@freewritehouse March Madness Chapter 3 ”Meat with Gravy”

Pixabay Image

I'm am taking part in March Madness by the @freewritehouse! This is the first attempt from me and I hope I can see it through! I will try. If you would like to play along please check out more here.

I will try to squeeze in a Nine Nobel Virtue post here and there but that might come first in April. These posts are taking about 2 hours at the moment (not editing) so time is very limited. Thanks for reading! I am open to constructive criticism.

Word count: 1,636

.........................................................................

Chapter 3
Meat and Gravy

She sat alone in the empty living room of her tiny apartment and wondered how late he was going to be. She spent the entire day cleaning and preparing food and now her feet were killing her. She was exhausted and eight and a half months pregnant so her body was working overtime. She knew that she should take it easy but she overdid it anyway, today was Thanksgiving and she wanted everything to be perfect for him. It was their first Thanksgiving together and it would be their last Thanksgiving alone before the baby came.

She worked at the local grocery store and had spent a large amount of her weekly paycheck on this Thanksgiving meal. It was a relief when the store manager had told the staff that the store would be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. This was the normal practice, but the old store manager was recently fired and there was a lot of rumors that they would be open for the holiday this year to make up for the losses under the old management.

She did not mind working at the grocery store, it allowed her a passive income while she attended college. Schoolwork came easily to her. In fact, she really enjoyed homework, writing papers, and taking tests. In the 1980s in her small town it was not very common for women to attend college, but after high school graduation she was not ready to stop learning and she wanted more. She wanted to make something of herself. Why work so hard in high school just to get married and have babies? The thought made her laugh now. Luckily for her, the majority of her pregnancy was spent over summer break. Now the fall semester was just about over and she was barely hanging on.

At the grocery store is where she met him. He worked at the quick lube next door and would often come in during his lunch break to buy a cola and a pack of cigarettes. Once they began small talk he started coming in more and more. As fate would have it, she and some friends went out partying one spring night and he was there. They instantly hit it off, the drinks were flowing and they felt an instant connection. Before she knew it they were back at this very apartment, where she now waited for him, it was also the night where she would become pregnant with his son.

After that night the two had seen each other every day since, and several weeks later after finding out she was pregnant, so they decided it would be best for her to move in with him and prepare for the baby. She was hesitant at first. She was still happily living with her parents while studying, and everything was now happening so fast. After his repeated promises that everything will work out, her hesitations ceased and she moved in.

Now the food was cold. The meat and gravy had begun to harden and the pie she had baked, with precise timing to be the perfect temperature right when they were through with the turkey, was now cold as well. She had given up trying to keep it warm and was getting so angry she didn’t even care anymore. He was supposed to be done with work at noon! Who gets an oil change on Thanksgiving anyway? It was going on 5. O’clock now and she did not know what to do. She could not call the quick lube anymore because they had already been closed for five hours, who would be there?

She started to break down. The emotion of the pregnancy only fuelled the heartbreak of her hard work and money being ruined.

There had been signs. Signs that she chose to ignore and now she was alone and faced the harsh reality that her son's father was gone.

She wanted to be sure. There was still a worry that something might have happened or that he might have just been caught up somewhere, but it was a small town. If anything had happened she would have heard sirens, the neighbors would have come, some how she would have known.

Jessie didn’t own much. The apartment came furnished and he only had a few clothes, but he was a mechanic and prized his tools above all.

Heart racing, Rebecca threw on a coat and opened the door out onto the stairs of the second story apartment. She clambered down the stairs and quickly rushed up to the garage door. Bending down she flung it open.

It was empty. All his tools were, his radio was gone, even his stupid snap on the calendar with the topless girls was gone.

Not a note, not a trace left.

How could she be so stupid? She felt like somehow it was her fault, what had she done wrong? It was all too much.

Not knowing what to do she called her mom. She had no real friends in town anymore and she did not want to bother her coworkers on their day off with her domestic drama.

Normally, her brothers and sisters would all have been by her parent's house down the road for Thanksgiving dinner but her brother had just had his own baby so they flew out to Maine to visit him for the Thanksgiving holiday. She knew she could reach her mom at her brother's house.

”Hey, honey what's wrong?” Her mother asked after getting the phone from her brother. ”He’s gone mama.?” ”The baby?!?!” She shrieked in horror.

”No mama the bay is fine. Jessie. Jessie left me.” ”Oh thank God” Her mom was relieved. ”Well, how do you know that?” Her mother asked. ”He was supposed to be home from work five hours ago and hasn’t shown up. I don’t know what to do!”

”Alright baby, just calm down. I am coming home tomorrow and well go pick up your stuff. Right now just come back home. You know where the key is.”

Rebecca's pride did not even let her consider the option of moving back in with her parents. Was it really that simple? Could she just leave the apartment and go back home?

Well, she sure did not want to stay especially after being so embarrassed working like a dog for that asshole. I should have listened to my self, she thought while quickly gathering up the few things she had in the apartment. I could sense this guy was going to flake out on me. Why did I let him talk me into this?

Deep down she knew that she hoped they could be a real family. She wanted a normal life for her future son like one she had growing up. Instead, he would be like Jessie, a bastard raised by a single mother.

Surprisingly the next day Rebecca woke up feeling rather refreshed. It took a night away to realize how truly unhappy she was living there. She had worn a fake smile for nearly nine months now, and it was a relief to be herself for once.

The sun was shining and hopefully, her parents would be home before dark. She had no ambitions for the day all she wanted to do was relax and drink in the warm comfort of her childhood home.

After a nice breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs, Rebecca began to feel a little nauseous and decided to sit down. Heading for the couch in the living room, she was ambushed by a stabbing pain in her back.

”Fuck!” She screamed.

Dampness saturated her underwear and traveled down through her jogging pants. The baby is not supposed to come for another two weeks!

”Ahhh!” Another contraction. She did even know what to do.

She grabbed her bag, still packed from the old apartment, and waddled to the car. No time to change clothes, she was embarrassed but had to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

Giving birth alone in a room filled with strangers was the hardest thing Rebecca ever had to do. She was overwhelmed by the joy of seeing her healthy baby boy, but could not shake the relenting pit of despair that was festering in the side of her.

What was she going to do? She was a grocery clerk living with her parents without a man and without any money.

To make things worse her parents had been delayed in Maine by a major snowstorm and it would be a few days before they could make it back to Wisconsin. How could she do this on her own?

A few days was an eternity to brand new mom all alone with a baby. She didn’t know what to do? What if something happened. There was no one else there.

”Excuse Mrs. Klas?” The attending nurse interrupted her self pity. ”Have you decided on a name? I would be happy to help you fill out this paperwork?”

She was lost for words. Lord, grant me the power to raise and care for my baby, she prayed. Looking up at the nurse with a tear in her eye she muttered: ”Grant”.

”What a beautiful name.” The nurse comforted her with her soft gaze. ”Now I am going to have to ask ma’am, and no judgment here, it is just a formality. Do you know who the father is?” Rebecca shook her head no.

The day her son Grant was born would be the day she said No. She wouldn’t let Jessie be a part of their lives and she knew he did not want to be a part of it anyways. This was a new chapter for her. She was going to do everything to make a good life for Grant.

Posted using Partiko iOS