Comments on Blonde Detective Training

    A young boy saw a neighbor lady returning home from the hospital with a newborn son. She climbed from the car carrying the child and immediately went into the house without a word to anyone or a glance around, her attention focused only on the child wrapped in her arms. Her older son came running over to the boy and said that his mom needed to be alone with the baby, and she didn’t want any visitors, calls, or contact with anyone for awhile. “She’s having a hard time dealing with the baby right now, and Dad says that after having a baby, it isn’t unusual if a mother is depressed for quite some time.” Unfamiliar with such things as a brand new baby, and being an only child, he accepted his friend’s explanation without question, and returned home.

     Days passed, before the two boys talked again, and after an awkward avoidance of any mention of the new baby, the friend finally revealed that his baby brother had been born with a rare birth defect and his mother had been absolutely devastated by this fact. “We aren’t supposed to mention it, or even notice it! She goes crazy if the subject his birth defect is mentioned, so when you eventually see the baby, you will have to act as though he is just as normal as you and me.”

     Children being naturally curious animals, he initially wondered about the nature of his friend’s baby brother’s disability, and when the boys were at school, it remained a mysterious, unmentioned subject.

     Weeks passed before the young boy resumed after school visits at his friend’s house, and when the two friends did homework together in their living room, mother and child stayed upstairs and out of sight, for most of a year, before the boy saw the baby for the first time. He could feel the child’s mother’s eyes boring into his back as he leaned over the high chair and shook hands with the infant. He immediately saw that the birth defect was a total lack of exterior ears!

      Being very careful not to mention the toddlers ears, he remarked about how robust, alert and fit the boy looked. He observed that the baby appeared to be pretty sharp for his age as he moved a toy back and forth watching the baby’s eyes track the toy. “How is his vision?” the boy asked the mother. For the first time, the mother brightened up visibly and smiled. “His eyes are just like the rest of him, absolutely perfect!” “That’s good,” the boy said, “because he sure ain’t never gonna be able to wear glasses!” 

          Guy