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14th
November 2009
Kaysie’s
“tiny problem”
Kaysie
woke feeling full. Heavy, tired, bloated. Shoot,
she hated that time of the month leading up
to her monthlies. Those symptoms were such a
nuisance.
“In a couple days, they’ll be gone,”
she consoled herself.
She stood and stretched, then walked over to
the mini bookcase where she kept a small datebook.
She flipped to the back for the yearly calendar
and counted. Thirty two.
“Wait a minute, thirty two?” She
was a full eight days past her due date. Shoot;
again. Kaysie rubbed her temples and headed
for the phone.
As was custom with the girls, whenever there
was a scare, one called the other up to volunteer
for the walk of shame to the drugstore. They
never went themselves. The first one she reached
was Maxine.
“Hey Maxy . . . um . . . I kinda have
a problem.”
“Kay,” Maxine’s voice deepened,
thinking Ricky’d hit her again, or maybe
worse. Kaysie didn’t call her on a regular
basis. She was closer to Ari. “What is
it?”
“Um, nothing really. It’s just a
tiny problem. I kinda need you to go pick me
up a test.”
Maxine sucked in her breath. She knew that Kaysie’d
started seeing Cooper Nelson. She also knew
what Kaysie’s steady boyfriend Ricky was
like. Kaysie could be in a lot more trouble
than just expecting.
“Geez Kay!” Maxine said. “Okay,
I’m running out right now. I’ll
bring it right over.”
“Okay.”
“Kay?” she warned before she hung
up. “Don’t pee.”
As she got into her car Maxine tried dialing
Ari. It went right to voicemail. At the store,
she rushed to the feminine care isle. She bypassed
the bargain brands and grabbed the Clearblue
Easy double pack. It was the most expensive
so it should be most accurate, she figured.
For good measure, she threw in a couple more.
Checkout.
Meanwhile, Kaysie was going out of her mind.
She lay down and pressed into her stomach. It
felt puffy, just the way it felt a couple days
before her period. So it couldn’t be that
she was pregnant. She was sure she would have
felt differently. Plus, she thought as she squirmed
and crossed her legs, she could still hold it
in. If she was preggers, she’d want to
go every few minutes.
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Pregnant.
Preggers. Preggie. Having a baby. With child.
In the family way. Kaysie turned those phrases
around in her head. It couldn’t be. It
just couldn’t be. She’d told herself
the last time that she wasn’t going to
ever put herself in that situation again. The
time before last, and the couple times before
that, too. Now . . .
“Here we go again,” Kaysie mumbled
to herself as Maxine knocked on the door.
She pulled herself up, checked the mirror and
fixed her hair. She didn’t want Maxy feeling
sorry for her this time.
Maxine, as expected was a bundle of nerves and
oozing pity.
“Kayyy, I’m sorryyy,” she
cried as the door swung back.
Kaysie smiled wryly. “I’m alright
Maxine. I don’t think I am—you know
what, but I guess we’ll find out.”
She took the bag Maxine handed her and made
her way into the bathroom.
“You’re right,” Maxine said,
choosing the optimistic route. After all, they’d
all been through it. Maxine, not so many times
because she’d been on the pill for years.
But Ari, who insisted on doing it the natural
way—something about synthetic hormones,
weight gain, and the reproductive system—had
maybe about six, eight scares? She’d lost
count. And they’d all turned up negative.
But Ari was a stickler for that sort of stuff.
She’d freak if she was a day late.
Kaysie, not so much. She’d just come off
the pill, and Maxy knew she wasn’t used
to the rigid rhythm method that Ari followed
and fine-tuned.
Under different circumstances Kaysie would have
smiled at the three double-pack boxes of P-tests.
That was so Maxine. But she was in no mood for
humor—and she was dying to pee.
She sat and opened the box, trying unsuccessfully
to hold in the stubborn trickle that seemed
to start of its own volition. She still needed
to undo the wrapping the stick came packaged
in.
“Kay, is everything okay in there?”
Maxine yelled, sounding anxious.
“Gimmie a minute, Maxy, I haven’t
quite started.” Okay, here goes, she thought
as she popped off the cap, held the stick steady
and released her bladder until the stick was
thoroughly saturated—overly saturated
maybe—and popped the cap back on. Then
she placed it on the sink and let it work its
magic.
This one gave you either a plus or a minus sign.
No confusing lines to decipher. No instruction
sheet to read. It was pretty clear cut.
“But sometimes, it could be wrong,”
Kaysie said pensively, as the plus sign became
visible. She ripped open the second stick and
tested again, stood by the sink and waited.
Another plus sign.
“Shoot.” Kaysie’s back thumped
loudly against the wooden door. Her legs would
no longer hold.
Maxine must have been standing right outside
the door. “Kaysie,” she said softly,
“is everything all right?”
Kaysie slid to the floor.
Discuss
Story
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