Free Joe by Jacqueline Druga Page B

her?”
    “Behind the couch. Well, I saw her hair on the edge and then I saw her legs.”
    “What’s left of them?” Ellen took the doll. “Sad. Alex is going to be upset.”
    “I know.”
    “I mean, she was just playing with her in the dining room.”
    Frank shrieked out in revelation. “Uh!”
    “What?”
    “I got it.”
    “What?”
    “Man, I can be slow.”
    Ellen snickered. “What did you get?”
    “Robbie…” Frank started to laugh. “He said Dining womb.”
    “Womb? Like Alex’s says her ‘r’.”
    “No, dining womb. Get it. Not dining room. Dining womb.”
    “I’m lost.”
    “No, it was lost and now it’s almost found.”
    “Frank?” Ellen questioned. “What are you talking about?”
    “I lost something that may have done this. It means it may be close.”
    Ellen laughed. “Frank, what did you lose? A lawn mower? Miniature Killer Baby …” She gasped out. “No.”
    “No, what?”
    “You lost it.”
    “What?”
    “The Killer Fetus.”
    “Thankfully it only fucking kills dolls.”
    Ellen screamed.
    “What?”
    “Please don’t tell me you lost it in the house.”
    “Actually in the... Dining...” Frank snickered. “Womb.”
    Ellen smacked him. “That’s not funny.”
    “Yes it is.”
    “Frank, look at this doll.”
    “Exactly. Obviously it only eats plastic.”
    “For now.”
    “El, seriously, with all the miniature people we have, if it was still here, don’t you think it would have gnawed on one of them.” Frank raised his eyebrows.
    “You’re an ass. We have to put out a community alert.”
    “No, we do not.”
    “Yes, we do.”
    “El, we’ll get a fucking panic if we do. You know the people of Beginnings. One Killer Fetus and they see this thing, they’ll say alien invasion.”
    “That’s you, Frank. You start most of the rumors.”
    “I do not. You lie.”
    Ellen folded her arms and stared at him.
    “Ok, sometimes I do. But this … Harry, he’s fine. We just need to find him. Maybe he went back to the Killer Baby region.”
    “If he did. We’ll never know,” Ellen said. “They all look alike.”
    “Not him. He looks different.”
    “You can tell them apart?”
    “I can when they have a collar on.”
    After staring for a moment, Ellen inhaled. “Ok, let’s check the house first, anyhow.”
    “Sounds good.”
    “I’ll start with the bedroom, you start here.” Ellen instructed, and then headed immediately down the hall. She shook her head at Frank’s calling of ‘Here Harry’, and knocked on the door of the first room. “Alex?” she called out as she opened the door. “You ok?”
    Alex quickly turned around from her seat on the floor. “Yes, mommy, fine. Playing with my dolls.”
    “Ok. Just checking.” Ellen smiled at her daughter; pulled the door closed, told Frank that the room was clean and moved to the next.
     
    Alex stared at the closed door and listened to the sound of her mother’s footsteps. She grabbed her Brunette Barbie and moved it closer, then on her hands and knees reached under her bed. “Come on.” She called in a soft voice. “It’s ok.”
    When pulled back her arm and smiled. “You weren’t scared were you?” She stared at the creature in her hand, the Killer Fetus called Harry. She had on him a green doll evening dress and a wide hat. “You hat is falling off.”
    His little jaw nipped out to her. She giggled, and flicked him. He twitched his head. Bracing him between her bony knees, Alex grabbed the tape and secured the hat on his head. “Better, “she said. “So pretty.” She gave him a pat and he purred. Another snicker of enjoyment and Alex lifted her Barbie. “Now where were we?”
    Harry opened his mouth.
    “No biting.” Alex hit playfully hit him with the Barbie doll, then proceeded, holding both dolls, to engage them in rival Barbie doll conversation.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Alexandra’s little hand clasped tightly to Ellen’s while her book bag, nearly as wide as she was, slapped against her