New Evidence

Toby was spending his day, as usual, in front of the television in the main bedroom. Snuggled between the two oversized, but very comfy, continental pillows that Suzanne insisted on, he normally whiled away his time watching whatever appeared on the screen in front of him. These days, however, he could not ignore the girlish giggles coming from the lounge, downstairs.

Everything had been a little out of the ordinary lately, and Toby could not help but get the feeling that he was being left out on purpose. There had been streams of visitors to their home over the last few months, none of which paid him any attention. All of them generally came bearing biscuits and cakes, though some bought beautifully wrapped gifts that now filled the spare room to bursting. Why anyone would be bringing gifts in June, Toby could hardly explain, especially as everyone had already had their birthdays this year, and it was far too early for Christmas. But the presents kept coming.

Today was no different, and he was sure that the group of females now filling his lounge had already scoffed all the nice food and forgotten, yet again, to offer him even a morsel. It wasn’t fair really, considering he was much more appreciating of a good cake then Suzy was. She was always complaining that all the tasty food went straight to her thighs and that she would need a month of gym classes to work off just a single dessert. He knew, however, that pudginess just added to his overall appeal and had, many years ago, vowed never turn down the offer of any good food. Not that he’d been offered much lately.

But he had recently noticed, in the midst of all the chaos, that Suzy had not been exaggerating, after all, but that the food was collecting around her stomach now, rather than her thighs. She hadn’t seemed to have noticed, though, and Toby was not about to bring it up considering how sensitive she could be about her weight.

In fact, now that he thought about it, she had been rather sensitive about everything recently. Movies, television programmes and even advertisements on the radio that had previously bored her senseless, now moved her to tears. A few scary temper tantrums had also appeared from nowhere and disappeared just as fast. It was risky, to Toby’s mind, to approach her on any subject without some sort of shielding device (of which he had none) and so he had resigned to leave her to her own devices and wait until she approached him. He was still waiting.

Another roar of laughter rose up from the lounge, intermingled with the clinking of tiny cake forks on plates, as well as a shout as someone, apparently, came close to spilling a drink on Suzy’s precious carpet. Toby stared at the television and continued to sulk.

Suzanne had also been making an extraordinary number of shopping trips of late, leaving Toby to amuse himself alone in the house all day. He never got to see what she brought home from these extensive excursions, except for brief glimpses through the clear packets that passed before him now and again. None of it was for him, he was sure, but who it was all for he could not fathom.

Perhaps a long lost relative was coming to stay. It would explain a lot, considering the spare room, which Suzanne had used as a study and a quiet place to read, had been totally redone. A painter had been brought in to turn the plain white walls into a ghastly green. Had he be been consulted on the choice of colour, Toby was sure he would make a much wiser decision than Suzanne had managed. But Suzy always did whatever she pleased and seldom, if ever, consulted him on changes made to the house. He guessed he was used to it by now, but still would have preferred to be included.

Cupboards and such, necessary to transform a spare room into a bedroom, had also been installed. At least their wooden surfaces had not been covered in the same paint as the walls, Toby consoled himself. Besides, as soon as someone pointed out that the walls appeared to be covered in mossy splodges, a new colour of paint would transform the room instantly. For now he just hoped that whoever was coming to stay would be able to overlook the shade on the wall and appreciate the effort Suzy had so obviously put into the room. But who was coming to stay that deserved this much effort from her?

Toby wished, not for the first time, that someone would let him in on the big secret. It seemed so unnecessary to leave him in the dark about whatever was going on as it was so apparently important. At the very least, they could just share a few chocolate chip cookies with him for once. It was actually getting totally ridiculous, especially as Suzy clearly did not need any extra calories in her diet.

And then Toby started feeling bad. Maybe Suzy was sick? She had been spending an awful lot of time visiting the doctors. Not that she had told him what the doctor visits were for, but she usually took him with her. It would explain why everyone was acting so happy around her and why she was no longer concerned with her figure.

But then why would she be putting so much effort into improving her home? If she was really ill she would be in bed getting better, like she usually did. Maybe she just had a touch of the flu in all this madness of visitors and shopping. She had been throwing up every now and then, he had noticed. Though, Toby doubted that a little stomach trouble could be fatal, and consoled himself with that thought. Besides, they had been best friends for years. If it was something serious, he would have been told by now.

The sound of the front door opening shook Toby from his thoughts. The guests must finally be leaving, he thought with satisfaction. At last, he would be alone with Suzy and she might explain all the craziness to him. He’d hoped she would ever since the madness begun, but so far he had been left hopeful. On far too many occasions it had seemed she was on the verge of letting him in on the big secret and the phone would ring. It was no longer surprising when this happened nowadays, as it almost never stopped. Toby supposed he could have listened in on the conversations, but believed he had higher moral standards than that and so continued to be in the dark about the whole situation.

A short while after some rather loud goodbyes and see-you-again-soon’s, Toby heard several cars pull out of the driveway and begin their trip up the hill towards the main road. Toby could tell by the noises coming from both the kitchen and the lounge that Suzanne was still clearing up the plates that her guests had probably left in the most novel places (as guests in their small house tended to do). Clunking noises, indicating that the dishwasher was being loaded with the dirty dishes and glasses, were followed by a crunch of the machine’s door being closed and the whirr of the beginning of the wash cycle.

The sound of crumpling paper masked Suzy’s assent of the creaky wooden staircase and Toby could practically hear her smiling as she entered the room. Carrying a few still wrapped gifts piled in her arms, she shrugged her load onto the bed in front of him. Suzy collapsed into the floral armchair (another purchase Toby wished he had had some input on) in the corner of the room and sighed. Her blonde hair fell around her face, framing her now flushed cheeks as she smiled with a distant look in her eyes.

What was in the oddly shaped and messily wrapped gifts now strewn across the pink duvet, Toby wondered but refused to ask. Staring firmly at the television set in front of him, he tried in vain to ignore both Suzy and the presents. He was curious by nature and having been kept out of the loop for so long he was dying for a little inside information. After what seemed to Toby to have been hours, but was barely a full minute later, Suzanne got up and sat next to him on the bed.

“Oh, don’t look so worried,” she told Toby as she gave him a quick squeeze.

This is how I always look, he thought grumpily, but said nothing.

“Come on, lets take a peek at these presents then,” Suzy grinned and reached out in front of her to pull a nearby gift towards them.

It was covered in pale blue wrapping paper that showed tiny yellow ducklings wondering in amongst the creases. Suzy flipped it over and slid her hand under a fold to break the seal of the gift. A soft beige blanket tumbled out of the paper into her lap and she smiled at the paw prints stitched into the corner. To Toby, this only created more confusion. The blanket was obviously too small for Suzy that he wondered what she would do with such a silly gift.

Next, a brightly coloured ball revealed itself from pink spotted paper and jingled over the folds in the duvet. As Suzanne played with it, testing its softness by squeezing it in her hand, Toby mulled over the information he had stored in his head, adding these two new bits of evidence to the lot. Suddenly his heart sank right into his stomach leaving him feeling slightly nauseous at the thought as he finally put all the pieces together. How he hadn’t realised it before, he didn’t know, but it was now obvious to him that Suzy was getting a puppy.

Why the puppy would be getting a completely new room all to himself, Toby wasn’t completely sure, but the wall colour made absolute sense now. No human could possibly bare a room painted like that one, but a dog wouldn’t really care what colour it was. It was probably a pedigree dog that Suzanne was purchasing, which would explain all the cupboard space necessary. A prize pooch would need a lot of care and attention to win all the trophies Suzy apparently expected it to collect (she had installed a number of shelves into the new bedroom which had, until now, remained empty and a mystery to Toby). And the tiny blanket would be just the right size for the small animal, while the jingling ball would be a fun plaything for it.

But then Suzy won’t need me any longer, Toby thought horrified. She would have a new best friend and he would land up thrown out with the trash. He’d seen it take place before, but Toby had always thought that it would never happen to him. Terrifying images of himself alone in the dark, prey to the creatures of the shadows, flashed through his mind. No, he thought, Suzy loved him. She would never do something like that to him. Would she?

He wasn’t so sure anymore. Suzy did not really need him now that she was all grown up, but Toby had thought that their friendship was enough to keep them together. It was Toby who had been with her through all the ups and downs that life had thrown at her, celebrating the happy times together and surviving the bad times holding each other close.

Granted, Toby knew he wasn’t young as he used to be, and some of his hair was definitely falling out, but he tried not to get in anyone’s way or cause any trouble. Surely, he wasn’t about to be replaced.

Suzanne had, by now, revealed the contents of a third package as equally badly wrapped at the first two. Its paper was cream with silvery doves flying towards the edges and reminded Toby of the kinds of wrapping people had used for Suzanne’s wedding gifts. Even then, Toby had worried that Suzy was replacing him with her husband and that sooner or later she’d forget about him or that her husband would want him gone. But Suzanne had been firm with Dylan, and Toby got to stay.

Not that Dylan had been totally pleased with the arrangement, but he really loved Suzy and so he didn’t moan too much. Having Toby around seemed to make her happy and, besides, it wasn’t as if he took up that much space.

Toby brought himself out of his thoughts and back to the newly revealed item Suzanne was now holding up. It was this third gift, however, that had him completely befuddled. It was a pair of tiny socks, white with green stitching and a red ribbon on each ankle. Toby knew it wasn’t for a puppy. But the socks where miles to small for anyone else, including himself. Toby couldn’t understand why Suzanne appeared so pleased with this apparently ridiculous gift.

Suzy was leaning back on one of the large pillows on the bed, still holding in one hand the socks decorated in Christmas colours, and resting her free hand on her round stomach. It had gotten fairly large quite quickly, Toby noticed, but she didn’t seem concerned about it at all. In fact, Toby thought with confusion, Suzanne seemed rather pleased about it.

“You really do look very worried,” Suzy commented as she put the tiny socks on a pile next to her bed with the other odd gifts she had just unwrapped. She smiled down at him before adding, light-heartedly, “Oh, you are such a silly old fool.”

Toby kept his thoughts on this comment to himself, and continued to sulk in the middle of the bed. Suzanne gently picked him up under his shoulders and moved herself back onto the florally armchair, which sighed under the strain of her weight, and seated Toby on her lap.

“A lot has been happening around here lately,” Suzy said, stating the obvious, “and it has everything to do with my tummy.” Toby didn’t say anything but eyeballed her stomach suspiciously.

“See, inside my tummy there’s a little baby growing. In a few months time, I will be going into hospital to give birth to a little boy or girl who I will then bring home to live with us.”

Toby so desperately wanted to know what would happen to him once this tiny person invaded his peaceful home, but thought it rude to interrupt Suzy sweet little speech once she had started it.

“The baby will be part of our family,” she continued, “but it will need a lot more love and attention than you or me.”

So they were going to get rid of him. Or at the very least, ignore him completely. Toby’s heart broke at the thought of being forgotten by the most important person in his life but he kept is composure as Suzy carried on.

“And that means that everyone in this family needs to help out. Everybody will have a special job to do so that no one is excluded and baby will get the best from everyone.”

Toby’s ears pricked up, but he wasn’t exactly sure what Suzy was asking from him. He didn’t have any special skills, he thought to himself, but for Suzy he would do anything.

“Your job is going to be a very special on indeed,” she said, offering Toby a warm smile. “You are going to be the baby’s best friend, just like you have been my best friend for so many years.”

And that’s when Dylan walked into the room. Both Toby and Suzanne had been too engrossed in their conversation to notice his quiet entry to the house and assent up the staircase.

“Hi love, how was your day?” Suzy’s eyes lit up at the sight of her husband.

Dylan put his briefcase on the floor and walked over to where she was sitting, giving her a kiss on the cheek before replying.

“Work is work but you’re truly glowing this evening,” he grinned at Suzanne as he sat on the side of the bed facing her, pulling off his shoes and socks. “I hope your friends didn’t tire you out too much this afternoon. I see they bought even more presents for the baby.”

“Yes, it seems like an endless flow, don’t you think? Anyway, I was just telling Toby that he is going to be the baby’s most important gift.”

Dylan smiled and asked his beautiful wife, who he was sure he hardly deserved, “So you’re still talking to that teddy-bear of yours, are you?”