The Big Nap Read Free Page B

at him and held out her arms. “Come,
motek.
”
    “My grandmother used to call me that,” I told her. “It means sweet, right?”
    “Mmm.” She was busy making googly eyes at the baby.
    “Be careful; he can’t sit up by himself yet, so you have to sort of prop him up on your hip.”
    “He’s nice and big,” she said. “I have a sister his age and she’s much smaller.”
    “How many brothers and sisters do you have?” I asked.
    “We’re eight in all. Three girls and five boys. I’m the oldest.”
    “My God!” I exclaimed.
    She looked up, shocked at the expletive.
    “I mean, wow. Gosh. That’s a lot of kids.”
    “Not so many. There are many families with more. Ten. Sometimes even twelve.”
    I shuddered. “I’m barely managing with two. I can’t imagine dealing with eight. Your poor mother.”
    “She has me to help. And my younger sister, Sarah.”
    “But still. It must be exhausting. Do you think she’s finished having children?”
    “Oh no. She’s only thirty-five years old. I’m sure she’ll have more.”
    My mouth hung open. Thirty-five? The mother of eight was only two years older than I?
Oy vay.
    I ushered Fraydle into the house and showed her around Isaac’s bedroom. It, like the rest of our apartment, was full of huge piles of brightly colored, molded plastic in various stages of disrepair. Our home had started to look like the “seconds” section of a toy store.
    “Do you mind if I take him out in the stroller?” Fraydle asked. “That way you can maybe sleep a little.”
    “Oh, that would be wonderful. He loves the stroller. Usually. Did you see it parked at the bottom of the stairs?”
    “I’ll find it,” she said.
    “He shouldn’t need to eat, but if he does, there’s a little bottle of expressed breast milk in the fridge. You can heat that up.”
    Fraydle nodded.
    “Don’t forget to bring extra diapers.”
    She nodded again.
    “So I guess I’ll go take a nap now.”
    She nodded once more.
    I walked slowly back to my bedroom. I perched on the edge of the bed, wondering exactly how I was ever going to fall asleep while I was so worried about my little boy off in the hands of a complete stranger. Two hours later I woke up with a start. I’d conked out, half-sitting, half-lying on the bed, and had rather elegantly drooled all over the quilt. Wiping my mouth, I got out of bed and staggered into the bathroom. I splashed some cold water in the general direction of my face and stared into the mirror. My right cheek was covered with angry red creases and my eye was puffy. My hair had flattened out on one side and was doing its best Eraserhead imitation on the other. I halfheartedly patted at it and, giving up, wandered out into the living room. It was silent. No baby. No baby-sitter. I opened the window overlooking the front of the house and leaned out. Below, I saw the stroller, carefully covered by a baby blanket. Presumably Isaac was inside. But could he really be sleeping?
    I leaned out a little farther, looking for Fraydle. She wasn’t on the stoop. Panicking a bit, I leaned out farther still. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of her standing about thirty feet down the block. She was talking to a young man in a brown leather bomber jacket. Just then, she glancedback at the stroller and saw me leaning out the window. She gave a startled little jump and said something to the man, who hurried away. She ran back to the house and I started down the stairs to meet her.
    I opened the door to find her blushing furiously and apologizing.
    “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Applebaum. I only left Isaac for a minute. And he was sound asleep. I could hear him from where I was. I promise you I could.”
    “That’s fine, Fraydle. I trust that you wouldn’t leave him alone. You were close enough to hear him. It’s really fine. You can call me Juliet, by the way.”
    She seemed to calm down. “I really am sorry.”
    “It’s okay, Fraydle. I would do it, too, I’m sure. Except, I’ve never