Drown #11: three little birds, part 1

February 2086. Stephanie Nova is 26, Justin Kim is 25. Willow is 4. Lily is 3. 



Some mornings, Stephanie was better off staying in bed. "I'm sorry," she said to Justin and the girls and she excused herself from the entire morning and half of the afternoon to go lie down perfectly flat and motionless for at least four hours. She was nervous for her ultrasound appointment this week. She was supposed to be gaining weight, not losing it. Even though her belly was clearly growing, she knew that the little plum in her tummy had been through all of the emotions over these past few weeks right along with her. She just wanted to hear a little heartbeat and maybe hold down her breakfast for once.


So Justin decided to take the girls out and let Stephanie rest in a quiet house. He also thought they could explore the town a little. The school had a nice looking playground that the girls couldn't play on because they couldn't stay outside for long enough. There was an abandoned ice cream shop that had a sign posted "opening again soon" that looked sun faded like it had been there for most of the year. There was an outdoor adventures agency boasting "land scuba" adventures with old scuba air tanks, whose slogan was "Go outside like it's 2082! We supply the air and the experience!"

Other than that, there was this pub. At least it was a bright and cozy, family-friendly place that looked safe enough to bring two preschooler to in the middle of the day.

Maybe Justin also hoped that he would stumble upon some possible work leads. "Bartenders needed, night shift," a note read on the door. It wasn't exactly the kind of work Justin had in mind. Or even the kind he'd ever been trained to do. Neither was guided kayak tours or ferry boat crew or swim instructor or even a barista. What could you do with an Economics degree and four years of corporate business and marketing experience in Copper Hill, Michigan? He wondered briefly if he even knew how to make any mixed drinks at all. He couldn't even be a bartender here.

"I guess there’s not really much to do around here if we can’t go outside," he told the girls. "But we can play a game! Better put your game faces on!"

So they played a round of Don't Wake the Llama.







And the girls beat him brutally and without mercy.

Justin ordered some lunch from the bar and they settled in at a table up front.


"If we could stay outside for longer, I would take you guys fishing," he said. "When the air is fixed, we’ll go fishing."

"Did you ever go fishing?"

"I went fishing, sure. I guess I wasn’t very good at it."

Fisherman, he thought. There was one more job here that he wasn't qualified for.

"But your momma was always better at it than me. Even when we were kids. Did you know that your momma used to fish? She was good at it, too. She used to catch the biggest, stinkiest fish I’d ever seen! I think we have a picture of it at home somewhere."


Willow's eyes grew large with wonder. "Did you eat it?"

"Yeah, I think we did," he said. "She caught it and she picked it off the line still wriggling, and then she cooked it and we ate it."

"Eeew," Lily said. "That's gross."


"I wanna catch a fish and eat it," Willow said. "I'm gonna catch one this big!"

"You will," Justin said. "Someday when the air is fixed, you will. Or maybe if we ever have enough money, I'll take us on one of those air tank adventures."

"Maybe soon?

"I don't know, girlie. We have a lot to do this week. And we have to save some money. And I have to find some interviews. And maybe before your momma wakes up, you girls can help me clean the house. Next week, there’s gonna be a lady who wants to visit us and meet us all and see our house."

"Why she wanna see our house?" Lily asked.

"I don't really know," Justin said. He and Stephanie had both been surprised to learn that there would be a home visit required for them. It made them wonder what Jeremiah had been saying about them. "Maybe she just wants to see if you picked up your stinky socks." Justin poked Lily in the side and she giggled.

"Willow's socks are the stinkiest," Lily said.

Then Willow made a serious face. "We need to clean up momma’s throw-up in the bathroom first."

"Yeah, don’t worry," Justin said. "We have a little while to clean everything up."

"Justin, I got a worry."

"Aww, what’s your worry, girlie?"

"If momma has a baby in her belly and she also has the throw-ups, won’t the baby come out of her mouth?"


"Don’t worry, that can’t happen. The baby is nice and safe. It won’t come out that way."

"Okay." Willow paused, still thinking. "But how will the baby come out?"


"That is a good question and I am totally going to answer it, but I need your mom to help me answer it, so how about we wait until she wakes up?"

"Okay," Willow said.

"Are you worried about anything else?"

"No. That’s all."

They boxed up the leftovers from their meal to take home to Stephanie. She was waiting for them, awake, feeling much better, and very hungry.

***

Justin's parents came up to watch the girls and he took Stephanie into town for her first ultrasound appointment.


"Why are you smiling like that?"

"This is actually my first time seeing one of these," he said.

"How is that even possible?"

"We were fighting when Keri had her first ultrasound. She wouldn’t let me come."

"Oh, no," Stephanie said. The depths of Keri's insensitivity shouldn't have surprised Stephanie, yet it always did. "Okay, you should smile like that then. You can smile as much as you want."

"You smile too," he said. "What are you worried about?"

Because it was only the two of them in the room at the moment, she looked at him, fret her eyebrows, and told the truth in one quick breath. "I read on the internet that extreme stress can cause stillbirth because there's a toxin in stress hormones that's bad for the baby."

"Oh, Steph. You shouldn’t read that stuff. No, the baby will be fine. You’ll see. Now will you smile?"

"I'll smile in a minute," she said.


"Good morning," the nurse said. "How are we feeling today?"

"Fine," Stephanie said, which meant not really that fine at all.

"Great," the nurse said and instructed Stephanie to lie back so she could slip the ultrasound band under her shirt and around her belly.


"And when did you think you conceived?"

"Around Christmas, I think."

"Oh, no. That can’t be right," the nurse said.

"No, what? Why? What’s wrong?"

"Nothing’s wrong at all. But this baby is far too big. You conceived much earlier than that. From the measurements, it looks like you’re nearly thirteen weeks along."

"Thirteen weeks?"

The nurse nodded. "And I think I can see the gender here, if you'd like to know."

"Yes! No, wait, do you?" she asked Justin.

"Yeah. If you do."

"Okay," Stephanie told her.

"This looks like a baby boy," the nurse said.


"A boy," Stephanie said. "I thought so." There it was, the whir of a speedy baby heartbeat. "And everything looks healthy?"

"Everything looks and sounds just right," the nurse said. "This little one should be due around August 27th. And we'll see you back here in another four weeks."

"See 'ya again soon, little dude," Justin said to their son.

***

notes: Justin's nostalgia about fishing was inspired by this fishing trip that couldn't have ever really happened in this lifetime. Maybe some day though. I guess I've already established that the air is perfectly breathable by 2091. So, five more years from this point. 

That was the best stunned and defeated kind of smile I could photoshop for Steph at the end. That animation she was using looked super anxious.

The ultrasound band "under her shirt" instead of an ultrasound wand is invented futuristic technology because there was no way I could illustrate a sim lifting her shirt halfway to expose her belly. Or well, I probably could if I wanted to draw it, but I didn't want to draw it, so.

Also a tiny tiny bit early to determine gender using 2016 methods (although certainly not outside the realms of possibility), but we are in the future here. And future technologies (aka MCCC pregnancy scan!) allow for gender determination much earlier than the 16-20 weeks that is standard today. Also because I just couldn't wait that long! It killed me not to check the very second I knew she was pregnant! But I have been trying to wait until the second trimester at least with my TS4 pregnancies. The struggle is real, lol!