Millie Hardiman and the Red Parrot Fever

A Baby Named Fergus - Part 40

"Here, let me do that." Millie took the spoon out of Gwen's hand and dipped it into the soup bowl.

Gwen grabbed it back. "Get off of me! I'm not an invalid, I can feed myself."

They were in the maternity ward at Boggie Royal Infirmary and Gwen was quite enjoying the break. The baby was sleeping for once, and she intended to have a nap as soon as she got rid of Millie.

Millie tried to be firm with her. "The doctor said no unnecessary movements with your bruised ribs."

"He didn't mean raising a spoon to my mouth to feed myself. Go home and do your homework, Millie."

"Don't you want me to feed and change Fergus?" Millie was driving Gwen nuts.

"No I don't. Tell Barry to bring some more magazines and my drawing stuff. I might as well create some art while I'm in here."

"That's the spirit, Mum," Millie said supportively. "You be a brave soldier and do some more of your wonderful art. I'll make sure it gets posted online for you."

Gwen eyed her suspiciously. "Who are you and what have you done with Millie?"

Millie giggled. "You're such a joker, Mum. Right I'll get off home now and clean the house. If you need anything, ring the bell and make the nurses work for their money. It's old people like you that have spent all their lives paying for the NHS, that need a bit of nursing now."

..

"What's she up to?" Gwen asked Barry that evening, as he sat beside the bed reading Grazia. She was feeding Fergus, and tickling his chin as he drooled happily. "She's still grounded. I haven't forgotten about the whole organ selling business just because I had a sprog."

"She's a changed kid." Barry looked up from a story about how eating bananas could make a woman's nipples larger. "The past few days she's been like Mary Poppins. She's cleaned the house, made me packed lunches and washed all the clothes and bed-linen in the house. The accident really scared her, Gwen. When you fainted, she thought you were dead. When the ambulance got there, they said she was inconsolable."

Gwen felt a bit tearful. "Poor kid," then remembered this was Millie. "Is this all a ploy to get back on the show?"

Barry shook his head. "I really don't think so. Remember she is still a kid. We've gotten used to her behaving all grown up, but underneath it all she's only thirteen. I told Elaine that there wouldn't be any new stories for a bit and she understands."

"Good," said Gwen. "She's banned from stories until I say so, and don't you forget that," she warned Barry.

"So for once in her miserable life, she was telling the truth," Gwen told her mother, as she made tea in the kitchen.

Harriet and Ray had to come to stay for a few days, so that Harriet could help out with Fergus.

"It was a hang-glider dressed up as a hamburger, for some stupid promo. He bounced off the bonnet and the glider dragged him fifty yards down the beach." Gwen sipped her tea. "He broke his arm and his collarbone, poor chap. He came to see me and he couldn't stop apologising. Apparently, some wild gust of wind snapped his steering thingy."

A noise in the living room prompted them to pick up their teas and see what was happening. They sat at the dining table and watched Ray making the baby laugh, by lifting up his eye patch and showing Fergus his scarred eye socket."

"Ray!" stop scaring the child," Harriet admonished him.

"He likes playing pirates," Ray said. "Har, Fergus lad."

Millie came in wearing a checked apron and a headscarf. She tutted loudly when she saw the cups on the table. "Coasters please, people." She sorted the coasters and then pulled a duster from her pocket and started polishing the telly.

Her family watched her suspiciously and Gwen said, "Where did you get that outfit?"

"I bought the appropriate clothing in town," Millie said.

Gwen sighed loudly. "The ban's lifted, Mrs Mop. You've done your time in Shawshank. Now go and make up some crazy stories for Marshmallow Girl."

Millie looked up from her polishing, with a sad face. "It's all gone, Mum. I haven't got any stories left in me."

"Don't be daft," Ray said. "Sit down at your computer and start writing and it'll all come flooding back."

"I tried," Millie said, "and nothing happened. This is my life now. If I work hard at school, I'm hoping to get a job as a Lollipop lady."

"Oh well," Gwen said, quite unsympathetically, Millie thought, "maybe we'll all get a bit of peace and quiet from now on then."

On cue, Fergus opened his mouth wide and started screaming.

44

Millie lay in bed and tried to drown out the baby's screams by coming up with new plots for Kya Zul. Nothing came to her. She was exhausted. The baby had been crying most of the night, and the early morning sunrise was already making the sky pink. She went downstairs in her old, pink dressing gown and sat in the living room with Gwen and Barry. They both looked as tired as she normally felt, during a class of double maths.

"Is he alright?" she asked Gwen anxiously, looking at Fergus' scrunched up face as he lay in his rocker.

"He's been to the doctor and she says he's fine," Gwen yawned. "Apparently some babies cry more than others, and there's nothing you can do until they grow out of it."

"I'll sit with him for a bit and you two can go back to bed," Millie volunteered.

"Goodnight," Barry said and he virtually ran upstairs.

"Thanks Millie," Gwen said and stroked her hair affectionately as she went past her.

                                                                                                              ..

"Now then young man, what's all this noise about?" She made a funny face and tickled his belly. Fergus stopped crying when she spoke and Millie continued. "You want to hear a story, do you? Ok, what've we got?" She thought for a minute. "How about Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?" she asked cheerily. Fergus screamed. "Ok, not that one then," she said hurriedly. "Cinderella?" As Millie ran through her favourite stories, Fergus screamed louder. Suddenly she had an inspiration. "What about, The Adventures of Martian Girl?"

Putting on her best storytelling voice, Millie began. "Kya Zul launched her rocket ship from Europa, the second moon of Jupiter, and headed back towards the sun."

Fergus listened intently as Millie rocked his cradle and George came over and lay on Millie's feet, before going to sleep.

                                                                                                              ...

From then on, Millie was on bedtime story telling duty every evening. Keeping the baby happy had inspired her to new heights. For some reason, the more bloodthirsty and outrageous the stories got about aliens and dragons, the quicker Fergus went to sleep.

"Just so long as you don't send the telly audience to sleep," Barry joked with Millie.

"No danger." Millie had her old confidence back. "They're going to love the next series."