The Big Arrival

“Daddy, can I have a drink of water?” I looked up at my father. He looked both anxious and excited. We had been waiting months for this moment. He looked down at me. His eyes trying to focus. I was so sleepy I could barely stay awake. I was so excited the night before. Before I entered the third grade, my life would change forever. It was a sticky hot summer, and I spent much of my summer outside running through sprinklers. But it was cold in this sterile white room. A few pictures hung on the walls. Their designs of pleasant flowers and light scenery. There was a coffee table with magazines spread across the top of it, but little an eight year old little boy would be interested in reading.

I nudged at my father’s pants leg. “Daddy, I am thirsty. Can we go to the cafeteria for lunch?” My dad glanced at his watch, and replied, “It could be anytime now that I need to go in with your mom. Your Aunt Carol will soon be here to stay with you. She can take you down to the cafeteria. You just be good for her when she gets here, and our Big Arrival might be here soon.”

His father walked over to a bottleless water dispenser. He pulled a small paper cone cup out of a dispenser and poured me some water into the small cone. “Here. This will tide you over.” He was wearing plain khaki pants with a dark t-shirt. I ran up to him slightly bumping him, water splashing out dripping down the front  of his shirt and landing on his left shoe. 

Dad grabbed me by the hand and walked me over to some blue seats beside a man and a woman waiting as well. They were there when we got there. The woman looked young and had dark hair down on her back. She looked like a teenager. Maybe college, but she was pretty. She sat quietly with her eyes buried deep into her phone. I figured the man beside her was her dad. She wailed, “Dad, can I go to Mandy’s tonight? She has the latest fashion app. Please dad… I am going to” Blah, blah… I heard in my head. Why did girls have to be so dramatic?

I decided to be the little man and show my maturity by sitting there quietly beside her, but it was so incredibly boring. My tablet was now dead again and sitting by itself on a nearby table the charger cord plugged into a nearby outlet. My dad had sat down beside me. Now he was tapping his feet lightly and I could hear the constant pitter of his shoes on the shiny white floor. It was the only sound I could hear other than the ticking of a nearby wall clock.  A television, which hung in the corner of the room, was silent with words appearing across the bottom of the screen. I wish I knew more words, but I could read the gist of the words on the screen. I just did not care to do so. Some kind of news story. Boring adult stuff. I honed back in on the teen’s shrieky squawking voice. “You must let me go. I so want to see this latest fashion app. It is all the rave, Dad! Dad, are you listening to me?” I wanted to tune her out at this point, but I was just so bored, there was nothing to do, and her voice though shrill was all I could hear.

I had a few of my favorite toys in a bag, but I did not want to take out any of them in front of that girl and show her I still play with toys. Then, I suddenly remembered. I reached down into the bag and grabbed my old fidget spinner. I sat in the chair quietly wheeling that fidget spinner. Yeah, I am a master of that fidget spinner, I thought. The black and yellow colors blurred together as it spun around in my hand. My dad touched my knee lightly. “Are you okay? You are being so quiet. Nervous any? Are you excited?” I looked over from the spinning colors and replied, “I am good. Just me and my fidget spinner. It’s just so boring. I think we have been here for days.” I tried to not sound whiny, but we had been there forever. It may have been just hours, but it felt like days to me. “Oh…” Dad patted my knee lightly. We have only been here for hours, not days. You will not be bored anymore when we all get back home.” He chuckled lightly.

Dad had also spent the day before in that boring room while I was back home playing Playstation games on my television and snacking on Cheetos, but I wanted to come today because dad said that we were getting close to the end of our wait. I did not want to miss first introductions. My grandpa once told me that first impressions are everything. I wanted to meet her as soon as possible. But right now I was missing my bean bag chair with a gaming controller in my hand. I was missing running outside in the sprinklers cooling down from the hot humid air throughout my small bedroom. It was so freezing in this room. I was in a pair of red running shorts with a t-shirt with cut off sleeves. I was wearing my favorite Roblox shirt to match. I was wearing my best tennis shoes to complete the outfit. I was sporting this look, I thought to myself while smirking.

That’s when I saw my Aunt Carol enter the room. She walked past all the other chairs across the room straight towards me. “Hey, little man. How are you today?” I could not help myself. I jumped up and threw myself into her arms with the first sound of her voice. I loved my Aunt Carol. She was the best! Every time she sat for me, I got candy and ice cream. She just couldn’t do it yesterday. I had gotten stuck with a babysitter who spent more time on her phone than paying attention to a word I had to say. Plus, she was not as hot as the girl who had been sitting in the waiting room with us, and she did not give me any candy or ice cream all day.  But I loved my Aunt Carol.

I could not hold back. “Can we go get lunch at the cafeteria?” She glanced at the clock. It was about 11:30 in the morning. She whispered, “In just a moment, I will see what I can do.” She winked at me and stepped over to talk to my dad for a moment. My dad stood, and they both stepped aside to talk. Aunt Carol was my mother’s sister. She also did not want to miss “The Big Arrival”. “The Big Arrival” was what Dad had been calling this moment. This was the main event, and our family spent months preparing for this moment. Dad came home with a lot of new things that would be needed. We all had worked on cleaning and rearranging the house. I had been happy to do my part. 

They were only across the room, but I could not hear much of anything they were saying. I could only hear a word here and there. I could not hear enough to make out what they were talking about. My Aunt took my hand. I began to walk with her across the big white waiting room on our way to the cafeteria. Before we rounded the corner to the hallway, I saw a man in a long white lab coat walk up to my dad. All I heard is “It’s time.” I saw my dad smile big and start to walk off with the doctor. 

I walked along with my aunt. I am sure I was talking my head off. I was so excited to see her. I rambled on, “You know what I did to the sitter yesterday?  I put some slime on the chair so she would put her hand down on it! I so pranked her! It was hilarious. She screamed, ‘You little brat!’ but I know secretly she likes me. My new friend Todd. I met him at the park the other day. He told me girls like it when you tease them. You know… Give them attention. Oh, and we went to the lake a few weeks ago. I love going to the lake! It’s lots of fun on the boat.” While I was talking we walked down hallway after hallway, turn after turn, and took the elevator to the main floor. My aunt had one thing to say the entire time. As we exited the elevator stepping upon the main floor, she said, “Wow! You have so much to say, and I do believe you are growing up a little too.” She chuckled. “You are talking about girls already? What do you know about girls?”

I started to answer her question, but something caught my eye. It was a big window with plenty of colorful items inside a small hospital gift shop. Instead, I asked, “May I get some balloons for mommy?” Aunt Carol replied, “Only after I fill that little tummy of yours.”

We finally walked into the cafeteria. People were eating at small tables. There was not much of a line. Aunt Carol got me my favorite: a cheeseburger with some big crinkle cut french fries. Of course, for desert, I had chocolate ice cream to match my chocolate milk. It was all so delicious. She was the best!

I sat there enjoying the feast talking with my aunt still rambling on between each bite. She sat listening patiently while she ate a bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwich with a big salad with some kind of runny dressing. It looked like Italian dressing. Yukk!

The room was huge like a food court at a shopping mall. There were individual tables throughout the room and potted plants sat beside the trash cans for decoration to accent the bright pictures on the walls surrounding us. I sat eating, taking my time enjoying every bit of this personal spoiling.

When I finished eating my food, my aunt stood up and asked, “Now what about those balloons? Just help me throw away our trash, and we will be on our way.” She always seemed like such a happy lady around me. I heard she could get upset and cry for days. I heard it while listening to the adults talk what they called “tall talk”, but she was never like that around me. She was always so delightful and nice around me. “Yes,” I exclaimed. At that, we got up, picked up all of our trash, threw it all away, and walked out of the cafeteria.

We stopped at the gift shop as my aunt had promised me. She got me three pink helium balloons and a little pink teddy bear for me to take to mom. Then, she let me pick out any small toy of my choice for me to keep for myself. I walked through the little gift shop through shelves and a few bins of little plastic toys. Most of the items in the gift shop were flowers, balloons, little souvenirs, and small trinkets or tinker toys you could get to go with a gift. I found a little red toy race car. Aunt Carol gathered all the items, and we went to the check-out where she added a dozen red and pink carnations. “Your father gave me a little and told me to pick these up for him to give to your mom,” she stated as she paid the young lady behind the cash register. The girl behind the register was very polite. She said, “Have a nice day!” with a smile.

We walked out of the shop, took the big elevator back up four floors to walk down winding hallways. Turn after turn, I walked silently this time. I was so excited I felt as if I could burst. I was filled with anticipation. Was it time yet? Was it time yet for “The Big Arrival”?

As we rounded the last corner and entered the waiting room again, my dad was back in the room standing and waiting for me. Aunt Carol waved to him with a huge grin on her face. She looked as if she wanted to blurt something out. My dad picked me up, teddy bear, balloons, and all. My aunt looked at him and exclaimed, “Congratulations, Jim!” 

My dad said, “Your mom and I would like for you to meet someone very important…” I could hear the excitement in his voice. He put me back down and easily took the flowers from Aunt Carol’s hands. We all walked together down the long hallway. I asked, “Is it time for ‘The BIg Arrival’ dad?” We passed a big glass window to a room where there were babies in baby beds and nurses walking around. My dad said, “No, she is not in there right now. And yes, it is time.”

We turned right and walked down a different hallway. Then my dad turned into the fourth room on the left. My aunt and I followed behind him. It was a sight to see us coming with all the pink balloons and pink and red flowers. I saw my mom. “Mom” I called out, but my mom was not alone. She held a tiny little person in her arms. My dad laid a hand on my shoulder and said, “Jake, we would like you to meet Amber. She is your little sister.”