Links to earlier chapters down below this chapter!
Chapter 6: Wonder
Jack lay in the hospital bed, his leg slung up and in a cast. He looked at his family around him. There they were. All of them: Bella, Maree, Liam and Max. He smiled.
“Max” said Jack, “Come here.” Max nervously walked up next to Jack. Jack grabbed Max’s hand and smiled at Max.
“Max, you should know, I triple like you” said Jack, “You are just great. I think it’s great I finally have a son.”
“What about me?” demanded Liam from Bella’s arms.
“You too” said Jack, “I finally have sons and my sons aren’t even going to starve. It’s just great, brilliant and terrific.”
“Thank you Jack” said Max, looking at his father figure, “I never knew you felt like that.”
Then things got even more confusing.
“Look a Banbazoidian is flying their spaceship near us” stated Jack, pointing at the roof. Maree, Liam, Bella and Max all looked up where Jack was pointing to see nothing but the corner where the roof met the walls of the room.
“Cos we are all aliens” said Jack, “And there’s some privates now. Because we’re aliens.” Bella gasped and covered Jack’s mouth with her hand. He started to suck on it.
“Gross” said Bella, pulling her hand away from him, but she kept her hand nearby in case she had to use it again.
“Remember guys, don’t tell the humans that we are aliens” said Jack.
“Jack, stop doing that” said Max, “Please”.
“Oh Maxi, Maxamillion, Maxwell, Maximum weight” said Jack, “My beautiful son Max.”
“Oh Max, I am so happy to have a son. Don’t ever go away” said Jack.
“Don’t worry Jack” said Max, “I won’t dare leave you alone at the moment.”
“No you wouldn’t” said Jack, “You’re a good alien. As am I and Bella and Maree and Liam.”
“Jack, stop talking about aliens” said Maree.
“Maree, I said don’t mention that we are aliens” said Jack.
Jack looked back at Max.
“You’re great Max” said Jack and he hugged Max. Then his hands started to move upwards from the hug. Jack grabbed Max around the neck and started to choke him. Max struggled to breathe.
“You!” yelled Jack, “This is your fault.” Bella passed Liam to Maree and then tried to pry Jack’s hands off of Max.
“It’s your fault my leg isn’t functioning” yelled Jack. Max continued to choke.
“Jack stop” yelled Maree.
Jack ignored Maree and continued to choke Max.
“You got me hit by a primitive spaceship” yelled Jack. Jack was yelling, Max was choking and Bella was trying to pry Jack’s hands off of Max. Liam was crying in Maree’s arms.
The door opened. Jack, Max, Bella, Liam and Maree all looked up, in suspended motion.
“What is going on here?” asked the nurse.
“Nothing” said Jack, “just a bit of roughhousing.” Jack took his hands off of Max’s neck. Max took some deep breaths.
“Yes” gasped Max, “We were just engaging in enjoyment activities”. Bella walked back over to Maree and picked up Liam again.
The nurse stared at them for a moment, then shrugged and walked over to Jack.
“Okay Jack” she said, “It’s good to see you have come down from the painkillers. We gave you a little too much. Now, I’m afraid your leg is broken.”
“Broken” cried Jack, “You mean, it’ll never be functioning again?”
“No” said the nurse shaking her head, “You will be walking again but it will need to stay in a cast until the bones repair. Next to your bed are some crutches so you can use them to walk. You know, you’re lucky it wasn’t anything worse”.
“Anything worse?” screamed Jack, “Are you talking in a way that is meant for laughter? I’m broken. I’ll be an outcast, with no purpose and left to rot on the edge of society.”
“It’s just a broken leg” said the nurse.
“It’s broken” screamed Jack, sobbing uncontrollably.
“I remember why we gave you so much painkiller now” said the nurse. She turned to Bella, “Honestly, how do you put up with him?”
“You get used to it” shrugged Bella, “Once you get to know him well, he’s good.”
Jack felt tingly upon hearing her say he was good, though also slightly annoyed to be being talked about and still panicky about his leg.
“You can all go home now he has come down” said the nurse, “And don’t worry I’ll put these medical records you brought from your past doctor into our computer system.”
“Thank you” said Bella.
The nurse went over and helped Jack out of bed and onto his crutches. He had a hospital gown on still. The nurse helped him move a few steps then Jack tried to move to the other end of the room. Jack was wearing a typical hospital gown with the back open and nothing else. Bella stared at his bottom as he walked off. Max and Maree both looked away, disgusted. Liam laughed.
‘Why do I want to look at that?’ thought Bella. She didn’t stop looking though.
Soon Jack was dressed and ready to leave the hospital. They went home and looked at the table. There on the table, was some information from Parrot. There was a bound book “The Joy of Earth”. It looked to be made by the mission leaders themselves. Bella placed Liam on his belly on the mat nearby and helped Jack sit down at the table and they looked through this book. On one page in the chapter “The Joy of Appliances” there was a picture of the terrifying white thing with buttons on top. The book said “This is a toilet. It is where you dispose of waste.” The book went on to explain the whole process from pants down to flushing the toilet and washing your hands. It then explained what it feels like when you have to dispose of human waste. Bella glanced at the chapter “The Joy of Infantile-Birthing” then closed it quickly, feeling sick.
“I don’t want that ever to happen to me” said Bella.
“Oh, I bet it’s nothing” dismissed Jack. Bella frowned at him.
“This is coming from the man who bawled about his broken leg” said Bella, “And talked about aliens around humans. It’s a wonder we didn’t get found it”.
“Yeah, well it’s bad okay” said Jack, “I can’t even walk.”
“So what?” said Liam, “I can’t walk. Look, I can’t even roll over. I’m stuck on my stomach. I want to sit up.” Bella went over and sat him up.
“Thank you Bella” said Liam, “So Jack, count yourself lucky. At least the rest of you is strong.” Liam fell forward again and onto his stomach. He sighed.
Bella had a bit more of a flick through The Joy of Earth.
“It’s not a very big book” said Bella.
“Well, no” said Max, “That’s why we’re here. They don’t know much about Earth yet.”
“That’s true” said Bella.
Luckily a chapter was The Joy of Beds so they worked out what beds everyone should be in. Jack lay next to Bella in bed that night and he felt a wonderful feeling that he was with the person he was made to be with. He looked at her and smiled. She snored in reply. Jack looked at the roof and smiled. Broken leg or not, where he was right then, was magnificent. In this bed, lying next to Bella, Jack felt for the first time on Earth and one of only a few times in his whole life that he was somewhere where he truly belonged
PREVIOUS CHAPTERS:
Chapter 5: Stepping: @birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-5-stepping
Chapter 4: Stench: @birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-4-stench
Chapter 3: Value: @birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-3-value
Chapter 2: Launch: @birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-2-launch
Chapter 1: Splash : @birchmark/confusing-earth-chapter-1-splash
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Thank you for reading. The word for this chapter was wonder. This story was started in a writer's group and every chapter already written has a word or phrase that had to be used in the chapter, and this story is not finished so eventually you the reader will get to suggest the word or phrase for future chapters.
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