LET THERE BE LIGHT
by Mitch


wells17@gte.net

     Even though it was her first time, Helen was handling her
labor pretty well.  In lamase class, she used to calm herself
with mantras from her hippie days, now it was paying off.  Jake,
however, was pancaking.  He wasn't really that confident of a
coach back in the classes either.  Now, the stress was getting to
him.  He could feel it, the blood vessel in his eye pumping,
pumping, pumping...
     Then came the head.  The funny thing was that there was no
noise.  Both doctor and parents feared the worst.  Then the rest
came.  The baby's head had it's eyes open and that calmed some
fears.  However, it...-she-...was still quiet.  The doctor
slapped her.  She was still quiet, but now looked a
little...-mad-.  Must have been a trick with their eyes.  Anyway,
what was important was that there was a new Morgendorffer in the
world.  All was calm in the universe.  Helen and Jake named their
new daughter "Daria", in the hopes that she would be as
successful as a queen.
     On the whole trip home, Daria didn't make any noise or even
look around.  Her parents started to worry, but they figured the
room they made for her world cheer her up.  At least they got a
reaction out of her, that is if a wide-open stare counts.  For
some reason, she was -not- "getting into" the stuffed animals
they got her.  They figured they should just get her the baby
clothes they bought and hope that the "pretty colors" would cheer
their apparently depressed new daughter up.  Helen immediately
got out the pink "Have a Nice Day" shirt she had worn in the '70s
that she had been saving for this moment.  The minute she put it
on Daria, she immediately threw it off.  "I hope this simply
means she doesn't like the shirt," said Helen.  They tried a
green baby-tee Jake had picked up.  Daria continued to wear it,
apparently displaying her satisfaction.
     For the following week, Helen and Jake saw their lives
changing.  Each day, one of them would work while the other would
take care of Daria.  Helen looked at Daria and saw the daughter
that she had always wished for.  Jake looked at Daria and saw
that he probably wasn't quite ready for his new role as a...-
father-!  As the parents started bonding with their daughter,
they had trouble seeing their affection returned.
     "Jake, you busy?" asked Helen on the phone.  "Well, Daria
made a mess on me, I changed two diapers, but she's sleeping
soundly now."  "Oh, good.  Jake, I just had a report typed and
something just came to mind: Do you think Daria...likes us?"
"Uh, what do you mean?"  "Well look, we've spent all week with a
new daughter that we naturally love that we've had to...-
pamper-...to coin a phrase.  Anyway, besides her coughing,
occasional crying, and nausea, we don't seem to be making any
type of impression on her."  "..."  "Jake, are you still there?"
"Huh?  Oh.  Sure, Helen."  "Now.  I know its only been a week and
it takes time for a baby feelings to match her expressions, but
you know how a baby moves her face to match the expressions of
others?"  "Uh..."  "Daria hasn't been doing that."  "Oh."  "I'm
worried Jake."  "Oh, its probably just a phase!  Hey, she's new
to the world.  Give her a chance!"  Helen thought for a moment.
"Maybe you're right Jake.  Well, see you two tonight."  -click-
     Jake put down the phone and decided to check on his daughter
again.  He was surprised at how peaceful she looked when she
slept.  He was also surprised at himself, creating something like
that.  Jake had never seen himself as anything important, as a
hippie, a consultant, or even as a person.  His dad's memory made
sure of that.  Now...he just made a mark on the world, a mark
called Daria.  He still didn't feel ready...then he realized that
Daria would someday call -him- "Dad".  Jake smiled grimly.
Revenge was his now.
     When Helen came home that night, Jake gave her Daria.  Helen
looked at her.  "Hello, sweetie.  How was your day?"  Daria
didn't say anything.  In fact, there was no facial response at
all.  Helen tried not to let it bother her.
     That night, Helen couldn't sleep.  Since Jake -was-
sleeping, she got out of bed and went to Daria's room.  Daria was
sound  asleep in her crib while her mom looked at her and wonder,
do you -like- us Daria?  Have we...-upset- you somehow?  We've
been trying to keep you happy all week, but you're so...had to
reach.
     At this point, Helen began to cry and Daria awoke.  Helen
stopped crying and realized that she looked foolish now in her
daughter's eyes.  Helen smiled, leaned over the crib and kissed
her daughter on the forehead, hoping that would get her to sleep.
Helen tucked Daria in and saw her close her eyes.  A little while
later, Daria did something Helen hadn't seen her do before, she
-smiled-.  The new mother's eyes widened.  She almost thought
Daria was -incapable- of smiling.  Now she knew better and
couldn't be happier about it.
     "Jake!  Wake up!"  "Huh, what?"  "She -smiled-, Jake!"
"Who?"  "Daria!"  "Oh, her.  What did she do?"  "She smiled."
"Oh.  So?"  "She never smiled before."  "Oh.  What did she smile
at?"  "..."  "C'mon, what?"  "I don't know."  It was surmised
that Daria must have been having a pleasant dream that night.
Helen wondered what she was thinking of.  Jake didn't worry about
it.
     Many months passed.  Daria was a hard child for her parents
to reach.  When her parents got her to crawl, she crawled -away-
from them.  She learned to walk rather quickly, but still had
some problems with it.  Her knees kept bending.
     She seemed to have a little trouble seeing.  Helen
considered getting her contacts when she got older.  Jake
complained about how expensive they would be.  Instead of playing
with stuffed animals or anything, Daria would point to one of
their books or magazines.  This seemed to be an indication of her
wanting to borrow them.  Helen and Jake didn't think that Daria
was old enough to read, but they let her borrow them anyway.  It
was fun to see her pretend to read.
-----
     Amy Barksdale finally sat down.  She had a rough week at
work and was looking at the weekend with anticipation.  She
finally began to relax when the phone rang.  "-grumble-Whoever
you are, sorry, but I'm dead and my services are canceled."
"Amy, its Helen."  "-sigh-Hi Helen.  How's the kid?"  "That's
what I needed to ask you about."  Amy froze, guessing what would
be asked of her.  "uh uh.  I don't deal with kids.  That's why I
never had any."  "Come -on-.  Jake and I -need- this weekend.  Do
it for your sister."  "Well..."  "All right.  Do it for...oh,
name your price."  "I'm there."
     Amy actually felt relived when she got to Helen and Jake's
house.  She had seen the rest of Highland on the way there, and
she thought that it would be best to deal with a familiar hell
than a strange one.  As reluctant as she had sounded on the
phone, Amy -wanted- to see her new niece, but she hadn't found
the time and she -didn't- want it to be from babysitting.  She
wanted to meet the kid on her own whim.  Well, at least she would
get paid and how bad could it be?
     A grateful Helen opened the door and hugged her embarrassed
sister.  "Thankyouthankyouthankyou..."  "Uh, you're welcome."
Inside, Amy saw Jake for the first time in a while.  "Hey, Jake.
Did you ever get you're consulting firm started?"  "Yeah!  Well,
things have been kind of slow but..."  "Just put antifreeze in
it."  "Oh.  Okay."  Amy couldn't believe Jake would take that as
a -suggestion-.
     They left Amy with phone numbers, money, and a list of dos
and don'ts.  Amy threw the list away and sat down.  Daria had
been in her pen the whole time and Amy was hoping she would stay
there.  Amy's rest was bothered by a rattling sound.  She awoke,
turned around, and saw a baby girl shaking her crib.  Daria had a
stern, almost defiant, look on her that was not what Amy had
expected from Helen's "cute" description.  Amy liked what she was
seeing.  It was more "real" than Helen's description.  This is
when Amy realized that Daria would see her as a stranger.  If she
was, Daria didn't show any disdain.  She simply looked up at Amy
with no change of expression.  "Uh, hi.  I'm Amy.  You must be
Daria."  Daria made no sound as Amy picked her up.  She started
to like this kid, at least she wasn't whiny.  Amy looked at Daria
and thought, hey, she kind of looks like me.  Without another
thought, she turned on the TV.  Nothing was on and she felt a tad
guilty exposing an infant to late night TV.  Oh, well.  TV
wouldn't get better in the future, would it?  The evening was
rather uneventful.  Daria was quiet.  Amy only had to change her
twice (sorry for that image).  Amy ordered herself a pizza.  She
felt pity for Daria, who only had her baby food, so she let her
have some pepperoni.  They both generally rested that weekend
except for when Amy took Daria to the supermarket to get some
decent cereal.  She got a couple of weird looks from the other
shoppers.  Helen and Jake came home a little early.  Daria looked
a little sad for the first time, seeing Amy leave.
-----
     Five months passed.  Daria, almost a year old, now had
glasses, since Jake thought she was too little for contacts.
Helen didn't like those glasses, but figured she would get Daria
contacts when she got older.  Helen later learned from her
daughter that she was five months pregnant.  "Daria, you're going
to have a sibling!"  Daria responded with her first words, "Ex-
cuse me?"