problem child

Another double shift was over , Joan clocked out and headed for the locker room , she changed out of her scrubs and headed home .

The moment she started walking down the street , The rain started , it was light at first but it seemed that with every step , it became a little heavier , before she was two blocks out it was a steady drenching rain . she pulled up her collar and pulled her coat tight about her shoulders and just kept on walking . she could have gotten a cab or taken the bus , but the rain was warm and somehow comforting .

She considered stopping in at " O'Shea's " for a couple of drinks , but decided against it and just kept on walking .

She was nearly to the end of the block past the place , when she turned around and headed back and walked inside .

The place was nearly empty , not surprising for a Wednesday night . she took a stool at the bar as she draped her coat on the stool next to her . She ordered a drink , a white Russian , and turned her gaze to the wide screen over the bar . There was a soccer match playing and she let the action of the game consume her attention as she sipped on her drink .

She had nearly finished , when the bartender set another down in front of her , " Compliments of the gentleman at the end of the bar " , as he gestured to her left , she looked to the end of the bar , but there was nobody there , she looked back at the bar tender .

He just shrugged his shoulders and said , " He was there a minute ago , I guess he went to the men's room or something " .

Joan turned her attention back to the game , She finished off the first drink and took a sip of the second . As she got to the end of the second drink , a third was set in front of her . She looked to her left , and there at the end of the bar sat a small pale man . he raised his glass and smiled at her , she raised her glass and smiled back .

What an odd looking man she thought as she turned her gaze back to the TV screen , but the game was no longer there , Instead it was an old movie , one she had seen once a long time ago , something about a man who was trying to win his soul back from the devil or some such nonsense .

She turned back to look at the man at the end of the bar , he had gotten up from his seat and was walking towards her , he stopped two seats away and and sat down there .

Joan thought that his face looked strange , the color of his skin seemed oddly pale and his skin looked almost plastic , perhaps it was just the lighting , He smiled at her and she smiled back weakly in return .

Now that he was much closer she could see that he was actually quite small physically , his body was like that of a twelve or thirteen year old , but his head was actually a bit large , even for an adult . It struck her as almost cartoonish , and the thought made her feel a bit ashamed and embarrassed that she would judge somebody based on their appearance .

The bartender placed another drink in front of her .

" Oh no thank you , I have had enough thanks " , she told him .

But he left the drink there for her anyway .

" I hope I haven't over stepped my bounds " the little man said .

" But you just seemed sad , and alone , and I know how that feels "

Joan noticed that the man's voice was very deep , strangely deep for a person of his stature .

" I am alone ... now "

Once the words started Joan couldn't stop .

" I was engaged you know , to be married , I thought he was the one . he said he loved me and he even proposed , I said yes of course , we set the date and started making all the arraignments . "

" But when I said I wanted to have children right away , he changed , he started staying out late after work , and then one day I came home and all of his things were gone ."

" He just left , No goodbye , no explanation , not even so much as a note or letter , even his mother cut all ties with me , and wouldn't even answer my calls , I thought we were close , her and I "

Joan put her face in her hands , and sobbed .

" So tell me " said the odd little man , " What do you truly desire ? "

Her head was swimming , but she felt as though the conversation went on for time after that ... " I just want to be a mom , to have a husband and a family " , she replied softly , almost in a whisper . She began to feel a little light headed . The drinks must have been stronger than she realized .

" could I get a glass of water please " , she said

" It's already there in front of you " said the odd little man .

She looked and there it was , next to the now empty glass which the bartender had left a few moments ago , or was it longer than that .

Joan didn't recall drinking that last drink .

she took a long drink from the glass of water , and then realized that the man's hand was on her shoulder as if steadying her , It felt cold and unnatural .

her head cleared somewhat after the water

She stood from her seat , tossed a few bills onto the bar and headed out the door .

When she awoke the next morning she couldn't remember walking home , or getting home . but here she was .

She was relieved that this was her day off , her one day off a week . The night before was a bit of a haze .

Coffee , She really wanted a strong coffee right now , and maybe something to eat . She dressed and headed out , just down the street there was a little coffee shop , she bought two large coffees and an egg and sausage bagel sandwich , something in her stomach would do the trick . She headed back to her little apartment .

She trudged up the two flights of stairs to the third floor , and as soon as she rounded the corner and started down her hall , she saw it .

A small package , sitting there in front of her door , she went to her door and picked it up . It seemed heavier than she expected . she let herself into her apartment and set it on the table just inside the door .

it was addressed to her , but with no return address , and strangely there was no postage .

It was a plain box with a brown paper wrapping . normally any packages that were too big for her mailbox were left in the super's office down stairs in the main lobby , not in front of her door .

The address seemed right ...

MS Joanne Hart

444 Denton avenue apt 314

The fact that there was no return address , and no postage , seemed very odd and caused her a little concern .

She set the bag with the sandwich next to the box . and finished her first coffee , then started on the second

She carefully peeled back the brown paper wrapper , and opened the box .

inside was a ball of clay the size of a grapefruit , a simple ball of clay .

and a note that said simply ,

" Congratulations Mom "

Joan lifted the ball of clay from the box , it felt warm in her hands and was somehow satisfying to hold .

She became suddenly very aware of her hunger , She set the ball of clay on the table next to the box it had arrived in , and proceeded to absolutely devour her sandwich . Usually a sandwich like that one , she would have cut in half first and eaten only the first half , saving the rest for lunch , but almost before she realized , she had finished the whole thing . and yet she still felt hungry , as if she had hardly eaten anything at all .

She turned her attention back to the strange ball of clay , she picked it up and examined it more closely , she now noticed a small notch about an inch or so long in the surface of the thing , somehow resembling a tiny mouth .

she decided that she should put it back in the box that it had been delivered in and find some way to return it . But when she tried to place it back into the box she found it no longer fit , It was somehow bigger than it was before , it was now the size of a cantaloupe . so she left it there on the table next to the box . and decided that she would figure it out later .

Again she realized that she was still quite hungry , so she went to the cupboard and found a box of cheese flavored crackers . She settled herself into her favorite chair and clicked on the television , chose a movie which she had seen only a dozen or so times , opened the crackers and began watching the show while popping the crackers a few at a time into her mouth .

She turned the volume up a couple notches , and had a few more crackers , she turned the volume up again , and then again a third time , the volume was turned up to the max but she still found it hard to hear . she clicked the movie off , must be something wrong with the speakers she thought as she took another hand full of crackers , but found that they had no flavor , she took a sniff of the box and there was no scent either , Yet she could recall their cheesy flavor and rich aroma from just a few moments ago .

But now the box was completely empty , and Joan was still hungry , ravenous actually .

A pizza , she suddenly wanted a pizza , she rose from her chair and headed for the door picking up her keys as she went out , she realized that her keys were not jingling as they should , she shook them , nothing .

Pizza , she was so obsessed with getting more food that she ignored her sudden loss of hearing , and headed out the door .

Before she knew it she was three blocks down the street heading into a local pizzeria , Her hearing had returned somewhat as did her sense of smell , she ordered two slices from the counter and sat down at a table to eat them , but she was still hungry , she ordered two large with everything to go and a sub as well , and then another slice and a bag of chips while she waited .

She paid for her order and headed back to her apartment .

As soon as she walked in she noticed that the ball of clay that still rested on her table now had a fully defined mouth as well as ears and a nose .

And it was much larger now , where it had been originally the size of a grapefruit , it was now the size of a watermelon .

and there were little nubs on its sides , and at the end .

It actually looked like a baby in it's own way .

Joan didn't care about that , she opened the first box and started to eat , but the more she ate , the more she craved , she was nearly finished with the second pizza when she heard it .

" Momma " , " Momma "

Joan spun around and stared in a mix of awe , love , and terror .

It was standing there in front of her ...

It called her Momma .

Joan fell to her knees in front of the thing , she realized that her hearing was gone again , as was her sense of smell .

She looked at it with new eyes , it had legs and arms and a full mouth and nose , and it had ears , and then she recognized it , it was the spitting image of the strange small man at the bar .

It opened its eyes ,

Joan's world went black , she fell to the floor , she couldn't see or hear .

She couldn't move , she lost consciousness .

Detective Miller had seen this twice before .

The body of a young woman , living alone , emaciated beyond recognition , virtually mummified , and a simple cardboard package addressed to the victim .

" Bag her and tag her "

He shook his head and walked away