Christopher Ransom - The Birthing House

She cocked her fist again.

His hand went up. 'Wait, not again, Christ!' She relented. He wiped his eyes. 'How much money do you have on you?'

'Three-fifty.'

'That's not going to get you to Seattle. And if it does, you'll be broke by the time you leave the airport.'

'I told you, I have friends.'

'Oh, did you meet them on MySpace? Are they going to let you sleep on the futon?'

'Drive the car,' she said.

'A thousand dollars.' It just popped out. He hadn't even thought of it.

'You're sick, you know that?'

'I'll finish the chores your mom gave me. Before your folks get home, I'll pay you a thousand dollars. But you have to tell me your story.'

'What story?'

'Everything you know about what happened in the house. After that, you still want to go to Seattle, I'll give you a ride to the airport and I won't tell them anything. Deal?'

She was thinking about it. The money helped, but he didn't think it was all about the money.

'If Eddie finds out--'

'Right,' he said, starting the engine.

'Did you plan this?'

'No.'

'Is this what you did with that girl?'

'What? No. This has nothing to do with sex.'

'So you did have sex with her.'

'No. Nadia, for Christ's sake. I'm scared, okay? I don't know anybody here. My wife's gone. I don't know if she's ever coming back. I just need someone to sit there and tell me I'm not losing my mind. Haven't you ever needed some help like that? Just for a couple days?'

He could see that he had scored a minor point with that one.

'We're just going to talk, right?'

'Just talk.'

'I'm not going to fuck you for money.'

The fact that she could even summon the words in her state sent a nervous quiver running around his stomach. 'I know that, Nadia.'

The car made a U-turn over the grassy median and headed toward Black Earth.

19

Steve Bartholomew was watering his rose bushes and smoking a cigarette when they pulled up. The cigarette dangled like the hose, two limp extensions of the man: one trickling water, the other smoldering fire. Conrad waved obnoxiously.

'Morning, Steve!' See how routine this is?

Steve waved back, his hand slowing as Nadia got out of the car.

'Morning.' She waved without turning and headed toward her place.

Steve watched her for a few seconds and went back to his roses. The hose had one of those canisters attached to mix the blue powdered crystals with the water. Steve's roses were yellow and large.

'Nadia.' Conrad gestured toward his front door. 'Don't you want to meet Luther and Alice?'

'We're doing this now?'

'The sooner we're done, the sooner you can leave.'

She followed Conrad inside. He went to the kitchen while Nadia trailed behind, cooing at the dogs in the living room. The dogs fell in love with her, but they fell in love with everybody. Conrad poured two tall glasses of iced tea.

Nadia was standing next to the phone when it started ringing. 'Uhm, want me to get that?'

'Sure.' He hoped it was Jo. She could use a little wake-up, even if it cost him.

'Hello?' Nadia said, accepting a glass of iced tea. 'Yeah, he's here.'

He took the phone. 'Hello.'

'Let me guess,' his wife said. 'That's Nadia.'

'Yes, should I introduce you?'

'No.'

'Okay. How are you, Jo?'

'You haven't called.'

'I tried, but you weren't answering. Figured you didn't want to speak with me.'

'Is she standing right there?'

'Yes.'

'Do we have to talk in front of her?'

'I don't know, are we talking?'

She ignored the question. 'I've been ordering some stuff. Did you open them?'

'The boxes? No, not yet.'

'Can you put some stuff together, fix the house up?'

Nadia pointed the front door, mouthing should I go?

Conrad shook his head. 'What are you sending again?'

'Furniture, supplies. I want to use the guest room, the one closest to our bedroom. Oh, and rip up that hideous carpet. I want to strip the floors and refinish them.'

'In the guest room?' His headache had returned. A pair of Chinese table tennis champions in his skull, going for the gold.

'Yes, in the baby's room.'

'The one next to our bedroom?'

'Why, do you think it should go somewhere else?'

'What?'

'God, are you even listening to me? You sound bad, are you getting sick?'

'No, I'm not, I'm fine.'

'Which one?'

'I'm fine. That's fine. We'll get some walkie-talkies so we can hear her from our bedroom.'

She paused, then spoke with a kindness he hadn't heard in weeks. 'What makes you think it's going to be a girl?'

The house. The house gave it to me, Jo. Don't you see? This is the house's project, not ours. We're just the vessels doing the meat work.

'I don't know. It just feels right.'

She cooed. 'Oh, that's so sweet. I'm kinda missing you.'

'Yeah?'

'I discovered something about being pregnant.'

'What's that?'

'In the morning I don't feel so hot, but at night?' She giggled, a dare.

'Yeah?'

'I usually fall asleep at like eight, like a short nap, and I have these dreams.' She made an unmistakable mmmmmhhh sound.

'Are you--'

'And when I wake up, I feel like I just had the most incredible sex.'

'What, like--'

'Last night I had to change my clothes after.'

'Change your clothes.'

She giggled again. 'Think about it.'

He got it. 'You're killing me, Jo.'

'Must be the hormones. It's incredible. I wish you were here.'

'Me too.'

He could see her in the hotel room, her swollen belly, all sleepy and writhing in the sheets. Her hand slipping beneath the waist of her panties. He was wracked by a lust that made his knees buckle.

'Too bad Nadia's there. I should let you go.'

Nadia who? 'Wait!'

'Call me later,' his wife said.

'Definitely.'

By the time he had set the phone down his headache was gone. He stood over the sink and drank the iced tea until his erection went away. Why does she do this? He couldn't get her on the phone for a week and now she's got the cord wrapped between her legs? Was it because Nadia was here? Was she staking out turf from four hundred miles away?

He found Nadia in the living room, on the floor with the dogs.

'I'm hungry,' she said.

'Me too. What're you in the mood for?'

They were seated at opposite ends of the long dining-room table Jo's father had given them as a wedding present. Conrad had made sandwiches, then Nadia napped through a Monk marathon. When she woke up, she was hungry again and he cooked penne with Knorr parma rosa sauce. Now he was excited and frightened, and he forced himself to conceal both.

'I was only thirteen the first time it happened. I wasn't even doing it for the money. It was just something to do. Same as the older girls I looked up to. My parents insisted I ask for some money for my time. I think I got a dollar an hour.'

'How old were they?'

'Anna Maybelle was six. Davey was a little younger, maybe four or five.'

'So they'd be in their late teens by now?'

'I guess.'

'That can't be right. When I saw them at Wal-Mart, all the kids were young. I think they had the same names, too. Does she have more?'

'She had two then and she was pregnant with another. Then the twins. I don't know how many she has now.'

'Wait, she had three when I saw her. That's like five kids. And twins? Did they move away or something? The ones you were watching?'

'Moved away. They went away. I don't know why.'

'Nobody ever asked? Even with the names? What's that, like naming your dog Rover Two?'

'Maybe I was confused. Hard to say 'cause by the time my parents started to worry, the Laskis were already sorta on their own. They didn't talk to anyone or go out much. I told you, this isn't going to solve anything.'