Of Babies, Rings and Insanity

Disclaimer: I own myself, and that's it. Carolyn and Jenneva own themselves, and my darling baby boy belongs to planned parenthood. Everything else is from Tolkien, or some other brilliant genius.

Chapter One

It all started with Mr. Santacroche. He had yelled at Kelsey, "Shut that stupid baby up or I'm gonna kill it!" Kelsey felt tears well up in her eyes, but she proudly lifted her head and walked calmly out of the eurhythmy hall, grabbing the infant seat on her way out. She immediately headed for the woods behind the school, but turned when she heard footsteps behind her. It was Carolyn and Jenneva, whose babies had also started to cry.

As all three girls fell into step together, none spoke a word. When they reached the field, full of wildflowers and clover, they sat. Within a minute, the crying had stopped. Kelsey's baby had only needed a diaper and was ready to be left alone again, but she stayed anyway. Any excuse was a good one to get out of eurhythmy. After about 5 minutes of silence, Jenneva spoke.

"We should probably go back, now."

"Why don't we go on a little hike in the woods, instead?" asked Carolyn.

"And drag these car seats around?" asked Jenneva, always the practical one.

"No, we'd leave them here. They'll be fine for 2 minutes. C'mon, lets go."

Kelsey and Jenneva looked at each other and shrugged. Kelsey picked up her baby carrier and started towards the woods.

"Are you seriously going to bring that thing?" asked Carolyn.

"I'm not leaving my baby, he could be kidnapped! Besides, what if he needs me?" Kelsey looked adoringly at her baby, and Carolyn and Jenneva threw hopeless looks at each other. "Aren't you two coming?"

With this the three...uh...four headed off along the trails in the woods. After an excruciatingly long two minutes, Kelsey was ready to head back. "Ok guys, this was fun, lets be done now, this thing is heavy. But that doesn't mean I don't love you, no it doesn't," she cooed into the baby carrier.

"Maybe it wouldn't be as heavy if you didn't pack it with so much stuff," pointed out Jenneva.

Kelsey looked at the baby carrier, which was holding a variety of items, including her lunch, cd player and case, a water bottle, her purse, and the book she was currently reading, all piled on top of the baby, with only his head showing. A head that was wearing a splendid pair of tortoise shell sunglasses.

After a pause, "Shut up," was Kelsey's stinging retort.

As they started back, Kelsey started to sing.

"OOOOHHHHHHH..."

Recognizing the song, Jenneva joined in.

"This is the story 'bout a guy named Al And he lived in the sewer with his hamster pal But the sanitation workers really didn't approve So he packed up his accordion and had to move To a city in Ohio where he lived in a tree And he worked in a nasal decongestant factory And he played on the company bowling team And-"

"ENOUGH!" shouted Carolyn, startling birds out of the trees. Kelsey and Jenneva looked at each other, back at Carolyn, then at each other again. They shrugged and continued walking, humming the tune.

After about ten minutes, they still had not arrived back at school. Carolyn started to look worried, and stopped walking.

"Guys, I think we are lost."

"No, all we need to do is wait for one of your babies to start crying, and we'll follow the noise, "was Kelsey's reasoning.

They waited for another ten minutes, but heard nothing.

"Well, we could just walk in one direction. When we come out of the woods we can make our way back to the school. We'll either end up in the subdivision next to the school, the park, or Pontiac Trail (A/N: PT is a big street that the school is located on). Then we can just walk or take the bus back to school."

All three girls looked at each other, then at their surroundings. With Jenneva as their leader, they headed off in a westerly direction. How did they know they were going west? Kelsey had complained about the sun in their eyes before remembering her baby was wearing sunglasses.

They had been gone now for about an hour. There had been no babies crying, or bells ringing to lead them back to school. And it would be dark in a few hours. Carolyn was starting to worry.

And then, as if someone had recognized their plight, the trees ended. It looked like they had been groomed into in a relatively straight line. But no signs of civilization existed. Ahead of them, there was a field similar to the one behind the school, but this one went on for as far as the eye could see.

"Oh, crap."

A/N: If you want me to keep going, REVIEW!!! If I suck as bad as I think I do, REVIEW! And tell me so (but in a nice way, pleeeze)