Past Forward- A Serial Novel: Episode 16 (6 page)

Willow didn
’
t answer.
She was already asleep.
Frustrated, Chad carried the box of pregnancy tests back to the bathroom, opened it, and placed one wrapped test on the back of the toilet.
He stood in the bathroom
doorway, hands stuffed in his pockets, and stared at it.

When his feet ached
, he forced himself to go downstairs.
“
You
’
re acting like an idiot
,
man.
Go feed the chickens and get eggs
—
”
The thought of eggs made him smile.
First baby chicks and now baby humans.
They
’
d have to start breeding goats, cows, and sheep next.

His eyes widened at the direction of his thoughts.
“
Oh
,
ick.
I
’
m
not
going there.
We
’
ll stick to breeding humans.
Wait
—”
Chad shook his head.
“
That sounds even worse
.”

She stretched, yawned, clutched the bucket, and then relaxed.
No wave of nausea followed
,
but her muscles felt weak and her mouth tasted as though something crawled inside and died.
Willow crawled from the bed and stumbled into the bathroom
,
eager to brush her teeth.
Minutes later
,
she flushed the toilet and saw a plastic wrapper and a folded paper pamphlet.

Not until she was cuddled against her pillows sipping on 7-Up and resting did she realize the purpose of the wrapper an
d
pamphlet.
She read all instructions carefully, reread them, and was on a third pass before Chad found her flipping the paper back and forth curiously.

“
Hey, did you test?
”

“
I
’
m reading.
Did you know that the other side is in what looks like Spanish?
I saw diez.
I think that
’
s ten and on the other side the same paragraph says something about not reading it after ten minutes
.”

“
Most medications and instructions come in English and Spanish
.”
He hesitated searching for the right words.
“
Estados Unidos llega a ser una sociedad bilingüe
. Or something like that.
I
’
m rusty
.”

“
Say it again.
That
’
s beautiful!
”

Chad repeated the words slowly watching comprehension dawn as she listened.
“
I heard States United society bilingual.
You said something about the United States being a bilingual society
.”

“
Very good.
I actually went with a fairly literal translation of
‘
the United States is becoming a bilingual society.
’
I
’
m sure it
’
s not correct
,
but I was always better at translating than at communication
.”

“
When did you learn Spanish?
”

Chad shrugged.
“
Two semesters in high school, two more in college.
I thought it
’
d help on the job
,
and it
’
s easier to learn than Japanese, Korean, or Russian which are the other four most spoken languages in the greater Rockland area
.”

“
I can see why it
’
s easy to understand anyway.
It
’
s very similar to English.
I mean I knew it was to a degree
—
Latin is at the core of both languages
,
but the songs I
’
ve heard in Spanish were never as easy to understand as what you just said
.”

“
Well,
”
Chad admitted,
“
It
’
s not all that simple
,
but compared to Swahili or something
—”

“
Why would you learn that?
Is there a large population of Swahili speaking criminals in the area?
”

Her question would have seemed sarcastic to the average person but Willow was curiously serious.
“
No.
That
’
s just a joke.
So are you ready to try the test?
”

“
It wants me to
—”
Suddenly, Willow understood her mother
’
s distaste in discussing personal bodily fluids.
In general, things were fine.
Personalize them and well, she
’
d either gotten self-conscious for no reasonable reason or she was becoming her mother.

“
Yeah, I know how they work
.”

“
Really?
Then why leave me the directions?
Why not just tell me?
”

Chad stared at her oddly.
Was she teasing him?
Was she serious?
Was she curious?
The whole scenario was bizarre.
“
Well, you tend to like to read things for yourself…
”

“
I do.
You just usually tell me how it works
,
and I wonder why you don
’
t want me to read the instructions
,
and this time you didn
’
t
.”

He stared to protest but the truth of her words effectively corked his reply.
He did tend to set instructions aside and tell her what he thought they said.
He hadn
’
t picked up on it but Willow sure had.
“
Next time, ask for the instructions.
I wasn
’
t doing it consciously
.”

“
You haven
’
t steered me wrong yet.
When you make me take twice as long as necessary to do something, then I
’
ll start asking to read the instructions
.”
Before he could reply, she tossed the paper at him.
“
I used the bathroom before I read it
,
and I have very little liquid to absorb as it is.
I need to drink for a while
.”

Chad rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling.
“
Where do you think we should put a baby?
In M
other
’
s room or in the one you just fixed up?
”

Willow curled next to him resting her head on his chest.
“
I don
’
t know.
I
’
ll have to read which is best and see why mother chose this room for me and her room for her.
There might be a reason
.”

Willow covered her mouth to stifle a giggle as Chad stood in front of the bathroom window rocking the pregnancy test back and forth trying to get a clearer reading.
“
It
’
s not going to change.
I think I did something wrong
.”

“
What can you do wrong?
How hard is it to pee on a stick for goodness sake!
”

“
Well, maybe for a man it
’
s not so hard but women are shooting blind you know!
”
The indignation in Willow
’
s voice did little to hide her amusement.

He threw her an impatient smile and shifted once more.
“
Well, I think there
’
s a line in that control window
,
but it
’
s so faint I can
’
t tell.
The other window seems to have a line too but it
’
s also faint so I can
’
t tell what is going on.
I think you need to do it again
.”