Chapter 2 - The Border Negotiations
The fabric of the mother's striped pajamas twisted violently around her thighs.
Two small hands, covered in a sticky residue of dried apple juice, slammed down onto her kneecap.
The toddler did not crawl like a normal human.
He moved like a miniature tank navigating a trench.
He was entirely wrapped in light blue fleece.
Tiny, cartoonish reindeer faces were printed across the chest of his onesie.
The plastic zipper down the center of his chest clicked against a metal button on the duvet.
He pushed off the mother's leg, leaving a small, damp handprint on her striped pants.
He wedged his small body perfectly into the four-inch gap of neutral territory between his parents.
He didn't lie down.
He sat completely upright, crossing his small legs at the ankles.
The amber light from the bedside lamp hit the side of his round face, turning his cheek into a glowing sphere.
His dark brown hair stuck up in static-charged cowlicks.
He did not look at the smartphone camera.
He ignored the mother entirely.
He locked his wide, unblinking eyes onto the side of the father's bearded face.
The father opened one eye, feeling the sudden, dense gravity of the thirty-pound child invading his airspace.
The toddler took a deep, rattling breath through his nose.
His tiny chest puffed out beneath the reindeer fabric.
"Daddy."
The word wasn't a request for attention.
It was a summons.
The father rolled his head slightly to the left, the cotton pillowcase rustling loudly against his ear.
"Mommy is my side tonight."
The toddler delivered the sentence with the cold, immovable finality of a judge passing a sentence.
He did not smile.
He patted the mother’s thigh twice with a flat palm.
Ownership had been established.
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The borders had been redrawn.
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