An Earthquake Through a Four-Month-Old Baby's Eyes

It was a normal Monday morning. My mom had just finished feeding me Cerelac and I had just taken a short nap. And now, I was lying down in my cradle playing with my rattle. Life was good.

But the next thing I know, my cradle started rocking back and forth and the rattle shook by itself. I felt sleepy and nauseous at the same time.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared out of nowhere. A hand slid under my small bottom and scooped me out of the cradle. Feeling the huge amount of hair on the arm that was holding me I understood it was my father. I noticed that stuff was falling out of things and things were falling out of stuff. As I was looking around, something captured my attention. My legs were flopping around uncontrollably. IS THIS HAPPENING TO EVERYBODY?!! I looked down at my father’s feet and saw that his were also moving really fast.

All this bouncing around is making my tummy feel weird. This feeling was soon replaced with a new one, a wet one. I want my Mommy. But since she’s not here, I go to the next best thing, my rattle. Wait… WHERE IS IT?!! WHERE IS MY RATTLE??!!! WHERE IS MY RAAAAAAAATTTLEEEEE???!!!! I started pounding on my father’s hairy arms in an attempt to stop him. I tried doing everything I could to stop him. But I failed miserably. Then I knew I had to go to extreme measures. My secret weapon. The one thing that got me what I wanted exactly when I wanted it. And with that, I took a deep breath and, “WAAAAAHH!!!!!” He must not have heard it. So I did it again, “WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!” And then once more, “WAAH……?”

A blast of light hit my face and I immediately stopped my tantrum. Trying to adjust to the light, I realized that the floor had turned green. I didn’t understand what was going on. One minute the floor was white and now it is green.

“BANG BANG BANG!!!!” Where is this loud noise coming from? I looked up to find its source and saw that the big brown gate was moving back and forth in a violent manner. The sound was unbearable and I really want my Mommy now. I looked at my father, hoping he will take me to her. But my father was not looking at me. He was looking around for something. We were not in the house anymore and I saw that even the magical thing that makes us move fast from one place to another was moving by itself back and forth (the car). Something was going on and I didn’t like it. Normally my father has to do something for it to move. But how is this possible if he is here holding me?

My sisters were in front of the big brown metal wall door thing and my father yelled something loudly at them. I didn’t understand what he said. But normally I mostly don’t understand what people say. Hearing my father yell at them, my sisters ran to the green floor and stood there. The weird part was now the green floor was moving too. It was moving up and down. Along with that, my sisters were also moving up and down.

I was too busy looking at the green floor when I suddenly heard a familiar sound which calmed me down a little. The sound of my mother’s voice. Seeing her with her arms open, I really wanted to be in them. I stretched my arms out hoping my father lets me go. She reached for me and the next moment I was in her warm and loving arms. She hugged me close to her chest and I could hear the sound of her breathing. Who needs a rattle when you have this? Life was good.