“I see. Laura, could you rediaper him please. And that baby bottle I see on the table, I assume you gave him formula? Was there any problem getting him to drink from the bottle?” They all shook their heads no.
“Well then, my advice is to get him a nanny. A Mommy would be even better. He’s obviously been regressed into infancy and will have to be cared for. Other than that, I can’t tell you anything. I can’t even tell you if he’ll grow up. Ben’s the expert in the effects of the bots. If he doesn’t know, you’ll just have to wait and see. Mary, are you Jamie’s wife?”
Mary said “yes” in a small voice.
Alice looked at her sympathetically and said, “Mary, I think you should forget about being his wife. You’re going to have to be his Mommy now. Can you do that? Can you be his Mommy?”
“I…..I’ve already promised Jamie I’d be his Mommy,” Mary stammered.
“Then it’s all settled,” said Alice with professional satisfaction at a difficult situation successfully managed. Laura finished rediapering Jamie, then picked him up and handed him to Mary. Jamie hung limply from her hands like a wet dish towel.
“Oh my poor baby!,” exclaimed Mary.
She took him in her arms and cuddled him to her. Jamie whimpered in exhaustion and tried to hide his head in the hollow of her shoulder. She pulled him back from her shoulder and looked into his face.
“Honey, can you talk? Jamie, do you know who I am? I’m Mary, your wife, speak to me!”
Jamie struggled mightily to get out some words but all that came out was a baby’s babble.
“Come on Jamie! Try! Try and say something for me. Tell me my name. Come on, Honey. Say M-a-r-y!”
Jamie pursed his lips and said, “mmm….ma”
“Listen,” Mary said excitedly, “he’s trying to say my name!……Did you hear him? He made the M’ sound!”
Jamie pursed his lips again and tried valiantly to speak, “mmm……ma…..mama!”
A look of disappointment came over Mary’s face, for a moment she had thought he could still talk. “There, there Sweetheart. It’s alright. I know you tried your best. I guess Dr. Walsh is right. I’ll have to be your Mommy,” Mary said, hugging him close to her bosom and patting his diapered bottom.
Alice smiled and said, “Well, there’s no doubt who Jamie thinks is his Mommy!”
Everyone chuckled and the atmosphere in the room lightened noticeably. “Mary, I’m going to give you a prescription for some mild tranquilizers. You may not need them, but if you do I’d like you to have them. I’ll talk to Dr. Thorson, the staff psychiatrist, about setting up an emergency appointment for you next week. Laura, I think it would be a good idea if you drove Mary home in her car. She doesn’t need to be driving after what’s happened today. Ben can follow you in his Suburban and take you back to the University. If Mary feels up to it, maybe you can take her to K-Mart to buy some baby things for Jamie. You might also stop by a grocery store and pick up enough food to last a few days. I’d like Mary to rest for the next couple of days. She needs the time to adjust to the situation.”
Alice smiled again at Jamie and she continued, “That will give mother and her new baby time get to know each other.”
When they got home, Mary took Jamie into the house while Laura brought in the new playpen Mary had bought at K-Mart. They set up the playpen and put Jamie in the pen while they unloaded the car. Mary had bought enough baby food and formula at the grocery store to feed Jamie for a month. They had just got the last bags out of the car when Ben drove up in his Suburban. He had been delayed at K-Mart waiting for the stockboys to load all the baby furnishings Mary had bought.
They had stopped at the grocery store first. Mary proceeded to fill a cart with several packages of disposable diapers, formula, baby food, powder, lotion, soap, shampoo, conditioner, 2 large boxes of baby wipes, sun block, a rectal thermometer, children’s Tylenol, a nipple-type medicine dispenser, a home otoscope, plastic disposal bags for disposable diapers while traveling, diaper rash ointment, nose syringe, enema syringe, Q-tips, disposable bibs for traveling, Dreft detergent for baby clothes, diaper pre-soak, bleach, fabric softener, room deodorizers and a little food for Mary.