My Stupid Girl (50 page)

Mrs. Peterson went flitting past us like a
ballerina, gaily greeting her husband who just drove up with the car. 

“Geeze Mom, you’re freaking me out.” 

“Well it’s not every day someone gets a
grandchild!” She looked like she could have done a few jumping jacks, just to
shake off some of that energy before she opened the car door for her daughter
to get in. I lowered Lucy in and closed the door behind her, then ran to the
other side of the car. But when I got there two other people had already filled
in the left side. Jennika and Evelyn were looking up at me with sad puppy dog
eyes, begging me to let them ride in the car with Luce.

“Sad pretty girl look isn’t fair!” I said
through gritted teeth, having a slight inkling to just chuck them out and tell
Mr. Peterson to step on it. They both started jumping up and down on their
butts like they had just had the final word. 

“I’m going to be right behind you,” I
whispered to Lucy while I pinched Jennika then ran out of arms length.

My car was already filled to the brim with
excited faces. I dug in my pockets to get my keys and that was the first time I
realized that I was shaking from… panic? Excitement? Maybe fear. I started the
car and looked in my rear view mirror at Johnny, Michelle, and Sean. In the
front seat, Isaiah was looking at me like he was going to stab me if I didn’t
step on the gas. 

This baby was going to be loved, that was a
definite. 

“Has she decided yet if she’s gonna’ keep
it?” Michelle asked from behind me. The question was a reminder I wanted to
swat away like an irritating fly.

“I don’t know,” I answered coldly, hoping
she would get the drift that I didn’t want to talk about it.

“Let's just steal the baby and run away.”
Isaiah offered the idea like it was common sense. I looked over at him and saw
that he was playing the piano on his legs with his fingers, a nervous twitch he
had always had. I just had enough time to appreciate how much he cared for Lucy
before we all heard a song suddenly coming from somewhere in the car. The tone
was muffled but I made it out as one of the cheesiest church songs on the
planet.

Our God is an awesome God He reigns

From heaven above

With wisdom, power and love

Our God is an awesome God

Isaiah was sneering at Sean, assuming that
it was coming from his phone. But his face froze as he felt a vibration in his
pocket. 

“I will kill her.” He flicked it open and,
in the meanest voice I had ever heard, he spoke to Evelyn.

“Woman, what did I say about changing my
ring tone?” 

We couldn’t keep it in any longer. The car
started swerving because I was furiously wiping tears from my eyes so I could
see where I was going. Johnny was laughing so hard he was clutching his side
from the pain, his head was on Michelle’s lap and her hand was hitting it
softly, fits of pure evil joy coming out in bursts. Sean’s shoulders went up
and down silently, but he patted Isaiah’s shoulder comfortingly.

“What?” Isaiah covered his free ear and
pressed his phone up to the other. We swallowed our laughter and let out little
squeaks every few seconds.

“Did anyone grab Lucy’s red hospital bag?”
He asked everyone in the car. We all looked around blankly, each of us knowing
that we didn’t bring it.

“It's not here.” Michelle told him. Isaiah
relayed the message back then hung up the phone. 

“We have to go back to get it. I guess Lucy
is flipping out about it. It’s by the front door and nobody remembered it.”

“Yeah, one of you can go back once we get
there. I’m not turning around,” I said determinedly.

“We won’t miss anything, these things take
time,” Johnny said, trying to sound like he knew how these kinds of things
worked.

“I don’t care, did you see her? She is
going to explode. I’m not turning around.”

“Why don’t I call Rachel? She can drive to
the house and grab it and bring it by the hospital.” Sean flicked his phone
open as he spoke. “You call Evelyn, Isaiah, and tell her.” Isaiah didn’t have
to though, because his phone started singing again. This time he was able to
open it quickly and growl his “what?” at her. He listened for a moment.

“We are getting Rachel to do it.” More
listening.

We all started hearing a high pitched,
panicky voice on the other line. It was definitely Lucy. Freaking out. I spoke
to Isaiah, loudly, hoping Lucy would hear.

“Tell her to deal with it. We are almost to
the hospital and I’m not turning around.” 

“Dude, she hung up.” Isaiah put his phone
on silent and pushed it back in his pocket. I didn’t care; I wasn’t going back.
If I were to turn around now I would be a good forty minutes behind her. That
wasn’t going to happen. So she was just going to have to be mad.

“Oh, there it is.” Michelle pointed to the
big hospital in town, the same one that Lucy and I had been taken to after the
whole lake incident.

Mr. Peterson and I parked right next to
each other at a parking spot next to the maternity ward. Her father saw me and
winked.

“You’re in trouble,” he said. My stomach
dropped but I wasn’t in the mood to get yelled at for caring. I was going to
put that cranky mama in her place if she tried to get mad at me. Luckily, she
didn’t say anything, just huffed and puffed about how much she needed her red
hospital bag. I ignored her. She wasn’t going to care about that bag in about
ten minutes. Besides, I kind of wanted to see in-labor Lucy unleashed on
Rachel.

These were once-in-a-lifetime moments.

“I can’t walk,” Lucy groaned to me as I
reached her. Her legs were out of the car and her body turned around, but she
was doubled over in pain again, holding her stomach and clutching the side of
the car for support. It was freaking me out, the constant pain thing.

“I’ll get you a wheelchair.” I dashed
through the door before someone could beat me to it. Running down the long
hallway, I looked for someone to help me. I finally came across the oldest
woman that ever lived. I think her name was Eve. 

“Excuse me, ma’am, do you have a
wheelchair?” I asked her making a point to show how much of a hurry I was in.

“Do you have an appointment?” She put on
her glasses with shaky hands. 

“No, I need a wheelchair. My girlfriend is
in labor and I need a wheelchair.” I thought of peaceful fields and babbling
brooks and stuff, trying really hard not to lose my temper.

“Your girlfriend?” She said it in a snobby
tone that I didn’t care for, but I chose to ignore it. I needed a flipping
wheelchair. I was willing to endure old-lady-disapproval.

“Yes, please. If you can’t help me, do you
know someone who can?” 

“Well, I have one, dear.” She turned around
and hobbled over to the folded up chair in the corner behind her desk. She
opened it up, pushed it over to me about three years later, and told me to
bring it back when I was done with it.

“Yeah.” I said from over my shoulder as I
ran off down the hall to get Lucy.

My girl was still sitting halfway out of
the car, holding Jennika’s hand and doing some kind of breathing exercise I’d
seen in the movies. I didn’t realize that was real. I really should have asked
her about that lamas stuff, or whatever it was called.

Lucy’s father helped her into the
wheelchair but I refused to let go of the back, which he seemed pleased about.
Isaiah and Evelyn opened the door for us and we all went running down the hall.
I mean, we all went running down the hall. Lucy and I took the lead, but
Jennika and Mrs. Peterson were keeping close behind. Johnny and Michelle were
trailing then Mr. Peterson, Sean, Evelyn, and Isaiah were behind them, all of
us rushing down a long hallway. We sped past slow Eve and straight to the labor
and delivery part of the hospital. 

We rounded on a nurse at the end of another
long hallway. We tried to stop in front of her but ended in a kind of car crash
that caused a few of us to almost topple over. But we grabbed hands and saved
each other so we wouldn’t look too much like idiots. The nurse looked at us
like she was watching a magical circus act, with fire. 

“This is Lucy Peterson, we called.” Lucy’s
mom chimed in.

“Yes, um, are all of these people coming
in?” 

“Yes!” Everyone said in unison, which made
Lucy laugh. I bent over and kissed her head. She reached up and stroked the top
of my hair and leaned back in her chair. She must have been experiencing a
little break from the contraction.

“Ok, this way. We have a room ready for you
Lucy.” The nurse started rattling off questions about regularity of
contractions and how long she’d been having them. When she learned that Lucy’s
water already broke she said, “Oh good, well at least you know you won’t be going
home tonight.”

When we got to the room, Lucy immediately
went into the bathroom to change into the hospital robes. Her mom and Jennika
went with her, to help her navigate. The rest of us sat in chairs against the
wall. We had no idea what we were waiting for at this point.

It was about twenty minutes before Lucy’s
doctor came into the room. She about stumbled over her own feet when she saw
the audience that was awaiting her.

“Hi,” Lucy piped up from the bed, looking
happy to finally have her doctor there. 

“Hi, Lucy. How are you feeling?” 

“Not very good.” She laughed but looked up
seriously. “Is it supposed to hurt this much right away?” 

“Well, yes and no. It doesn’t hurt as much
in the very beginning. But after the water is broken, there is less cushioning
for those contractions, so the pain increases noticeably.” She smiled kindly,
pulled up a rolling chair, and sat at the end of Lucy’s hospital bed. “Ok, I
need you to put your feet up here.” She patted to the stirrup looking things on
either side of the bed. Lucy did as she was told, her knees up in the air.

Us four guys about had a heart attack, and
scrambled over each other to get as far away as possible. That is, until we saw
the doctor put on blue gloves and lubricant on her fingers. That’s when we
died. 

“Well, Lucy, it looks like you’re pretty
far along, about six centimeters dilated and seventy percent effaced.”

“What the heck does that mean?” Leave it to
Isaiah to ask the question that half the room was wondering but didn’t have the
guts to ask. I saw Lucy’s dad put his head down.

“It means that her cervix is open, or
‘dilated’ to a six, the goal is for her to get to a ten.” The doctor said
cheerfully.

“Oh.” Isaiah said, still looking confused.
“What’s a cervix?” 

All of the females started giggling at us,
but it seemed like a legit question.

“A cervix is the lower portion of a woman’s
uterus. It joins with the top end of a vagina.” She paused for effect and took
in our faces. We were all pale as soon as vagina was mentioned. The doc kept
going. She was enjoying it, I think.

“A cervix is usually closed, but when a
woman goes into active labor it opens.” She put her hand up and made an “okay”
sign with three fingers up in the air. “The farther the labor progresses the
bigger the cervix opens.” She started making the tight ball she had made with
her thumb and her forefinger open up. “When it is about this big,” he held her
two hands apart, the size of a baseball, “that’s when a woman starts pushing
the baby out.” She put her hands down and started silently laughing.

I noticed that Johnny’s eyes had rolled
into the back of his head. I had one side of my lip up and my eye brows had run
away into my scalp. But Isaiah was just nodding his head and his lips were
puckered out, like he was taking it all in.

“Nice,” he said, with the air of someone
who had just had two plus two equals four explained to them.

“Anyway, we will be checking in with you in
another hour and hopefully you’ll have dilated enough that we can get this
party started. Okay hon?” She patted Lucy’s knee and left as a nurse came
bustling in after. 

“Ok, girl.” A short, chubby black woman
grinned as she came bounding into the room. “I’m going to hook you up to all
these machine do-das we have here.” She moved over all of us like we weren’t
there, which was quite an accomplishment considering the eight of us were
pretty much taking up the entire room. She probably had a lot of practice.

“How are you feeling?” she asked Lucy.

“It hurts.” Lucy held her stomach and
closing her eyes. She kept very still and very quiet. Her lips pursed and her
nostrils flared, then turned white.

“Girl, it will hurt less if you breath. I
promise.” Lucy let out a long sigh of air that she had been keeping in. “There,
is that better?” Lucy didn’t answer but she nodded a tiny bit and let her head
drop. The girl bustled out. I walked over to her and grabbed Lucy’s hand. She
looked up, startled, then relaxed when she saw it was me. 

“David, I don’t know if I can do this.” She
bit her lip and gave me the most scared look I had ever seen.

“Oh come on. You’re the strongest person I
know.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Luce, who else do you know that
would put her legs up like that with a room full of people and not even care?”

She giggled at me then put her head down
and grabbed onto the railing of the bed. 

“The nurse told you to breath,” I said,
touching the top of her head and brushing my fingers through to the bottom. She
let out another long sigh of air; it hissed as it went through her teeth.

“I know, thank you. I’m so glad you’re
here, David. I couldn’t do this without you.”

“I love you.” I kissed her slightly sweaty
face. 

“I love you too.” She bent over again but
kept breathing this time, although it didn’t seem to help much. She shifted to
the other side of her body and kept her hand on her stomach, then moved back to
her original side.