Chapter 2
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As the weeks passed, Edith became fussier. She cried for endless lengths of time and would throw and swing her limbs in all directions while her face scrunched up and reddened in her fits. The angelic bear that Mable had crafted especially for her did nothing to appease her. Within days lullabies and stuffed animals were promptly ignored. While her parents provided for her essential needs—feeding her, bathing her, and diapering her—they did not possess the patience to take the time and cradle her or comfort her.
Edith’s parents could hardly be called as such. Her mother provided for her needs while her father worked long hours as a truck driver to make money and put food in their bellies, but their family life didn’t go much further than that; leaving Edith’s needs for comfort to Mable and Raum’s care.
Raum was just as thrown by Edith’s sudden change of behavior as Mable was, but he swore he had nothing to do with it. On several occasions, he was able to calm the baby just by being there, but that didn’t last. Frustrated with the lack of progress, Mable pushed Raum away, convinced his presence was only making things worse; but she knew in the end it wasn’t his fault, nor was it hers. Edith was just fussy.
Desperate for some sort of a change, Mable called for the demon’s assistance once more, and like an obedient dog, Raum came. Edith had been wailing for some time, merely for the sake of having someone to pay attention to her, and why the angel’s presence didn’t satisfy her was unknown.
Raum swooped in and assessed the situation himself. He tried to perch at the end of the crib and stick out a talon for her to grip onto, but Edith was only content with it for a few brief seconds before she’d let go and start wailing again. Limited in his options that were tolerable to the angel, he morphed into his animal form and jumped into the crib.
“What are you doing?” Mable inquired.
“Improvising.”
The raven started up a loud cawing and fluttered about inside of the crib, making it look as if he were attacking the infant. His claws snagged the small woven blankets that covered her and knocked about the few stuffed animals that were in the crib.
The racket Raum was causing attracted the attention of Edith’s mother; a slender woman with long brown hair and blue eyes. The woman had only taken a brief glimpse into the room before she saw the raven, and, thinking that her child was in danger, she rushed over to the crib and scooped Edith into her arms.
Raum jumped out of the crib and drove towards the mother. He allowed his talons to snag her hair. Terrified, the woman gave a strong swing of her arm and knocked the large black bird to the other end of the room before carrying her frightened daughter off to another room in the house where she would be safe.
Mable strode over to Raum, who was now attempting to shake the dizziness from his head.
“I’m surprised how fast that woman can move to protect her daughter when she thinks she’s in danger.” He commented.
Mable shook her head, “That was awful!”
The demon morphed back into his average form, “We cannot be the ones to coddle her forever. Her parents need to learn how to be parents. Her mother needs to learn how to be a mother.”
“And you thought you could teach her by attacking Edith?”
Raum gestured towards the door, “It worked, did it not?”
“You could have hurt her!”
“But I didn’t, did I?”
Mable took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She knew that arguing with the demon was pointless. He had the brain of a raven. Unlike most bird brains, that made him smart, but there was no way she was just going to allow him to get away with what he did.
“Tell me why you did what you did, Raum. Was there no other way?”
“No, there were other ways,” Raum replied, “But most of them involved carrying the child away to worry the mother. Now, that’s fine, but if—let’s just say—I was to accidently lose my grip . . .”
Mable shook her head, “I’d send you with a one-way ticket back to Hell.”
“So, if you put it like that, what I did wasn’t awful. It was necessary.”
The demon moved over to the windowsill, “I’ll be on the roof if you need me.”
As he vanished out of the room, Mable began to think about what the raven had said. His methods were sick and twisted and horrible, yes; but then she had to think about what could have happened had he not stepped in. Along with that, Raum had never intended to harm Edith or her mother, only frighten them the only way he knew how.
It wasn’t the greatest excuse for his dark and wicked nature, but it wasn’t a mindless act that he put on without any regard for Edith’s safety. He cared.
Mable left the nursery and joined Raum on the rooftop. He sat at an edge by a gutter, gazing at the moon as it waned into the last silver sliver before the new moon.
“Changed your mind about something?” he asked, “Or did you think of something to back up your argument?”
Mable sat down, “I know . . .”
“What is it that you know?”
“I know that you’re a vile, wicked, and evil creature. I know that you hate being here and having to work with me.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious. What’s your point?”
“My point is that despite all of that, you’re at least trying to cooperate. You’re trying to make Edith happy and have a good life. You’re at least trying to be a good person.”
Raum looked at her and then back to the sky, and then he turned his head to the rain gutter and noticed the way that the water flowed free, as the gutter was clean and clear of junk and trash.
“I want to show you something . . .”
He flew to a nearby pine tree and collected a handful of pine cones, needles, and bark. As he brought it back, he held it in front of Mable with one hand and scooped up a palm full of water with the other.
“Do you see how this water runs clean and free? Do you see how nothing’s in the way to block it or make it dirty?”
Mable nodded.
Raum then dropped the pine cones, the needles, and the bark in a single space in the gutter and watched as the flow of the water slowed. What little water that was able to pass through was now dirty.
“Would you like to drink the water that passed through all of that?”
Mable shook her head.
Raum took the junk back into his hands and held it in front of her so she could see.
“This is what I am. The water is Edith. All by itself it was pure and clean and good to drink, but when this gets in the way, all of a sudden it’s dirty, impure, and unfit to drink. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then you’ll understand when I say this:” Raum crumbled the debris in his hands and tossed them into the gutter, watching as the water washed it way, “I can’t be a good person.”
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