An even distribution


Today both kids were a bit ill; threads of green snot dangling from their nostrils, so instead of packing La Serpiente off to school, we went and drank too much coffee and then to the library to get more books. Neither child had any coffee, so Destroyer was slumped asleep on my back by 11, which would have been cute, were it not for her waking after twenty minutes and being fully operational by one, when we returned home and I had to put La Serpiente to sleep. Just as my wife popped out for her weekly appointment with her trainer. And just as the last of the caffeine wore off and I was falling apart.

I had things in hand. I had La Serpiente howling and weeping with exhaustion, provoking a matching cacophony from Destroyer. Destroyer was now starving hungry, so I put her in her high chair with some pellets of beetroot falafel, then ran back to La Serpiente’s room and tried to quiet her down. Then back out to check Destroyer hadn’t choked to death, then back into the room to placate La Serpiente, and then back out again.

Howls of rage or derision emanated from La Serpiente’s room while I struggled to spoon hummus into my younger daughter. I fled again, told La Serpiente I would return soon, and returned to a crimson baby.

Entropy tells us that gradually the universe tends to disorder, until eventually every atom will be spread randomly across the entirety of space, without form or meaning. In the short term, Destroyer had done a good job to taking every last crumb of beetroot falafel and smearing it across face, hands, arms, t-shirt and chair. She might even have eaten some by accident, I don’t know.

As I wiped her down, the noises from off stage subsided, La Serpiente crashing like a freight train and not waking up for twp hours, while I entertained myself trying to get Destroyer to actually ingest some food for a change.


Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.