Melons and Emeralds, The Green Eyes Series

Kevin didn’t talk as much to his mother anymore. She seemed so tired all the time and he wanted her to rest. He would sit on his bed and just watch her as she slept. He wished so badly to be able to touch her just once.

One day as he watched on his bed Scott peeked into his room and saw tears escaping Kevin’s eyes. He went in and put his arm around his son. Kevin buried his face in Scott’s side.

“What’s wrong Kevin? You are so quiet. You spend all your time at school or in your room. I never get to see you much anymore.” Scott pulled him in closer. “Why are you crying, son? Do you still miss Nurse Jane?”

Kevin looked into Scott’s eyes. “What happens when someone dies?” he asked.

“Dies? What are... what are you talking about?”

“What happens when someone dies? I want to know Daddy. What happens?”

“I…I really don’t know Kevin. Some people believe they go to heaven or hell. Some people think they just cease to exist or come back to the world as a different person.”

“What do you believe?”

Scott looked at Kevin’s shiny green eyes and felt them penetrate his own. He knew he was unable to lie to him. “My grandmother told me when I was a boy, that if you ask Jesus into your heart you would go to heaven. I guess I have always believed her.”

“What is heaven?”

“Heaven is where God lives.”

“God? People pray to Him right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Will you teach me how to pray?”

“I can’t son. I don’t know how.” Scott broke contact with Kevin’s eyes and hung his head. He knew his grandmother would be unhappy with him if she were still alive.

Kevin looked at Scott’s sad face. He could not touch his mother but he could touch him. He put his little hand on Scott’s cheek and gave him a smile. Scott looked at him and put his own large hand over Kevin’s little hand.

“Don’t worry daddy. I’ll find out how and I’ll teach you. Okay?”

Scott laughed. “Okay, Kevin.”

“Kevin? Kevin wake up!”

It was the middle of the night and the four-year-old resisted the voice in his head. It persisted to call his name until he opened his eyes in the darkness broken by the dim light shining in his room from an outside light.

“Yes, what is it?” he asked groggily out loud.

“Look Kevin. See your baby sister?”

Kevin became alert immediately. He focused in on his mother and saw her holding a tiny baby in her arms. The baby was not dark like him but she had the bright shiny green eyes, each eye with a different hue with long dark lashes. Annie had dark rings around her green eyes and looked weaker than Kevin ever remembered her looking.

“You’re a big brother now son,” Annie beamed. Ever since she had begun communicating with Kevin her speech began to change. She had absorbed everything Kevin had learned when she watched him. She had listened to the way other people talked and without realizing it; she began to speak more proper. Not only did her speech change but Annie’s memory improved as well.

Nurse Jane and the doctor were in Annie’s room. The doctor commanded Nurse to bring him the baby. She obeyed and watched as he examined the little bundle.

“She’s perfectly healthy!” he said with relief. Anastasia looked at the doctor’s eyes. She didn’t like him and began to cry.

“Give her back to me!” Annie demanded.

“Nurse, take her to the nursery.”

“No!” Annie said harshly with determination. The doctor insolently turned to her.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” He locked eyed with Annie. “Fine. Just a few minutes.” He stomped out of the room.

“Here you go Annie,” cooed Nurse Jane as she handed the baby back to Annie. “That was weird. I’ve never seen him give in to anyone except the Gaydos.” Annie took the baby then realized how weak she was. She held her as long as she could. The baby reached out her hand and touched Annie’s cheek. Annie drew strength from her daughter.

As Kevin watched he saw a slight green spark when Anastasia’s hand touched Annie’s cheek. His heart began to pound and he knew he needed to find a way to his mother and sister.

“So the baby is healthy?” Trent asked.

“Yes. She is very healthy. Not at all sick like the boy was,” replied the doctor.

“What about the mother?”

“She is very weak but stable.”

“You must keep her alive!” Mr. Gaydos trumpeted louder than necessary.

Trent broke in. “I noticed her eyes are almost completely changed. She seems more intelligent as well. What do you think doctor?”

“I think the serum has affected her. She’s not the idiot she was when we got her. She may be trouble,” he answered. Trent looked at his father and back at the doctor.

“What do you mean?”

“It is easy to keep captive an idiot, but a woman of intelligence will not put up with the same restraints. I’m not sure how but she seems to be learning things that she has no access to. One day I heard her muttering about a math problem she was trying to figure out. It was calculus and she was figuring out the problem with a formula that I know she has never heard of.”

“Kevin is learning calculus. How interesting.” He looked at his father again. Mr. Gaydos rubbed his wrinkled chin but didn’t say anything. “Can we see the baby?”

“Yes, yes, of course.”

The three men went to the nursery where Kevin had spent his first night. The baby was not there.

“She must still be in the room with the mother,” the doctor said with irritation. He led the way to Annie’s room and burst open the door. The other two men followed him in. “I told you just a few minutes!” he yelled at Nurse Jane.

“Hello, Nurse Jane.” Trent greeted warmly. “Hello, Annie. May we see your baby?” Annie glared at Trent but handed Anastasia to the nurse.

“Her name is Anastasia,” Annie said gruffly.

Trent took the baby from the nurse and looked into her green eyes. “You’re just as beautiful as your brother. What lovely eyes you have little Anastasia.” Annie couldn’t help but smile. She knew her daughter was very pretty.

Anastasia smiled at Trent.

“She wants to touch your cheek.” Trent looked at Annie in wonder but raised the baby up to his face. He was astonished when the tiny hand rubbed again his cheek. He felt such love for the little infant that he was reluctant to hand the baby to his father.

“So Kevin has a little sister finally,” smiled the old man as he gazed into the baby’s eyes. She smiled at him also. “Wow.” He could not stop staring at her. She reminded him of her brother when he was a baby. Those wonderful eyes that bore into his heart over four years ago now seemed to stare at him again. He was not usually fond of babies or children. Even his own children didn’t get much attention until they grew into their upper teens. There was something about these serum children that demanded love from him. There was something about their strange eyes.

He felt Annie watching him. He looked into her eyes. They were almost the color of Anastasia’s, one like a melon and the other more emerald. They did not sparkle as her children’s did. She seemed to be telling him not to take her daughter away. Not asking but commanding even though she did not speak a word to him.