Feed Baby Pt. 2
Part 2
Shanice locked herself in her office and sat on her favorite meditation cushion, she’d already done the ritual and sat waiting until it was right, “Nanna? Mama?” She looked around the small room and spoke softly, “Nanna?” From behind her, she could feel a change in the air pressure and felt the darkness open, smelled that strange blue candy sweetness then she felt her body lean back, the house, the world and everything human about her fell away.
Her body to the outside view she looked like she’d fallen asleep, her body curled on her side in the fetal position. The rest of her fell through memory and the heavy cloying smell of the void until she was caught in strong arms. “Mama?” The voice was as it always was, husky with the echo of the dead. It was a cool comforting breath. “Hello my love. Are you all, right? You feel, thin.”
When they settled in the darkness, Shanice felt warm sand beneath her bare feet, smelled the offerings, heard the far-off murmur of the dead and she stretched her four arms. “Oh, this feels so good. And I am hungry, but I’ll be okay. I came down to tell you something, Mel found it. The one. I came down to get permission. Auntie Nani!” Happy as a child Shanice scampered away all four arms open.
“Inanna!” Her aunt Inanna stood in a pool of light, “hello sweetheart. I already showed her. We’re ready.” Shanice looked between her mother and her aunt grinning. She buried her face in Inanna’s soft neck, melted into her big soft belly and sighed. “I love you so much.” Inanna kissed Shanice on each cheek, squeezed and released her. “Eri brunch tomorrow?” Erishkegal chuckled, “of course. Now do you mind if I spend some time with my daughter?”
After a bit more conversation Inanna returned to her throne in the heavens and Shanice sat between her mother’s mighty thighs to get her hair braided, “how is Mel? When are you getting pregnant? I’m not getting any younger.” Shanice started to turn her head, but her Mama popped her in the ear, “be still.” Shanice did as she was told, “probably after this. Finding the right portal, the right person, the right haunt has been so hard. Mel said after, if things go right, we can invite everyone up. Will you bring everyone?”
“Of course, and you’ll bring your father. I’ll bring your father; I just saw him two weeks ago. Do you want to stay for a while?” Shanice launched herself at her mother as she’d done her entire life. She wrapped herself around her tall, stout mama and laid her face against her neck, “yes.” Shanice felt herself relax so deeply she half wanted to go to sleep. “Okay Mama I gotta go. I love you.” Erishkegal had many children over the millennia but, Shanice was one of her favorites.
After saying goodbyes, stopping for one more mom hug Shanice walked through a dim portal in her office and heard the thumping bass coming from the basement. She took a moment to reorient herself in her transmogrified flesh, two arms, two legs, she felt small and deflated. She went into the bathroom to remind herself what she looked like. In her face, she looked like her mother.
Depictions of Erishkegal never captured the full glory of her. Full bred humans all had the ability to perceive some of the divine body, at home her Mama was huge and beautiful. In the mirror Shanice turned her head, she loved the aquiline line of her nose, just like her Mama. In the earthly realm she was medium height and as the kids said at the time dummy thick. She took her pajamas off and looked at her naked self in the mirror.
As she turned to admire herself from different angles she cupped parts of her body, her heavy breasts, the folds of fat at her waist, the scar on one of her hips from the time she’d leapt out of her dad’s arms into a shallow pond and cut herself. She did a little dance at herself, “human enough. Right. “As was proper she got into the shower to ritually cleanse her human skin of the underworld, as she ran the water lukewarm first to ease the chill out of her flesh, she let the last sensation of the cold spice smell of Mama’s flesh fade from her nostrils.
“Bae are you back?” Mel walked into the bathroom and grinned at the outline of her naked wife. “Oh yes you are. How is Mama? Don’t forget to cowash your hair so I can help you braid it tonight.” Before Shanice could formulate a response, Mel was climbing in with her. “Hi, I can see your boobies.” Shanice, though they’d been together for more than half their lives never lived in anything but awe of her wife.
Mel used the salt and oil scrub she made to help Shanice finish re-entering the world. She squatted to start at Shanice’s feet and listened to her mutter about crossing over, her parents having brunch together and a few other mundane things. By the time the shower was steamy, and Mel had scrubbed most of her body she was all back from the darkness.
“Hi welcome back. You were gone for a long time, how are you feeling?” Shanice looked up at her wife with a big sleepy dopey smile, “good. Except my titties are cold so can we get out and get some food? And then you can tell me what the plan is.” Mel shook her head, “not yet. Cowash your hair and I’ll order you a burger, now get your cold titties under the hot water and I’ll see you in an hour.”
When Mel passed the door to Shanice’s office, she felt the cool regard of her mother-in-law. The portal itself was closed but, she could sense the look and walked in. “Yes ma’am?” A candle on the ancestor altar flickered to life and she felt the cool air on her skin, “where are my grandchildren damu?” Mel blushed, “after we get her fed. Did you see the one? I found it, just like you said. I promise.”
“You take such good care of her damu. We love you.” Across the room the altar candle flared then slowly sunk into itself, the cool air kissed her cheeks for a few more seconds and then she was gone. Mel shook the coolness off and felt just the bare regard of another entity, something dark and void crawled out of the smallest corner of the portal that had yet to completely close.
She watched it ooze and reshape itself, it braced itself and sound came from the bulk of it. “Peta babkama luruba anaku.” Mel snorted, “no the fuck I’m not opening the door. You can’t come in here. This is my house you little bitch. She is mine. This place is mine. This power, is mine.” She held her hand out and a tiny whirlwind in her palm, it slung hot pulsating life at the thing, and it shriveled and shrieked in a high thin wail.
Mel got down on the floor crawling towards the thing, it tried to back up and failed under the heat of her stare. She moved like an apex predator, the thing had observed humans before, but they did not do that. It gathered itself, unable to return to where it came it decided to try calling for help, it could feel Shanice close. The sound it made rose to an ear-piercing shriek as it called to the child. The louder it got the worse the sound of Mel cackling got to it.
As it shrieked, she stared at it until it stopped, “good. Now go home and tell your little friends again, I said no. Be. Gone.” Mel stood up, stepped back and walked out of the room. Mel refused to put up with spirit or other non-human entity bullshit in her own house, she had rules and if the critters didn’t want to play by them, she’d put them out.
Downstairs she set out the combs and creams so she could get Shanice’s hair braided when her wife wandered downstairs with a towel around her head and nothing else on Mel’s eyes settled on her chest. “Oh, I see somebody is trying to get pregnant tonight.” Shanice stopped on the landing, “ma’am, my eyes are up here and I’m not even ovulating so stop it.” With their supplies set out, Shanice put on her favorite onesie and settled between Mel’s knees.
“So, how’s Mom?” Shanice closed her eyes while Mel worked, “she’s good. I think she’s really excited we finally are going to make this happen. Did she say anything to you? I know she was here.” Mel chuckled, “yeah. What does damu mean?” Shanice had to think about it, “it means like child. She really loves the shit out of you. She called everyone else I ever dated a demon.”
Stay tuned for Pt 3.
For vocab help click here.
