CHANGE IS GOOD

"I think I'm going to miss this place," Sue admitted, taping shut a box. "I don't mean that I'm sorry we're moving…after all, we need the space. Greg, sweetie, will you sit down for Mommy, please? That's my boy." She smiled approvingly at her wide-eyed two-year-old. "You're being a big help to Mommy and Daddy. Anyway…it's just that this is the first place we lived as a family, and it'll always have good memories for me."

"Nothing's wrong with remembering it," Mike said indulgently and stacked her box atop two others on a hand truck his parents had brought over. "We have pictures of it, so you get to go back and remember that way too. But this is a step up for us, honey."

"I know," Sue said patiently, "and believe me, I'm really excited. More than you can imagine." She grinned for some reason, then hefted Greg up from the toy box he was sitting on and bounced him on her hip. "Now you get to have your very own room, instead of being stuck in a corner of the living room!"

Mike, Sue and Greg were in the process of moving into a much larger apartment: this one had three bedrooms, and Mike had plans to turn one of them into a den for himself, where he could work on various plans and architectural drafts at home when necessary. He had been looking at secondhand drafting tables, hoping to find one at a decent price that wouldn't strain their budget. He was making more than enough money to support his wife and son, but he wanted eventually to either buy or build a house; therefore, he stuck to a stringent budget, and even had two separate savings accounts—one for emergencies or other incidentals, the other for the sole purpose of making a down payment on a house one day. All the extra cash he had each payday was split between these accounts, two-thirds in the house account and one-third in the emergency account. It was the latter that had enabled them to put the security deposit and first month's rent on their new, larger place.

Rick came in with Thomas right behind him. "Well, the women are in the car ready to go," Rick said, "and I guess these are the last of the boxes."

"Yes, thank heavens," Sue said cheerfully. "You've all been wonderful, you and my cousin. If everyone can stay, I'll treat all of you to a huge spaghetti dinner."

"You're on," Rick said immediately, lighting up.

"That does sound good," Thomas agreed, "and I know Agnes will appreciate a break from cooking, too. Gene just left, took a truckload of stuff over to the new place, so we'll meet him over there."

Outside, Greg's eyes grew round at the sight of the moving van. "See," he exclaimed in awe, pointing at it. "Big twuck."

"That's right, son," said Mike. "All our big furniture is in that. And you get to ride in it with Mommy and me!"

"Me wide in dat?" Greg asked, delighted. He promptly started squirming in Sue's arms. "Wanna get in, Mommy, wanna get in…"

Sue laughed and put him down, but held his hand. "I'll help you climb in, sweetie," she promised. "Come with me." She led Greg over to the van while the others dispersed to their vehicles—Thomas and Agnes' huge old Caddy and Rick's twenty-year-old rattletrap of a pickup—and got ready to leave.

Several hours later, with the most essential furniture set up and boxes of clothes and kitchen items unpacked and partially stored away, Sue served the group two huge bowls of spaghetti and another of meatballs, and took the time to cut the long strands and break up the meatballs on Greg's plate before settling down to her own meal. "This is going to be good," she said. "I'm actually hungry for a change."

"Huh?" The others stared at her and Mike looked alarmed. "What do you mean, 'for a change'?"

Sue blinked at the startled faces and then suddenly giggled sheepishly. "Oh my gosh. I meant to tell you all at this meal anyway, but I just got so involved in getting my kitchen organized, and then I had that slip of the tongue. Mike, you know I've been feeling a little funny in the mornings lately." At his nod, she went on, "I finally decided to go see the doctor, and he called me yesterday just before we disconnected the phone. We're going to have another baby!"

"Oh my gosh!" Patricia exclaimed in delight, and everyone began to congratulate Mike and Sue. Mike, for his part, blinked and then laughed a little, shaking his head.

"What's this gonna do to your budget, son?" Thomas teased.

"Not to mention that little sanctuary you've been planning," said Rick wickedly. "And daydreaming about, in front of Sue and everybody. Like you want to hide from your family."

"It's just that it's coming on a little quick, I suppose," Mike said. "First we move, now I find out I'm gonna be the father of two kids instead of just one. That's great, honey!"

Gene grinned. "I was a little bowled over when my wife told me she was expecting our second, too. But it's great, Mike. Greg and the little one can be pals, and he'll probably feel protective of the new baby."

"I hope you have a girl this time," Patricia put in. "That'd be just right, a boy and a girl."

"Baby?" asked Greg finally, staring bewildered at all the happy faces. "What dat?"

The family broke into laughter. "Sweetie, that means that you're going to have a little brother or a little sister," Sue explained. "You might even get to help me take care of the new baby."

Emphatically Greg shook his head, his wavy brown mop of hair swinging around his face. "No, no baby!" he announced decisively, making everyone laugh again.

"You'll get used to it, kiddo," Rick assured his nephew. "So Sue, are you telling your aunt?"

"Naturally," Sue said, "but I might wait a little while before I do. She has a habit of spoiling Greg, and I'm afraid we're going to find ourselves driven right out of our house by all the baby clothes and blankets and other stuff she'll shower us with when she finds out. I'd like to enjoy the space in here for a while first."

"Understandable," Agnes said, chuckling. "The same thing happened to me when I discovered I was pregnant with twins. I made the mistake of spreading the news around, and long before Rick and Patricia were born, we had stacks of baby blankets and mountains of little clothes for them. I could barely move around in the room we'd set aside for them, and I started having to stack things in the living room."

"Don't knock it, though," Thomas advised.

"That's right," Gene added. "The more people who're willing to heap blankets and clothes on you, the less you have to buy later. And when the kid outgrows them, there's always another expectant mother to pass it on to."

"Exactly. That's the wonderful thing about baby clothes. They usually get outgrown before they wear out. I used a lot of Mike's baby clothes for Rick, and I had the fun of picking out cute dresses for Patricia," said Agnes, smiling in remembrance. "I have to admit, having a granddaughter would be fun, too."

"Don't forget, Mom, if Sue and Mike have another boy, there's still Rick and me," Patricia said eagerly. She was now twenty-one and in her final year of college, and had recently been steadily seeing a young man named Gordon Dodge. "You have loads of time to become grandma to little girls."

"Don't count on me anytime soon," Rick warned, looking deadly serious. "I'm nowhere near ready to get married and all that garbage. Don't need any more trouble in my life."

Mike eyed him. "Oh yeah? How much trouble you got now?" Everyone laughed again, and for a while the family teased Rick, who took it well and often gave back as good as he got, especially to Mike and Patricia. Sue eventually produced a large chocolate cake with creamy vanilla frosting for dessert, and within another hour Greg was dozing off and the family was preparing to leave.

"I want that cake recipe," Patricia declared as she headed out the door with her parents and twin brother. "I know Gordon'd love it and I want to surprise him with it."

"I'll call you soon and give it to you," Sue promised, and waved after them as they left, then hugged her cousin in thanks and watched him go too before closing the door. She yawned loudly as she turned to gather up Greg and put him to bed for the night.

"Hey, hey, let me get him," Mike insisted, beating her to it and lifting Greg off the floor where he'd fallen asleep over a bunch of plastic toy trucks Rick had obligingly unpacked for him. "You're worn out, and now that you're expecting again, you'll need more sleep. Mom'll probably be glad to help out with Greg when you need it, so don't be afraid to ask her. And remember, Patricia's always happy to babysit—"

Sue stopped him, laughing softly. "Honey, I know, I know. Don't worry. I've been through it once before, remember? I know what to expect this time around. I'm already taking vitamins, and I guess I'd better start buying twice as much milk as usual, between Greg and this pregnancy. Oh, Mike, I think it's going to be fun, being mother to two. I really didn't want Greg to be an only child."

Mike shouldered his slumbering son and glanced wistfully toward the empty bedroom he'd planned to make his own. "Well, like Rick said, there goes my den," he remarked with a little sigh.

Sue patted his shoulder in mock sympathy. "Aw, poor baby," she crooned. "You'll get over it."

He grinned at her. "Yeah, I probably will. But you just wait—one day I'll get that den, whatever it takes. Another little piece of our future dream house just fell into place." He peered curiously at Sue. "But couldn't Greg and the baby share a room for a while?"

"Oh, honey…" Sue said. "I know you want that den, but we do have the room for a second child, and I see no reason to cram Greg and a baby in the same room if we don't have to. Besides, Greg would probably be awakened every night when the baby wakes up to be fed or changed, and having one sleepless child in the house is more than enough without deliberately setting it up for two of them."

Mike nodded. "Okay, I see your point," he conceded with good grace. "How long till the baby gets here?"

"I'm a little more than two months along," Sue said.

"Okay," Mike murmured, calculating as he carried Greg into his new room and settled him down in his crib. "So that gives us a little time. We can probably wait till around your sixth or seventh month to start setting up that room, and in the meantime we can store our empties in there till we can dispose of them, and maybe for just a while I can work in there if I get a card table…"

Sue giggled. "Always thinking like a busy architect, aren't you. Okay, okay, I won't argue with it. After all, that hard work pays a lot of dividends, and I'm very grateful for all you do to make sure Greg and I have a comfortable life. Greg and the new baby will appreciate it too, when they're old enough to understand."

"You're a peach, honey," Mike said, kissing her. "I really love you. If you want to start hunting for a card table and maybe a folding chair someplace, that'd be great. And I'll help you shop for a new baby crib."

"What about names?" Sue asked. "That's the most fun part of waiting for a baby."

Mike chuckled. "Yeah, we can do that, too. We have plenty of time, so we don't have to be in a hurry. Right now, let's hit the sack. I've got to work tomorrow, and you have lots of unpacking to do."

"Can't wait," Sue said contentedly. "I get to organize that wonderful kitchen, instead of having to stuff things in a little galley like the other place, and I can arrange our living room any way I like, and all these closets and storage spaces…what a dream." She sighed, patted her abdomen in an automatic, subconscious gesture that made Mike smile broadly, and then looked up at him with moist eyes. "I sure miss the old apartment," she admitted sadly.

He rolled his eyes and laughed, hugging her. "Pretty soon, you'll be having so much fun putting this place together, you'll forget all about the old one. Trust me, honey, we're gonna be happy here. Now let's get some sleep, it's been a long day."