The Jovian Legacy Read Online Free Page A

and him. He wonders what he looks like and
turns his head, making out his reflection in the plastic side of the
crib.
    Yep,
I’m black all right! he
deems, scrutinising his big brown eyes and button nose with puffed-up
rosy pink lips. Jack sticks out his tongue at his reflection.
    Black
as ebony…this is going to be fun .
    More
babies cry. This annoys him.
    “Will
you shut the hell up!” he
yells in a voice so high and tight that it even gives him a fright.
    He
hears a tray of cups and bowls crash to the floor. The other babies
are now screaming, and Jack looks up to see a nurse’s face, her
expression of sheer terror. She flees the room, and within moments a
team of doctors and nurses gather around his crib.
    Better
play it cool now , he says to
himself.
    The
sea of faces stares at him; Jack stares back, tight-lipped.
    A
doctor’s attention turns to the nurse. “Nurse Carter,
have you been rostered on too many shifts? I know we’re short
staffed, but if it’s going to affect you, we can’t take
risks. These babies require round-the-clock care and if you feel
it’s too much for you I will arrange for another nurse to cover
your shift.”
    “No…I’ll
be fine, thank you, doctor. I think I’m just a little tired,”
she replies, confused, smoothing her uniform nervously. Jack watches
her intently. An embarrassed Nurse Carter attends to the other
babies, who begin to settle down. Another nurse lifts Jack from his
crib, taking his temperature and making a few notes. Jack notices
the tag she places at the base of his crib: “24-hour
monitoring required”.
    Oh
boy! I’m going to have fun! he
wickedly thinks.
    He
is taken in to his mother who cradles and smiles at him.
    Jack
bites his lip. Shall I or
shan’t I? He smiles
back at her in a wide cheesy grin.
    “Omigod,
Omigod! Nurse!” she screams, holding Jack away from her. “My
baby! My baby! He smiled at me! He only two hours’ old! He
too young to do that! I given birth to the devil! Yeh, he the
devil! Take him away!”
    A
nurse quickly takes the now angelic-looking Jack from her and into a
different room. He is placed in another crib and a team of doctors
gather around him. They write notes, take his temperature,
scrutinise him and write more notes. Jack remains quiet throughout.
After a few minutes they leave. Jack sees that one nurse has stayed
back to keep an eye on him. She is seated by the window and has
opened her book - a novel written by Virginia Andrews entitled Flowers in the Attic .
    He
feels the urge again, stretching out his little black arms and
pulling himself up into the sitting position in his crib, grinning to
himself. “Bloody good story, poor kids to have a mother like
that that leaves them all cooped up in that room for three years,
aye.”
    The
nurse drops her book and she screams, so loud the entire
ward of babies start screaming again too. Bedlam. Jack lays there
giggling hopelessly, laughing so much he piddles himself. He makes
sure he is quiet when the doctors come rushing back in. Pretending
to be asleep, Jack listens to them talking. One of the doctors says,
“I think we need the senior paediatrician and a psychiatrist to
take a look at this baby.”
    Jack
peeps at the clock. Another half an hour to go, and wonders if he
should cool it.
    Nah,
half an hour’s not long. May as well make the most of it, he
thought, trying not to grin.
    He
watches the doctor dialling numbers on the big black phone attached
to the wall of the ward, placing the phone up to his ear.
    Jack
cups his little round hands over his mouth. “I’m sorry,
your call cannot be connected due to overloading, please try again.”
The doctor, ever so slowly, removes the phone from his ear and turns
towards Jack, approaching him with an unfathomable look on his face.
It is a look of horror and anger, which unnerves Jack a little. The
doctor picks up Baby Jack, who had wrapped himself back up in his
blanket and tucked his arms back in. The doctor holds Jack at