Rob looked down at himself and his fresh diaper then pulled his index finger from his mouth. “It been a cwazy week. It started the day afta da accident wiff da DNAM…” Rob began to reminisce about the past week, his tiny high pitched child’s voiced seemed odd when coupled with the large vocabulary.
For Rob the nightmare started as he walked into the lab Friday morning when he experienced a wave of nausea.
“Not today, not the flu when I’m going on vacation.
Just my luck, at least it can’t get worse.” Rob said under his breath.
Today’s schedule was tight if he wanted to be out of the lab by early afternoon.
Margaret, his wife should have the mini-van packed and their son Benjamin ready to go.
He had to make sure everyone had their tasks to be done over the next week while he was gone.
There were meetings and last minute paper work that needed to be done before leaving.
The DNAM tests had been going well however the next round of tests needed to be prepped.
Rob was hoping to start the next round of experiments once he returned from vacation.
He busied himself all morning and skipped lunch so he could be done as soon as possible.
His final task was a meeting with his assistants and make sure the lab will run smoothly in his absence.
As the meeting wrapped up, his lab assistants duties spelled out and plans for the next couple of weeks Rob felt confident the lab would be on schedule.
After the short meeting at 1pm Rob was out the door of the lab and on his way home.
The bouts of nausea were brief but annoying, however he could live with it as long as they were out of town by 2pm.
Michelle was a stickler for schedules and organization, which was fine as he was more than happy that someone else ran his home life.
He sat back and pondered what the next two weeks would be like, sitting on the cottage deck having a beer and reading a book.
No deadlines and no pressure.
Suddenly Rob groaned as he realized his cell phone was back at the office.
“No matter, I didn’t need it anyway, I’m on holidays!”
The small Honda pulled into the house at 1:30 pm, Rob was impressed that he was still on schedule.
Jumping out of the car, Rob doubled over as a wave of nausea hit him.
Once the sickness passed Rob felt like he had more energy.
It seemed to be the only positive thing about his latest illness is that he could keep going and stay to his hectic schedule.
His back which he injured skiing a few years ago didn’t hurt like it normally did and the tendonitis in his shoulder ached less since getting this flu…
Rob charged into the house where Michelle was cleaning up from lunch.
“I honey I’m home from work!”
Michelle looked over from the dishes in the sink and smiled at her hubby, “You actually made it home on time, why don’t you help me by getting Benny ready for the trip.
Everything is packed and ready to go as soon as you are ready.”
Jeff was happy to help and get the vacation under way as soon as possible.
Rob turned into the living room where Benny was in the playpen.
His 26 month old son was standing at the side holding on to the mesh wall jumping up and down while squealing at the arrival of Dad.
As Rob came close to Benny he could tell that the toddler had processed his lunch.
“How can you stand that smell?” Rob stated as his face twisted from the reek emanating from Benny’s back end.
He enjoyed being with his son but there was one indisputable fact about babies, they were messy.
Toddlers threw up, drooled, smeared dinner everywhere and made the worst stenches.
What was worse, they didn’t seem to care. Diaper clad children always seemed impervious to the rank odor.
Michelle had wanted to have a second child but Rob had made excuses why ‘now was not the time’, but for Rob it was that he didn’t want to deal with another baby while they had Benjamin.
One baby was enough to deal with at a time.
More than once Rob had been thankful for Michelle’s organizational ability and she did run a tight household.
Rob picked up Ben and carried his son upstairs to the nursery.
