Pregnancy

July 15th, 2020

I was sitting at my computer (as I am now) and I heard somebody go into the bathroom. The bathroom door closed, and I heard the sound of a person puking loudly. I gave it no further thought.

I got up and went into the kitchen to get something. While I there, I heard the toilet flush, the sound of water running in the sink, and then the young woman came into view. She was looking a bit pale. She opened the door of the pantry and stared into it, hoping that something tasty would jump into her hand. No such luck.

She walked a couple feet over to the refrigerator and did the exact same thing. She had the door of the fridge wide open, searching for something to eat, but not knowing what it could be. Maybe, back in the Pleistocene, our hunter-gatherer ancestors did something similar. Maybe they gazed into the distance looking for anything that qualified as food.

I asked her, “So, how do you feel?”

Stupid question.

She stopped focusing on the leftovers in the fridge, frowned, and said, “Nauseous.”

She found some fruit hidden way in the back of the crisper.

Then she said, “And hungry.”

I asked her, “Did you find anything that the baby likes?”

She replied, “I hope so. I know that she doesn’t like quiche.”

“Sorry. I don’t have to cook that any more.”

She continued, “I looked on line and they said that pregnant women shouldn’t eat a lot fatty foods. That’s about all we have in this refrigerator.”

“I guess we will have to buy other food.”

“Yeah.”

The young woman took out a glass and filled with lemonade and fizzy water.

She looked at me and said, “I know that the baby at least likes this stuff.”

She walked away, holding her drink and bowl of green grapes.

Another time, we were both in my car. I was driving the young woman to an appointment.

I asked her, “Have you and your guy talked about about a name?”

“I want ‘Elvira’ for her.”

“You mean ‘Elvira’ like in ‘virus’?”

She nodded.

“Well, what about ‘Corona’ for a name? That means ‘crown’.”

She frowned and raised an eyebrow. “That sounds stupid.”

“Okay.”

“What if it’s not a girl?”

She replied, “Well, there is no point in putting a mermaid poster in the bedroom if it’s a boy.”

Hard to argue with that.