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XOXO, JurassicJCub

Homecoming: December 30th, 1995

It was frigid. Matilda Gordon stood on the concrete walkway outside her home. She held her Seven-year-old, Cory, by the shoulder tightly with her right hand, and lugged her huge hospital bag with her left. Mist billowed out of her mouth with every breath. With calm exasperation, she said “Bob, baby, you told me it was a silver key this time.” Bob, her husband, had changed the locks after the last in a long line of break-ins and forgot to throw away all the keys from the previous doors. He shivered, flipping through the metallic milieu of silver and gold. The clank and clatter broke through the sounds of chirping birds and distant cars, like tiny, untuned wind chimes. 

“I gotta pee, Daddy!” Cory, a lanky boy with a bowl cut and a face full of freckles, said demandingly, stomping his foot. 

“Daddy’s gonna let us in. Quit all that moving around, or you’ll pee all over yourself.” Matilda replied, her calm demeanor gradually disappearing. She was on the other side of her thirties, her body not having quite bounced back from her pregnancies with Cory or the new baby.  She had all this and more on her mind since she was discharged from the hospital.

“I think I got it,” Bob said, jamming a golden key into the deadbolt, but he couldn’t turn it. “Never mind.”  

“Bob, it’s a silver key,” Matilda said with her last-ditch attempt at zen. 

“Well, I got my hands full, baby.” He retorted with equal frustration, straining now to hold up the car seat with the baby in it.  

“Do I need to come help you?” 

“No, sweetheart, just give me a minute!” 

“The baby’s gonna freeze to death!” 

Cory’s legs began shaking, “Mama, I-” 

But before he could finish his sentence, Bob had unlocked the door with a loud click like a gunshot at a track meet. The family hustled into the house. Cory dashed for his bathroom, and Bob to the master bathroom, hastily putting the car seat on the dining room table with a sigh of relief as he did so. Taking off her scarf and laying it beside the baby, Matilda looked down into the tattered, but sturdy contraption with a tired smile. The baby didn’t see her, of course; he was sound asleep.  

A few hours later, Matilda was washing her new baby in the kitchen sink. His little blue eyes darted wildly back and forth from Matilda, who was cooing and making sure the water wasn’t too hot or cold, to Bob, who was chopping vegetables; to Cory, who was filming it all with a bulky video camera he could hardly hold up by himself.  

In that moment, his eyes caught the light above the sink and his face contorted in confusion. Eyes wide, mouth agape, the baby let out a sneeze. And another. And another. His parents laughed, while his brother hurried closer and closer, fervently pointing the camera down into the sink. 

Matilda swatted him away quickly, “You’re gonna scare him!” 

Bob turned away from the vegetables with his brow furrowed, “And don’t get the dang camera wet, son!” 

With this, Corey scurried away, lugging the still recording camera on his shoulder. His dad put the knife down and hurried after him.  

“They’re crazy!” Matilda said in her best baby voice. The baby cooed confusedly in return. Her smile faded for a moment, her hand scooping water over his little torso almost on autopilot. “I forgot to say ‘Bless You’. . . can’t be too careful. . .” her eyes seemed transfixed, looking through the baby. 

Her eyes lit up again, “Bless you!” 

Bob rounded the corner, holding the camera up to his eye with one of his large hands. “Hey Gabriel,” he said gleefully, “Is mama washing you good? Huh? Is she- Tilda, don’t put soap on his privates like that, you might hurt him.” 

“How do you think he’s gonna feel in 18 years when his girlfriend sees his little baby tallywhacker on video?” She gave Bob a severe look, prompting him to move the camera up.  

“Look at that blonde hair!” 

Matilda gave a tired smile, “Our little tow-headed baby.” 

“Where’d you get it, Gabe?” Bob cooed. 

“It’s genetics, honey,” Matilda said with a half-laugh. From the minute he was born, there was an unspoken disappointment that manifested in polite surprise.  

“I don’t really care, baby, I’m just saying it ain’t from my side.” 

“You keep saying that, Bob. It could be from either side. You could’ve had a blonde great-granddaddy somewhere. You don’t know,” she said cuttingly. 

“The Gordons all got black hair.” 

“I know that, I’m saying there may have been-” 

“I get it, baby.” 

“Then why do you keep saying that?!” she shouted. 

There was a moment of awkward silence as they realized the camera was still rolling. Bob instinctually turned the camera off, setting it down on the counter and cussing under his breath. Matilda shook her head and turned the water off. She wrapped the baby in a towel and lifted him out of the sink. Securing him in the crook of one of her arms, she used the other to put a strainer in the sink for potatoes that were well boiled by this point.  

“I watched the tape of your mama when they brought Gabriel out. ‘Never seen no Gordon that looked like that’ first words out of her mouth.” Matilda said tersely. “I can tell she’s already decided Cory’s her favorite grandchild. Your sister has six kids, 5 of whom were born before Cory. You’d think the woman would show a little tact.” She was pacing around while Bob made the gravy with his tail between his legs. 

“Well, you know how she is, baby.” he replied flatly. 

“After all the hell she put you through, and your daddy just standing there nodding along like always.” 

“C’mon now, she means well.” 

“Well-meaning or not, Bob, what kind of reaction is that? Caught on camera. He’s gonna see that when he gets older and who knows how he’ll feel.” 

“The same way he’ll feel when he sees how your daddy acted when we told him his name was Gabriel.” Bob said with a tiny drop of courage.  

“He was concerned, that's all.” 

"Why? Because of that woo woo doctor you were going to at first?"

Matilda pursed her lips, "If I would have known what he was doing-"

Bob softened, "I know baby, I know," he embraced her awkwardly, trying to avoid crushing the baby.

Through her tears she said, "But you know he's yours right?"

"Of course I do! There ain't a doubt in my mind."

"Can you tell our families that?" She sniffled with a soft laugh, laying her head against her husband's shoulder.

Bob smiled, "They'll see it as he gets older."

The two held the embrace a little longer until the distinct smell of smoke sank into both of their noses. With a string of curses, Bob rushed over to the vegetables in the pan, moving them around with the spatula. Matilda let her husband know she'd be right back, hurrying to the living room and laying the baby in a bassinet by Cory who was watching a movie.

"Keep an eye on him. Dinner'll be ready soon."

"Okay, mama." Cory replied, not taking his eyes away from the screen. Matilda mussed his hair and walked away, leaving him still glued to the TV. He glanced over at the baby who cooed and smiled.

"Don't look at me, look over there, this is- wait," Cory said hurriedly picking up Gabriel and setting him between his lanky little legs. On the screen a T-Rex was looming over a man on a toilet seat. The beast quickly snapped its jaws around the man and shook him violently. Cory cheered and laughed, looking down expectantly at the baby who was falling asleep.

"Gabriel...that's a weird name. I like your middle name better." He paused, seeing if the baby would react, frowning when he did. "Tyler!" He said abruptly. The baby snapped to attention, looking around to see where the noise had come from. Cory smiled and held his little brother close. The lights blinked and the TV glitched in a quick flash. Nobody noticed except for the baby who began to cry. This would be the first time of many, and it would be the only time the Gordon's would be oblivious to the strange occurrences they were to endure.