By: Danielle Baglivo
Karen woke up on Monday morning, not fully awake but aware that her baby belly of over 8 months had gotten bigger since last week. As she woke up, she thought about her baby, and anticipated the following week. She knew her baby boy was due either then, and the kicking in her stomach made it seem even more real. As she huffed and puffed herself out of bed, she tried not to rustle the baby within her stomach. Stretching and gazing outside her left window, she looked down from the beams of sunlight to see there was no one next to her. At first, she believed everything to be OK, expecting her husband to be downstairs making breakfast. This was all untrue as she waddled herself down the steps and into the kitchen, left to see no sign of her husband Steve, though she saw the coffee maker running with no pot under it. Trying to keep her cool, she stomped through the kitchen and scanned the downstairs, ending up with no luck of finding him. After she saw his jacket still lying on the hook, she felt a little more secure knowing he didn’t leave. She ran back up to the kitchen to clean up the spilling coffee, running sink and microwave, wondering why he must have left these on, and what kind of distraction might have led him to do so.
Looking around the kitchen to make sure it was all clean and rid of any working appliances, she reached for the home phone so she could call his cell phone, hoping she would hear it ring in the house. However, her reach for it was so frantic, the phone fell to the ground as the plastic on the back of it flew off and made a huge crashing sound. She tried hard to pick it up, but her protruding belly was restricting her from doing so. As she struggled to reach the phone, she heard footsteps coming from the stairs, which sounded lighter than her husband’s. She stood upright and stopped in her tracks, trying not to make a sound as she heard the footsteps coming closer. All she wished was that the person turning that corner would be her husband, ready and waiting to explain the mess he made in the kitchen. A sharp, familiar voice cut through her raising thoughts and said:
“What was the noise Karen honey-bee?” Nancy? My mother in-law? Karen yelled in her mind, confused and flustered all at once. She could tell it was her by her southern accent. Nancy continued on speaking as she knocked on Karen’s head twice. “Anyone in there darlin’? Y’all oh-kay?”
Stuttering from confusion Karen said: “I…well…I’m fine but, Nancy? Why are you here? What happened?” She knew she had traveled all the way from Pennsylvania (where Nancy has lived all her life) to Syracuse, NY in just one night and she knew she didn’t call beforehand, so there must have been something wrong.
“Why do y’all always think sumptin’ is a matter when I come on down here? I could just be parkin’ by fer a visit – but un-for-tu-netly darlin’, that ain’t the case this time. Somethin’ happened. Somethin’ bad. Why don’t y’all come upstairs with me and see your husband.”
Karen was overjoyed to know where her husband was, but not so happy about the bad news. The two of them walked upstairs to the loft next to their bedroom and walked towards her husband, lying on the couch watching television. As Karen went to sit down next to him, she realized tears were welled in his eyes, which made her even more nervous for what was coming next. When Nancy saw she noticed, she immediately continued on with the news, no suspense needed.
“Alright honey-bee, I’ll just tell you all upfront with this here news. Your father-in-law, Dave, has passed away just two days ago.” She paused and watched Karen’s eyes well and turns towards Steve, who was already balling. She’s never seen him this way before. “But, honey, I wanted to come up earlier, but I had to have some days by myself to rid the pain and plan the funeral date. I knew I wanted to come alone and help yous two by myself. The funeral date is tomorrow, we’re having it in PA and I’m driving yous there tonight, so pack your stuff up – come’on hurry up darlin’s. It’s already 5 o’clock.” Hearing that, Karen shot her head up to the clock, realizing how late it was…and how long she had been up. She ran to her room and packed up her things, and Steve’s as well, since he was in too fragile of a position to do so. By 6:00 pm, they were on the road from New York to Pennsylvania, and the long ride there didn’t help cope their sorrows.
When they reached Flowerville, PA – Steve’s hometown, they were greeted, oddly, in a happy fashion by all of his family members who were at Nancy’s home. It must be something in the flowers…Karen thought. They were all invited into the home and were shown their guest room – or Steve’s old room. When they walked in, they saw race-car wallpaper lining the walls and a hot red and black checkerboard bed, in the attempting shape of a speeding race car. Karen suspiciously gave a look to Steve as he said to himself, “Ah, I remember moving out of this house when I was 19…good times.” Still, with an awkward look on her face, she got dressed for bed at 10:00 pm for the early morning funeral at 6:00 am. Steve slept in his race-car bed along with several pillows taking up the rest of the room, as Karen slept on the floor with the 5 – year – old themed rugs. When Karen woke up, she felt something different in her stomach, unlike any other morning – but she ignored it, thinking it was normal for a pregnant woman to feel. By 5:45am, Steve and Karen were standing by the door, Karen in her maternity-black dress, and Steven in his black suit. Their ride with Nancy in the limo was waiting outside of the home, a bright white and wide escalade limo. As Steve opened the door of the car, they both glanced at each other, in sorrow and in awe of their ride. The 15 minute ride there seemed like the longest, the silence seemed so loud, though the music blaring in the car could have made that so. When they reached the procession, Karen felt an even worse pain in the pit of her stomach – she didn’t know whether it was for sorrow or not. Looking at Steve’s upset face, she didn’t want to bother him, so she ignored it once more. Then, about 30 minutes into the ceremony and in the middle of Nancy’s speech about Dave, Karen realized something wasn’t right. She poked Steve and said, “I think my water broke…”
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