"Obsession" Scene 1, Act 1

I go to wake Brent up this morning. Half asleep, he mutters "Shoo shoo sheen!" (which is choo choo train in laymen's terms).

In the dark, I try to pick him up and find titi (his blanket). The 'suggestion' gets a little louder that I find his shoo shoo. I try to ignore it, hoping he'll go back to sleep.

While picking titi up, I hear shoo shoo sheen fall behind the crib. Not good. And I'm not the only one who hears it. Suddenly he senses that his beloved train is in peril. I tell him not to worry, I will get it for him.

I lay him back down. Snoring commences immediately. I get a flashlight and perform surgery on the items jammed under his crib to find the train. Once rescued, I wake him up again and give it to him. "Red shoo shoo" he says thankfully, and holds it tight as he sleeps on my shoulder.

So we get to the car and I buckle him in. He starts to stir, and then looks reassured at finding red choo choo in his hand. But wait.... Oh no... I follow his gaze as he looks at his other bare hand. Black choo choo is not there. I see this register on his face, and tell him "It's okay! Look! Red choo choo is all we need this morning".

I hurry into my seat and back the car up, thinking of what a wonderful idea it was yesterday to get an additional choo choo so that I had a backup in case one couldn't be found. Two is better than one, right? Only they're a SET now. One is nothing without the other.

I am almost out of the driveway, when I hear the sirens of a firetruck coming down the road. Oh wait, that noise is coming from the back seat. "Blaaaaaaaaaaaack shoooooooooo shoooooooooo". I can practically hear the half-asleep tears hitting the back of my seat. I gauge my options:

It's only 10 minutes - I can endure this for 10 minutes. This sounds good at first. It's not that long. I'm teaching him not to get everything he wants. So what if this starts the day out on the wrong foot - and that he'll probably cry when I'm trying to leave, and that will be the last vision I have going into my day. I can't think with that NOISE in the back seat!!!

I can go back in the house and try to find other choo choo. Yeah, it's going to have to be that.

So back down the driveway I go, promising to make things better. "Brent, I'm going to go get black choo choo. You need to wait here and I will bring it out, okay?" "O-tay, Momma," he sobs, barely able to breathe.

I park the car and go back in the house. Andy just looks at me. I say "Evidently red choo choo is no good without black choo choo". He accepts this and doesn't comment. I love that my husband is so smart.

I search for black choo choo in the crib, and find him tangled in one of the quilts. Success! Back to the car we go. Brent is calm, knowing that the world is about to become perfect once again. I place the toy in his hand, and he falls asleep. "Doo doo, momma," he mutters with his last breath.

"You're welcome, baby"