The patter of little feet up much too early and Grandma had taken only one sip of coffee.

"Grandma!", cried Jacob. "Matt said a kid at school says babies are delivered by storks!"
Matt nodded. "Is that true?"

"No," replied Grandma thinking it's gonna take a whole lot of "joe" this morning.
"Be a lot easier that way, boys."

"Well, where do they come from?" asked Matt.
"Do you remember seeing our neighbor's cat having her kittens?"
"Yeah," said Jacob. "She had four and they were messy."
"Babies are known to be messy, Jacob. Especially human babies because they are helpless
and need to be changed and fed a whole lot. The Mama Cat had her babies all on their own
after just six weeks."
"That was awesome," contributed Matt. "But where do babies like we were come from?"
"You came from inside your mommy Joyce's tummy.
And Matt came from inside my daughter Margaret's tummy and she came from my tummy."
"I don't remember that!," exclaimed both boys.

Grandma poured another cup.
"Your mommies have pictures of you when you were inside ... that's called a sonogram.
You ask to see them, OK?"
"Kewl!" The boys helped themselves to some bananas and sped back to their room,
only to return within minutes. "How did we get out?," they asked.
"Think of the kittens."
"Yuck!," cried Jacob and Matt just giggled. "No way," said he.
"Oh yes, way, too .... smarty! Mommies have a special path for the babies to come out.
When a baby is ready to be born, the mommies huff and puff .... " ..... "Like the big bad wolf?" asked Matt.
"Kinda," said Grandma with a giggle.

"OK, Grandma. How do the babies get in the mommy's tummy?" asked Jacob.
"Well mommies have eggs and when a special seed touches that egg, a baby is started."
"Wow." This from both boys and Grandma bit her imaginary bullet for the next question.
And it came and she replied, "A daddy plants the seed."
"Does he use a trowel like when you plant seeds, Grandma?"
"Not exactly. Now enough need to know for today."

Saved by the bell ... the front doorbell which was used only by strangers or salesmen;
everyone else just came in through the back screen door. "We'll get it!," hollered the boys.
"We all will go." They met up with Matt's mom, Joyce, as she came from her bedroom to answer the door.

Grandma opened the door leaving the chain lock on and then quickly unlatched it and exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!"

A kind looking lady was supporting a young woman who was cradling an infant.
"Come in, come in!" Both Grandma and Joyce reached for the baby as the young girl appeared so weak.
Joyce was faster so Grandma linked her arm around the younger girl and all were soon gathered
in the kitchen and the tea kettle was on in a nano second.
And blankets appeared from nowhere to wrap the girl and the infant.

"My name is Mary," said the kind woman.
"This is Dee Dee ... Diedre and her baby is LaTricia named for her late mother."

Dee Dee spoke in a soft weary voice ... "Are you Grandma? The peanut butter Grandma?
There was a jar with your address on it in the church shelter. I hoped maybe if I could find you,
you'd know how to help LaTricia and me. We have no one.
The hurricane was coming and I knew I'd better get while I could
but I had only enough money for the bus to get us to Richmond. I didn't know how far away you were."

Mary took up the story. "She and the baby were just sleeping on a bench at the station in Richmond
where I'd gone to pick up my daughter on a visit home from college. So my daughter and I scooped them up
and got them checked out at the hospital ER and we'd gladly have sheltered them
but Dee Dee just knew she had to find you. So here we are."

Jacob placed his hand on Dee Dee's and said, "Does she have a daddy?"
"No, honey. He ran off before LaTricia was born."

"My daddy is a policeman and Matt's got a 'dopted Uncle who is a Marine. His daddy was killed in Iraq."
"Oh my," said Dee Dee.
"Where was your home, Dee Dee?", asked Grandma.
"Biloxi, ma'am. My auntie raised me but she passed before LaTricia was born.
Maybe I shouldn't have tried to find you but that peanut butter was all I had to hold onto.
I asked around and some folks on the bus said you might be white and that I should not come north.
But all I could think was you must be nice and Grandmas help."

"Where's Biloxi, Dee Dee?," asked Jacob.
"Mississippi, honey."

Mary, handed a large tote bag to Joyce. "There are some diapers and formula in here.
The ER doc thought it best to go to bottle feeding since Dee Dee is so weak from her long journey."

"Looks as though I'll be going shopping, Grandma!," said Joyce.

Jacob asked if he could touch the baby. Matt was a little tentative
but soon those tiny fingers had encircled the boys' fingers and the boys were singing softly.
"Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red and yellow ... black and white ...
they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."
It was tissue time. And a small cry came from LaTricia.

Joyce had the bottle warming.
"Let's get you into a nightie, Dee Dee. You rest in my bed today
and we'll make sure LaTricia is OK. Would you like to soak in some bubble bath first?"
"Oh, Grandma ma'am ... that would be like heaven."

Jacob looked up at Grandma. "Are we 'dopting, Grandma?"
"We surely are if that's all right with everyone ....
" She had no chance to finish as "Ayes" filled the room!

Mary beamed. "Thank ya'll. I must get back to Virginia.
Here's my full name and a phone number to keep in touch."
Grandma hugged Mary and showed her the family way out ...
and the screen door banged shut as Grandma waved and then quickly turned
to seek the antique cradle tucked away in the crawl space.

Dee Dee was tucked in and LaTricia looked like a little pea in her cradle pod.

Joyce, Grandma, Jacob and Matt were gathered again in the kitchen. Jacob said,
"I think we'll tell that kid at school that babies come from Mississippi, Grandma."
Grandma opened the note from Mary. Her last name was Gabriel.
"Good idea, Jacob. Just add with the help of angels."

© Connie Good
October 11, 2005

Dedicated to all who open their
hearts and homes to those in need.
And Mommies and Daddies will know
When to explain that "seed".
"Grandma"

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