Tales of the Unexpected

carry-cot on the floor at his feet, sleeping.
    ‘Hullo, dear,’ he said, smiling.
    She ran over to the cot and looked in. ‘Did she take anything, Albert? How many times have you fed her? She was due for another one at ten o’clock, did you know that?’
    Albert Taylor folded the newspaper neatly into a square and put it away on the side table. ‘I fed her at two in the morning,’ he said, ‘and she took about half an ounce, no more. I fed her again at six and she did a bit better that time, two ounces…’
    ‘
Two ounces
! Oh, Albert, that’s marvellous!’
    ‘And we just finished the last feed ten minutes ago. There’s the bottle on the mantelpiece. Only one ounce left. She drank three. How’s that?’ He was grinning proudly, delighted with his achievement.
    The woman quickly got down on her knees and peered at the baby.
    ‘Don’t she look better?’ he asked eagerly. ‘Don’t she look fatter in the face?’
    ‘It may sound silly,’ the wife said, ‘but I actually think she does. Oh, Albert, you’re a marvel! How did you do it?’
    ‘She’s turning the corner,’ he said. ‘That’s all it is. Just like the doctor prophesied, she’s turning the corner.’
    ‘I pray to God you’re right, Albert.’
    ‘Of course I’m right. From now on, you watch her go.’
    The woman was gazing lovingly at the baby.
    ‘You look a lot better yourself too, Mabel.’
    ‘I feel wonderful. I’m sorry about last night.’
    ‘Let’s keep it this way,’ he said. ‘I’ll do all the night feeds in future. You do the day ones.’
    She looked up at him across the cot, frowning. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Oh no, I wouldn’t allow you to do that.’
    ‘I don’t want you to have a breakdown, Mabel.’
    ‘I won’t, not now I’ve had some sleep.’
    ‘Much better we share it.’
    ‘No, Albert. This is my job and I intend to do it. Last night won’t happen again.’
    There was a pause. Albert Taylor took the pipe out of his mouth and examined the grain on the bowl. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘In that case I’ll just relieve you of the donkey work, I’ll do all the sterilizing and the mixing of the food and getting everything ready. That’ll help you a bit, anyway.’
    She looked at him carefully, wondering what could have come over him all of a sudden.
    ‘You see, Mabel, I’ve been thinking…’
    ‘Yes, dear.’
    ‘I’ve been thinking that up until last night I’ve never even raised a finger to help you with this baby.’
    ‘That isn’t true.’
    ‘Oh yes it is. So I’ve decided that from now on I’m going to do
my
share of the work. I’m going to be the feed-mixer and the bottle-sterilizer. Right?’
    ‘It’s very sweet of you, dear, but I really don’t think it’s necessary…’
    ‘Come on!’ he cried. ‘Don’t change the luck! I done it the last three times and just
look
what happened! When’s the next one? Two o’clock, isn’t it?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘It’s all mixed,’ he said. ‘Everything’s all mixed and ready and all you’ve got to do when the time comes is to go out there to the larder and take it off the shelf and warm it up. That’s
some
help, isn’t it?’
    The woman got up off her knees and went over to him and kissed him on the cheek. ‘You’re such a nice man,’ she said. ‘I love you more and more every day I know you.’
    Later, in the middle of the afternoon, when Albert was outside in the sunshine working among the hives, he heard her calling to him from the house.
    ‘Albert!’ she shouted. ‘Albert, come here!’ She was running through the buttercups towards him.
    He started forward to meet her, wondering what was wrong.
    ‘Oh, Albert! Guess what!’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I’ve just finished giving her the two-o’clock feed and she’s taken the whole lot!’
    ‘No!’
    ‘Every drop of it! Oh, Albert, I’m so happy! She’s going to be all right! She’s turned the corner just like you said!’ She came up to him and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, and he clapped her on the back and laughed and said what a marvellous little mother she was.
    ‘Will you come in and watch the next one and see if she does it again, Albert?’
    He told her he wouldn’t miss it for anything, and she hugged him again, then turned and ran back to the house, skipping over the grass and singing all the way.
    Naturally, there was a certain amount of suspense in the air as the time approached for the six-o’clock feed. By five thirty both parents were