It was about 8 p.m., and was apparently close to Christmas. I called up my friend Walls and asked him what he was doing. He was still living with his mother. He said all kinds of things were going to be happening that night. I told him I would come to his house in half an hour. He seemed hesitant, but said ok. I asked him if that seemed too long. When he replied that seemed like a rather long time, I said, "Well, I'll be there in 20 minutes."

After I had hung up the phone, I began wondering whether I should even go. I thought, "Well, Birdie's downstairs. She's got that baby."

I thought that the baby was actually mine and that I should probably spend some time with Birdie and the baby. I thought, "Well, I'll run down there real quick and spend a few minutes with them."

I ran downstairs and found Birdie sitting on the couch and the baby playing on the floor. It was pulling around some kind of contraption about two feet tall with bars on it. I picked up the baby, which, although it was only about a year and a half old, seemed terribly heavy. I thought it must weigh 50-60 pounds. After I had carried it a little bit, I thought I heard it say something. I listened again and heard it say, "It's a nice life."

I was amazed that it could talk. I put it on the floor and began playing with it. I held it up, then it would rock backwards and I would catch it before it hit the ground. It was laughing, then began talking again. At the same time, a picture of some sausage came on the television screen. The baby looked at the picture and called them "by-products." I finally realized the baby was talking about a person's private parts, but since it hadn't yet learned to say "private parts," it called them "by-products."

I wondered if Birdie's husband had taught the baby to say that. I thought, "Well, it will learn how to say the right thing soon enough."

I commented to my mother (also in the room) about how well the baby spoke. I asked my mother how old my sister's child, my nephew David, was. My mother said David was about 4 months older than Birdie's baby. I thought it was strange that this baby, which was probably mine, could already speak, and my sister's child, four months older, hadn't even started to talk yet. I thought my sister was probably upset or jealous of that fact.

I rather enjoyed playing with the baby. Since I was going to be in Portsmouth for a week or more, I thought I would like to see it again. I picked up the baby, walked over to the couch and sat down close to Birdie. When I asked her if she would come back the following night, she said she would. Her husband was working the evening sift and she could return in the evening. Furthermore, I learned that she was living in an upstairs apartment of the house we were in. The apartment was reached by an outside stairs. She said she needed someone to carry the baby upstairs for her because it was so heavy. I said, "Well, I'll carry it up for you."

We talked more, and I mentioned that the girl had called me earlier that day. I hadn't gotten the girl's name, and I wondered who she was. I didn't want to ask Birdie the girl's name, but I did want to know who she was.

Since Birdie knew I was going to leave, she began gathering her things together. I said, "Well, I'll carry this baby up for you."

When we opened the door, I realized I was barefoot. I said, "Well, wait a minute. I'm going to go upstairs and put my shoes on first and get ready before I take you up."

As I started back up the stairs, the baby continued talking and I told it to shut up, but it didn't stop and I asked Birdie, "Well, hasn't it learned what the word 'shut up' means yet?"

I ran back upstairs. My mother had earlier given me five dollars which I had stuck in a book. I began looking for it. It seemed as if I had been reading Tolstoy's War and Peace and had stuck the money in that book. Finally, I found the money.

I was wearing blue jeans. All my shirts seemed to be dirty except my shirt with black and white checks. I started to put it on, but then I remembered that I had a nice whitish-gray sweater there. I put it on, but then saw another nice brown shirt which my mother apparently had bought for me. I looked around and found a nice pair of brown boots and a pair of nice light brown shoes which my mother had apparently bought for me and put there.

I pulled the boots on. They had long shoe stings which laced up the front. They were quite nice, not cheap. At first I didn't think they would fit, but after I had them on, they fit fine. I hoped I wouldn't scratch them up or spill something on them that night. I thought if I were going to be with Walls, I would probably be drinking some beer.

I put on my blue coat, which didn't go well with what I was wearing. I thought I needed a new coat, but the blue one would have to do for now.

I thought about taking a bath, but I didn't. I didn't think I had time, and besides, I wasn't very dirty. I thought, "Well, I'll just go like this."

After I had finished dressing, I walked back downstairs. I picked up Birdie's baby to carry it back up to her apartment for her.

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