She looked at him. "I'll come get you as soon as we hear anything about your wife," She said.
Peter was too tense to correct her so he just went to pacing. His heart was ready to beat out of his chest. He paced for hours it felt like.
The receptionist came back into the hallway. "Follow me," She said with this smile on her face.
Peter followed her through the hospital. They entered the maternity ward. His stomach was doing flip flops. The receptionist led him to a room. She opened the door for him and Peter entered. Rosemary was laying on her side. She saw Peter enter and smiled.
There was a bundle of blue blankets in her arms. Peter kneeled beside the bed.
Rosemary turned the bundle to face him. A small round face with its eyes squeezed shut was revealed.
"What's his name?" Peter asked touching his son's face.
Rosemary gently lifted the baby and handed him to Peter. She signed that she hadn't thought of a name yet. She had so many in mind that she couldn't choose.
"How about Casey?" Peter asked.
Rosemary's brow furrowed. She asked him to spell it for her. Peter looked for a piece of paper and a pencil. He held the baby to one side and wrote Casey down for Rosemary. She smiled as soon as she saw the name then signed she liked it.
Peter looked down at his beautiful baby boy. Casey. Peter's beautiful son.
A nurse came in and told Peter he would have to leave. Peter gave Rosemary her son back and left the room blowing kisses at her and his baby. "When will I get to see her again?" Peter asked the nurse.
"Tomorrow as early as nine," The nurse replied.
Peter smiled and looked at the clock on the wall. It was only five. He still had time to tell all his friends. Peter walked home on clouds. He wasn't in his apartment for five minutes before he called Stephen.
"Hello?"
"Stephen?"
"Yeah, who's this?"
"Peter."
"Oh, what's up?" Stephen asked.
"Rosemary had her baby! It's a boy!" Peter exclaimed.
"Shit, congratulations! I was having a party just for any old reason. You wanna show up and just spread the news," Stephen said. "Mike, Micky, and Davy said they were showing up."
"That sounds great!" Peter exclaimed.
"It's in like an hour," Stephen said, "but I'd show up like an hour late just so everyone would be there for the good news."
Peter was smiling. "I'll be there!" He exclaimed.
"We haven't got any cigars, but I'm sure there'll be plenty of weed," Stephen said.
Peter laughed. "That'll have to do," He said.
"Goddamn. I never imagined you a dad," Stephen said.
"Neither did I," Peter confessed.
Peter could almost imagine Stephen smiling on the other line. "Bye Peter," He said.
"Bye Stephen," Peter said hanging up the phone.
Peter waited around in his apartment until a couple of hours passed then he got dressed for the party. He called a cab, and the cab drove him to Stephen's house. He paid the cab and entered the loud party. Stephen, who was drunk and holding a beer in his hand, saw Peter as soon as he entered the door.
"The man of the hour!" Stephen exclaimed drawing his friend into his house.
Peter saw the Monkees and smiled at them. "I'm a father!" He exclaimed.
Micky's face broke out into a huge smile. "Congratulations!" He exclaimed.
Stephen handed Peter a handful of joints. "Go pass them out," He said.
Peter handed one to Stephen then one to Micky then Mike then Davy. One to the stranger sitting on the floor. One to Graham. One to David. One to Cass. One to almost everyone, and those who didn't get one shared with someone else.
The room quickly filled up with smoke and the strong odor of weed. Other things were passed around until everyone was suitably high. Some strange woman was making out with Davy. Mike was asleep. Micky was laying on Mike's lap blowing smoke rings in his direction. Graham and Joni were passing back and forth a joint, and sometimes between puffs one would lean forward and kiss the other softly.
Peter found himself in between two lovely women. A blonde and a brunette. The blonde was for the most part there, but the brunette was blitzed beyond belief. The brunette was trying to get some action from Peter and the blonde was trying to stop the brunette from doing anything rash. Peter was looking for an escape.
Stephen was at the piano delightfully banging away on the keys. Peter slipped away from the ladies and took a seat at the piano.
"Do you take requests?" Peter asked.
"Nope," Stephen said flitting his fingers across the keys.
Peter started playing the keys on the other end of the keyboard. Joni wandered over. She sat on the top the piano and started playing the keys in the middle. Somebody started to playing a guitar. Then someone else started playing guitar.
This went on for hours before Peter, in his stoned intelligence, decided he should probably go home. Cass offered to go with him, but Peter turned down her kind offer saying that he could find his own way. So Peter stumbled home quite stoned. Up the stairs to his apartment he tripped. He noticed a tall man standing in front of his door.
"Hello," Peter called trying not to laugh.
The man turned to look at Peter. He could smell the weed on him already. The man's nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Do you know if Rosemary Brior is home?" The man asked.
"Oh, no she's at the hospital," Peter said.
The man looked startled. "Why? She isn't hurt is she?"
"She had a baby," Peter said smiling widely.
The man stared shocked. "That cannot be correct," He said.
"I just saw her this morning. A beautiful baby boy," Peter said proudly. "We named him Casey."
"We?"
"I'm the father."
The man was silent for a moment. "I knew letting Rosemary live on her own was a mistake," He spat. His brow was furrowed.
Peter was starting to get worried. "How do you know Rosemary?" He asked.
"I'm her father."