Baby July

At my last home, we had a third roommate.

An uninvited third roommate.

A baby ghost.

His name was Baby July.

And only one person ever saw him.

{rewind.}

In September of 2010,

Bre and I moved in to our {then} new apartment.

My friend Amanda brought her son,

Scotty {at the time, about two years old}

to see the house.

Scotty is running around playing

and then

freezes.

He jumps in to Amanda's lap

pointing at the front door and repeating,

"baby. scary. scary. baby."

{fast forward six months}

This time, Amanda has all three kids.

We're eating McDonald's,

running around the house.

The kids go on to the balcony

and when Scotty comes back inside

he freezes again.

Jumps in Amanda's lap

points at the front door and repeats

"scary. baby. there. scary."

{fast forward another six months}

now July 2011

Once again, it is just Scotty with us.

He and I are playing for over an hour.

Amanda and I keep making eye contact

as if to say, "well, we've made it this long...

maybe he won't say anything!"

And then, I hit the beach ball

and it lands in the front doorway.

And Scotty freezes.

"You get it." he says.

those six months had brought with them

a larger vocabulary for Scotty.

I reply, "You get it."

"I can't," he says,

"there's a monster over there."

Amanda and I breathe a sigh of relief.

He continues.

"Yeah, a monster.

With a baby."

Amanda's eyes widen.

I don a smirk that is meant to communicate

a mix of shock and fear.

And still he continues.
"It's a baby with that monster.

The baby.

It's my baby brother.

His name is Baby July."

{Scotty is the youngest of three.}

He never bothered us,

Baby July.

He stayed in his little three-by-three entryway.

We'd say hello as we came in.

And I told this story as frequently as possible.

Much to the dismay of my friend, Luke.

It was bittersweet

to say goodbye to Baby July.

I know he didn't move with us.

Scotty was here on Sunday...

and there was no mention of his baby brother.