Diaper

Sue stood up to change Katie, but I pointed to the diaper bag. “Finish your coffee,” I said. “I got this.” 

“That’s OK,” Sue said, “There’s a mat in the bag, I can change her right here.”

Over the years, local agencies and the EPA have put a lot of time and money into cleaning up ‘brownfield sites.’  These are places were mills stood, built and operated long before environmental regulations were in place.  The ground was often covered by heavy metals, slag, and other industrial wastes.

As Sue unfastened Katie’s diaper, I thought the EPA needed to add another site to their list.

 

I laughed and said, “I’d forgotten how babies turn things as pure as breast milk and baby food into toxic sludge.”

“I had great parents,” Sue said. “They trusted me. I took their trust and turned our home into a drug infested war zone.”

Kim, who’d been sitting across from Sue said, “Booze wasn’t my only problem.  I could take a sweet remark and make it an angry drama that lasted months.”

Other people chimed in, describing their talent for turning good things into sludge.

Today I’ll be grateful I no longer turn good things into diaper filling.

Dogged Determination ©2018 & 2019 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/