Dr. Mary Tyler finished making notes in her book and looked back down at Eric.

The thin 24-year-old,

the most brilliant student in the department,

creator of advanced research,

was sucking on a toy keys set,

saliva covering his chin and running in a rivulet down his cheek.

his thin pale legs waving about aimlessly,

his eyes were vacant and crossed, focused on the toy he was chewing on.

The drug had taken far too long to work in her opinion.

It should be used in higher doses for effectiveness.

At least Christie and Eric seemed happy.

And now the research was all hers.

As far as anyone would know Eric had dropped out of school and left the country for points unknown.

As an extra precaution, Christie decided to rename him baby Mikie.

She would tell her family he was her boyfriend who had been in a motorcycle accident.

Eric certainly wouldn’t mind the name change,

he’d be far too busy putting all his new toys in his mouth.

A month later Mary headed out to Western Springs Park to meet Christie and baby Mikie.

It had been a very disappointing month for her.

She had made no progress on the research even after performing countless tests on Mikie.

She would lay differently shaped blocks in front of him and see if he could fit them into the right holes.

He couldn’t.

Usually, he would simply stick the colorful blocks in his mouth and gaze innocently up at her while drool dripped from his suckling mouth to the floor.

She judged his mental capacity at 6 months.

She thought he might progress faster than a real baby back to normal, or regain his mind suddenly, neither happened.

A month later she judged his mental age to be 7 months.

It was a very warm day for September and lots of families were out playing in the park.

The Young were feeding the swans and parents having picnics.

It wasn’t hard to spot Christie and Mikie.

The twenty-something was sitting in a big stroller adorned with Elmo decals,

wearing a Big Bird T-shirt and a big nappy,

sucking away at a dummy while he swung his long bare legs,

with feet out into the air and slapped them against the footrest.

His eyes were gazing with excitement at all the people around the park.

He felt no embarrassment of course he was just curious.

“Hi Mary!” Christie exclaimed,

then grabbing Mikie’s hand said, “Can you say hi baby, say hi to auntie mary.”

She waved his limp hand for him but Mikie was craning around the other direction to gawk at a swan,

spitting out the dummy and babbling, “Ahahahabaaaa…mama,” at the animals.