In the early hours of the morning, being unable to sleep with the excitement, Darren filmed a new podcast for his channel 'Nothing Adds Up'.
'I'm an uncle!' he declared 'to a baby girl 6 lbs 7oz' and then he let out his anger at the rules and regulations that meant his sister had to give birth alone and wearing a mask.
'Why?' he asked 'when this virus is no deadlier than the flu' 'Why are they treating us so inhumanly? Should a pregnant woman have to wear a mask while giving birth alone without support?'
He went through all the statistics and numbers and questioned the testing and its validity. Even the guy who invented the test had declared prior to his untimely death that it was unreliable and should not be used for testing of a virus. He had then gone on to talk about masks and why you should not wear them how it affects your immune system.
'For God's sake people wake up and stand up to this tyranny!'
Darren sat with a huge smile on his unshaved face running his hands through his dark messy hair, his bright blue eyes shining. He was an attractive boy with chiseled features but today he looked like a typical millennial teenager sat in his bedroom wearing his favorite skinny black jeans and a red vintage band t-shirt with 'London Calling' emblazoned in lurid pink and green across the chest.
'Today we have a new life, let's fight for the children!' and his eyes had suddenly filled with tears. He ended with his usual 'Nothing adds Up...Peace Out'
Immediately his video started getting likes and comments. His no nonsense attitude and the fact he wasn't afraid to show his emotions resonated with his followers and he gained more each day.
He wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep Jan was busy downstairs pottering around in a grey tracksuit, her hair piled on top of her head tied up with an old fluorescent pink scrunchie ready to do some yoga. She was beginning to feel the difference and didn't like to miss a class. She had set up her iPad on the coffee table and had rolled out her matt.
She got through half of the lesson and then realized she just couldn't concentrate as all she could think about was the baby. She heard Daren come down to the kitchen and decided to join him. As she entered the kitchen he turned around and she saw that he had being crying. She went over and saying nothing put her arms around him. The emotion was running high and mixed with the excitement of the new baby was the loss of Bill and Emma.
'She should be here with her family Mum. I miss Emma so much' he said.
'Come on now son let's make some coffee.' said Jan.
They both busied around and then sat at the big oak kitchen table with Spice whining at their feet. Darren ended up feeding her half his toast but with Spice it was never enough.
'She misses Emma' Jan said. 'She still sleeps in her bedroom.'
They both sat feeling the loss again and then Darren suddenly suggested maybe we should make Emma's room into a nursery? Jan immediately said 'No, it should stay as it is.'
'Mum I think Emma would like that and in one way she will be a part of it all.' Jan started to warm to the idea and surprisingly agreed. 'Yes Darren, you're right, that's a lovely idea.'
A couple of hours passed as they sat at the kitchen table discussing the tyranny and how wrong it all was.
'Whats going on?' Jan had asked Darren. 'Why are they doing this? What has happened to our world that Emma had to die alone and we couldn't even bury her?' she went on, 'Bill didn't have a funeral and then they say its Covid that killed them?'
And now her daughter had to give birth alone and they couldn't even visit her. She just couldn't fathom why it was the way it was until she listened to Darren and saw the light with The New World Order agenda.
'Are they really trying to kill us all?' she asked Darren, 'one thing for sure Darren, you are right, nothing adds up!'
Then Jan's mobile rang. It was Victoria on the other end. 'Mum come and collect me I'm leaving today whether they like it or not as soon as the doctors do their rounds I am insisting on leaving. They can't stop me Mum,' she declared defiantly.
'Are you sure Victoria?' Jan said 'Maybe you should stay a while longer'
'Mum I'm coming home, I can't stay here. Wait until you see the baby! I just want to be home with you and Darren.
'Okay, just call me as soon as you are ready,' Jan answered her heart beating so fast with the excitement.
An hour passed with Darren and Jan waiting patiently they spoke a few times on the phone to Andy and Maggie and a bit of an argument had erupted.
'What do you mean you can't come over? Jan shrieked at Andy. 'You're not going to come and see the baby? Fuck this bullshit!' she suddenly said, and with Jan not being one to curse Andy had been taken aback.
'Calm down girl,' he had said 'let's not ruin this day, we can speak later. Just call me when she's home'.
'Fine', said Jan quite curtly and cut him off in mid-sentence. 'It beggars belief,' she said 'I can't get through to them, they believe all the mainstream and that's it.'
The phone rang again and Jan seeing it was Victoria stood up and answered it.
'I'm ready Mum,' they said it was okay and I can go home now.' Jan was already in the hall pulling on her Kooples navy blazer over her crisp white top. Darren was still in his Clash t shirt and jeans with a big smile across his face. They jumped into Darren's old Peugeot and as they left they heard Spice howling. Jan looked back at the house and saw Spice looking mournfully out the window.
In no time they were sitting outside the maternity wing of the hospital waiting for Victoria to call. Then they saw her been wheeled out in a wheelchair by a nurse wearing a mask. Victoria had her mask under her chin and in her arms a small bundle wrapped in a white blanket. Darren had the baby car cot that Jan had ordered from Amazon fixed into the back seat.
They both ran to greet her and Victoria handed her Mum the baby and then stood out of the chair. I don't need a chair at all but they insist when you are leaving the hospital. The nurse handed Victoria's bag to Darren and then stepped back quite alarmed that they were not wearing masks. She said her goodbyes hurriedly glad to get away from the covid deniers. Victoria had been a difficult patient and the hospital was glad to see the back of her. She had put up such a fight about wearing the mask that they had given up trying with her. One of the nurses had called her selfish and Victoria had made up that she had her own reasons for not wearing the mask and it was her freedom. The nurse didn't really know what to say.
They were home in no time and both Darren and Jan took turns to hold the baby and to hug Victoria who was taking it all in her stride. All she wanted was to just be with her family and she sat with them and recounted every second.
'My brave girl I'm so proud of you!' Darren had been overwhelmed at the love he felt when he held his tiny niece for the first time.
'She's perfect just perfect,' he said. They called Andy and Maggie and they all spoke on the phone. Victoria sent some photos and they had also declared her the most beautiful baby ever. Andy cried and gently told Victoria that both he and Maggie would pop over as soon as the regulations allowed.
They set the baby up in a crib in the living room and Spice promptly sat next to the crib as if she was guarding the baby. The day passed with flowers and cards arriving and such happiness filled the house. Victoria had taken the baby with Jan into Emma's old room and both of them had sat on the bed and had a cry.
'This is your Aunty Emma's room and now it's going to be your room,' Jan said.
'So have you thought of a name for her?' she asked her daughter. 'Yes I have. I want to call her Teddy and her second name Emma.' said Victoria.
'Teddy,' Jan said 'Really, Why Teddy?'
'In memory of Bill and all the stories of his Teddy boy days. She is our little Teddy.' said Victoria.
Over the next weeks little Teddy filled that house with so much laughter and joy that somehow covered the great divide that was starting to happen. A divide that would tear the family apart and split them into two camps that would never come together again.