Akemi sat up with a start. “What are you doing up?”
“It’s morning time.”
“Is not!”
Anne just smiled and moved towards the kitchen. “How about some coffee?”
Akemi stood and peered out the kitchen windows.
The sky was a deep, pre-dawn blue. As she watched, the sun edged slowly into view over the horizon. She groaned and put her hands over her eyes.
“This doesn’t even make sense. It’s like midnight in Thailand right now. Why isn’t he asleep?”
“You guys are all mixed up,” Anne said sympathetically.
“I’m not mixed up. I can sleep any time. It’s this child. He’spossessed.”
“Do you want to take a nap?”
“No, not again. Then I reallywillbe mixed up. I need to stay awake until his naptime, at least.”
“Which will be any time now, at this rate.”
“You say that like he hasn’t developed a sudden utter disdain for sleep. I don’t think he even needs it anymore. He’s evolved beyond the need for sleep. I’ll never rest again. I’m doomed.”
Anne looked at her for a long moment. “Maybe some breakfast before coffee.”
“Sure.” Akemi sat on a kitchen stool and slumped forward onto the island. “Sounds good.”
She dutifully spooned up the food that Anne put in front of her, though she was more exhausted than she was hungry. Kaleo gobbled up a plate of eggs and then fell asleep in his high chair.
“Now you can rest too,” Anne encouraged her.
“No.” Akemi sighed. She felt less loopy now that she had some food in her belly, at least. “If I keep sleeping first thing in the morning, I’ll take forever to get past this jet lag. I need to power through to his second nap.”
“If you say so.” Anne’s tone was dubious, but she supplied her with coffee all the same.
“You’re an angel.”
Anne snorted and looked at Kaleo, crumpled in his high chair with his face in the remnants of his scrambled eggs.
“What are you going to do with him?”
“I’ll put him in his stroller,” Akemi decided. “Maybe some morning sunshine will help get our circadian rhythm back on track.”
She transferred Kaleo to the stroller and cleaned him up witha wet wipe. He slept soundly through the whole thing.
Once she was out and moving, Akemi felt better.
The morning sun was warm on her back as she walked up the road towards town.
She refueled at Pualena café with a macadamia cornetto and another cup of coffee – but when Kaleo woke up, she clutched both items awkwardly in one hand and steered her screaming baby across the street before releasing him near the playground.
Even at the park, she had to trail a few inches behind him to make sure he didn’t give himself a concussion by diving face-first off the big kids’ playground equipment. His climbing skills far outstripped his balance, and he had absolutely zero sense of self preservation.
“This is why babies your age aren’t supposed to walk yet,” she informed him.
He just smiled and threw himself through one of the many gaps in the second-story walls of the climbing structure, cackling as she caught him.
