Mother was always unpredictable. She’s here one moment and gone the next. It was as if she could disappear with a wave of her hands—and she has on multiple occasions. But I never lost hope, knowing she always comes back soon. This time, though, it seems she’s taking longer than usual. We were eating at the kitchen table when I heard a ringing noise. The next thing I knew she had disappeared without a trace. Yet I still wasn’t worried—at first.

What a fool I was. What an absolute buffoon I had become. I should have been worried from the start. I don’t know how much time passed, but it felt like ages. What tragedy has befallen you, Mother? Have you left me with nothing but puréed fruit and a chair I cannot leave? Am I to fend for myself from now on? No, no, something must be done about this. I will find Mother and bring her back to me at once. I looked around for her. I called for her. I made noise to lure her back to me. Mother! I cried and I cried. Come back to me this instant! I did all I could with the limited mobility of my high chair prison. I was losing hope. It’s been ages since she’s disappeared, perhaps even minutes! I couldn’t believe she had vanished into thin air the way she did. I haven’t felt this bad since the nurses took me away from her after my escape from the womb. Oh, how I long for the good old days! We had such a close connection back then. Literally. We were closely connected via umbilical cord. But then, I was blessed by a miracle. I heard Mother’s voice getting closer and closer. Suddenly, she was here again! Reunited with my creator, I cried, but in relief this time. Mother reassured me and calmed me down. We resumed our lunch, but I noticed she was strangely holding something to her ear. "Yeah, sorry about that; you called while I was feeding the baby. Ha, yeah. Huh? Um, do you know if babies are supposed to stare at you this hard? I don’t know, man, my baby's always been kinda weird. He gives me this really intense stare then starts muttering stuff under his breath. Like, I know babies babble, but the way he does it is just so weird. His first word was ‘mother.’ Yeah! Not even mama or mom he straight up said ‘mother’! I didn’t even teach him that… sorry, I gotta go. He looks like he’s about to monologue again.”