do you want to hold my baby?

the neighbor,

friendly as all get out,

excited about

her newborn child,

asks

me if i'd like to hold her baby.

apparently

everyone

she runs into wants to hold

her baby.

so it's natural for her

to ask me.

i'm taken aback,

to say the least.

i haven't held a baby

in over thirty-five years.

what if i dropped her baby?

what if the

baby threw up,

or suddenly

filled it's diaper with

you know what?

maybe later, i tell her.

plus, all my friends

call me butterfingers,

by the way.

but i can see the disappointment

on her face.

our relationship

has never been the same

since then.