My health and well being were still a priority. She watched what I ate and what I did every day. The
men still came and watched me swim every day. It was much like when I waspregnant.
Also like during thepregnancy, my contact with my daughters was Limited after Jonathan’s birth. The
girls had to ask permission to see us and Jonathan could not go out into the mines. My girls visited in
our area for specified amounts of time. I knew Nu-reeh monitored us.
Nu-reeh had given the girls instructions. Jonathan could touch them if he wanted, but they were never
to Lay a hand on him. He was virtual royalty in our Little world.
Jonathan crawled over the girls and tasted their fur. When they satIndian stylehe liked to settle in the
warmth of their Laps and sleep. My littlesonadored his birth sisters and squealed with joy whenever
they came to visit.
Not surprisingly, my girls were still at it. When they physically came to see me, they couldn’t say much.
The messages on the pad I got from them told me what they were doing to help the freedom effort.
As they traveled around they did different jobs, usually reconnaissance, for the rebel leaders. Hannah
was also involved in rescues from thepounds. Just from the way she told me stories I knew she
protected the men fiercely.
I didn’t know exactly how human children grew, but I knew about Paterians. Much like his sisters
Jonathan started to try to walk after his first moon. By that time, he finally wanted to sleep when the
men did and wanted to wake when the moons sat. It was relieving to sleep at night, but walking brought
new challenges to us.
Nu-reeh kept him well dressed as his needs changed. The day he started to stand she had little pants
sent for him. As soon as the clothing got tight on his growing body, the right size was sent. She was
very attentive to his needs.
Those strange big eyes began to Look slightly more normal as he grew. His face seemed to grow
around them. The long blonde hair framed his face, making him Look almost angelic. He was a
markedly handsome Little man.
There were issues, though, and things I would never have considered I could screw up. Inadvertently I
slowed his ability to speak. I sang to him and spoke around him inEnglish.I didn’t do it to be rebellious, I
was just used to Hannah and Kennedy, who knew both Languages.
N?velDrama.Org (C) content.
For instance, when I knitted Jonathan was enthralled by the movement of the needles. He’d watch
them carefully for a time and then reach out to grab them. What usually happened after that was a tug
of war as half a morning’s worth of knitting fell apart.
“Gimme,” I’d say inEnglish,ughing at his antics, “mine, not yours.” Jonathan learned the words from
me quickly. When he started to babble it was a blend. Some of the words were Paterian and
someEnglish. Only Rose and I could truly understand the strange mixture of words and phrases that he
started to use.
Nu-reeh was displeased at hisnguage, but gruffly informed me it would be fixed at the Child Keepers.
I swallowed the tears I wanted to shed and merely thanked her. Hannah and Kennedy would free my
baby boy. One day he could speak any Language he wished.
By the time the child had passed three moons, he could have been termed a devil. He was curious and
strong. Evan brought him toys and he dismantled them. He threw his blocks and bent his puzzle
pieces. His favorite trick was to drop things into the pool and watch them sink Shiny stones the men
brought him to y with were perfect for that. ALL in all, I could barely keep up with him.
Evan feared for the boy around the water and taught him to swim. It wasn’t so much a lesson as a way
to alleviate our fears. As it turned out, Jonathan had no fear of water and swimming in it came naturally
to him. As soon as he was allowed to swim he’d swim down to the bottom and collect the things he’d
thrown into the pool. Of course all he did was toss them back in to retrieve again. He’d y that game
all day if I allowed him.
Early on it had be apparent that Jonathan was too adventuresome to be left alone. My friends and
I developed a system when we cleaned our rooms. One of us would watch the boy as the other two
worked. As we moved from room to room he’d grab the side of my dress or Rose’s dress and babble
away to us. Our time to clean was his time to talk. It seemed good practice for him since he was usually
too active to stop and converse.
Most of the time activity was Jonathan’s motto. He ran circles around all of us. When I used a table
he’d climb onto it only to jump off. The furniture in our apartment was his own personal jungle gym.
He’d bound from chair to chair, never touching the floor. It wasn’t possible to stop him. The word ‘no’
was like an ignition switch. Damien Laughed and said it was just Like Evan.
Jonathan was Like Evan in other ways also. His hair grew so it ran down his back. When it reached a
certain point it seemed to stop growing. We kept it tied back to keep it from tangling in everything.
Getting a knot out of Jonathan’s hair always resulted in screams that sounded like bloody murder.
Damien remembered that having been a frequent issue when they were young also.
There were things about Jonathan that were certainly human attributes. Curiosity could have been his
middle name. He wanted to do everything we did. Meal time was always a challenge. Without teeth he
couldn’t really eat the food on our tes. He’d nurse and then he wanted to taste what we were having.
Lucky for us, as it turned out, I found he’d eat mashed up food. I would crush soft things, Like my sweet
potato chunks and feed that to him. It didn’t make him sick and he was growing well, so we always
shared with him.
He nursed frequently, but ate something off mine or Evan’s te at most meals. It seemed to make the
little one happy. I was always d when he was happy.
Jonathan was an all consuming task, but we all loved him. He loved us, too, in his own wild, childish
way. Jonathan needed more though.