Win some--

ALPHA-OMEGA

 

'Thank you, Oh Lord. It's over. Nine months plus two days and I am free! 'He was what?' Sadye asks the doctor. 'Fourteen pounds nine ounces, the biggest baby everborn at La Cher's Mercy. I warned you, ordered you to stop eating so much and all the wrong things. I put you on a healthy diet so you could lose some of that cow you've been toting around so long, but did you listen?' Sadye laughs sarcastically. 'If I didn't eat so much, my son might have been a pipsqueak weakling. He might have died from malnutrition with the diet you gave me.' It is Dr. Solange's turn to laugh. 'Sadye, he's your bucket of trouble, your concern now. Good luck!'

 

The doctor I have adored walks out of my life just as Dr. Cummings, the pediatrician, walks in. 'Hello, Sadye. Where are you hiding your gorilla?' On our first meeting I have already taken a dislike to him and tell him so. 'My son is not a gorilla. He is gorgeous, strong and healthy, has a full head of dark hair, and that's more than you can say about yourself. If you don't want to take care of my son, you can be replaced right now.' His breath shortens and his composure slips a lot.

 

Seated in a wheel chair to take my son, John's son, home from the hospital, the attendant can't help but laugh when I tell her I don't want to carry the child home. 'He's big enough to walk.' That silliness helps us to choose a name for him. We decide on Hugh Moses. Hugh is a version of 'huge' to us and Moses stands for strength and leadership.

 

As a family, we make page two of the Stanton Chronicle, are invited to appear on the Today show, with expenses paid, plus $1000 towards a college fund. Hugh is not a freak and we turn down the offer. Gifts come pouring in for which we are grateful as all the infant clothes we have ready for the child, must be returned. How long he will be able to stay in the crib with the cute little bunnies painted on the headboard, we don't know. Our world is upside down. I think a lot about what I happily stuffed into my body while I carried Hugh. Trying to breast feed him is difficult, painful, uncomfortable, for both of us. Dr. Cummings increases his intake with soft baby foods, applesauce, strained peas. Nothing much changes. At age one he reaches twenty two pounds, at three he weighs thirty one, is three ½ feet tall and has all of his baby teeth. Neighbors continue to stare at him, keep their 'normal' children at bay's length.

 

John and I don't know what to do. Dr. Cummings suggests we take Hugh to Johns Hopkins as they have specialists in just about everything.
Work is being done to increase  growth but there is nothing yet to stop it, outside of surgery to shorten legs. We do not consider that at all. 

 

It is a lonely troubled life Hugh lives. School classes are easy, his grades always excellent. His efforts to get into sports offer wrestling or football. He sticks to one and puts everything into muscle strength, slyness of movement. I cut back on his food and he balks, sneaks an extra sandwich now and then. At seventeen his growth miraculously stops, but not his girth. John and I give a donation of thanks to St. Mary's that we will gladly double if Hugh gains no more weight. We finally try to stop nagging him, continue to keep saturated fats out of meals. Chocolate, even dark chocolate, is verboten. I have slimmed down and feel great, except I worry constantly about Hugh's weight, at age twenty one, five hundred and fifteen pounds, a lot of muscle and a lot of fat make him a definite candidate for a heart attack.

 

At his 23rd birthday dinner in our dining room, Hugh seems to hesitate but gets around to asking us, 'Mom, Dad, I am going back to John's Hopkins. I think they can help me be who and what I want to be. Will your insurance help me out?'  John does not hesitate. 'If it doesn't, we will cover what you need.' He thanks us, finishes dinner and goes upstairs to pack.

 

He calls us three days later to tell us he has had surgery on his eye lids and is fine. 'Don't be too shocked when I see you next week. I have slanted eyes. I look almost Japanese. Mom, Dad' he says. 'I will be going to Japan soon to study, to learn how to wrestle Japanese style, Sumo. I want to be as good as Tajiri Yoshihiro, a great champion in 1998. Mom, don't be upset, this is what I do well. Nobody makes fun of me and I can make a lot of money, repay you for some of the sacrifices you have made for me.'  John and I are terribly upset, concerned, hate the idea but have no alternative than to let Hugh live his own life.

 

He goes and let's us know that he has won a few matches, never mentions any losses. We receive checks from him with warm words of gratitude. The money goes in a savings account for him. Hugh never needs what we have ready for him as he wins the 2005 five day championship, is on the front pages of the Yokahama Herald. We are proud but lonely. We want our son back with us.

 

He returns soon after his big win, in a specially built casket, with a rising sun flag attached to the lid.