Lanford Days Again
By: CNJ
PG-13
7: Matrimonial Delivery
DJ:
"...So, we secured the hall," I conclude as Lian and I go down the list of our wedding details. We're getting married in late April, so we have about three and a half more weeks to get the details down. It'll be a small simple wedding with mostly family and our friends.
"Dinner...buffet...easier than having to hire waiters and all," Lian nods.
Our apartment is a mess of papers and wedding decorations. Lian is growing bigger every day; our kid is due in early June. We lean back and I put my hand on Lian's now-huge abdomen. I can feel a faint sliding movement as if the baby is shifting positions in sleep.
Of all the names we've thought up, we've decided on Marvin for a boy and Gabrielle for a girl. Mom'll be pleased with the girl name. We haven't told anyone yet nor do we know what the baby's sex is. It's better because then people can't get a lot of preconceived ideas of what our kid will be like just because of its gender. We'll be happy with one of either sex; we don't care if it's a boy or girl.
We lie there kissing and snuggling for a while, then decide to start with dinner.
Roseanne:
"Finally, we dug up more things in the two other stores," I tell Jackie as we empty out shopping bags in my condo. Andy is at Fred's for the weekend, Patrick and Annalise are both spending the weekend with friends and Marla is out of town on a business trip, so I've invited Jackie and Nancy to dinner.
In one store, Jackie and I found picture frames imported from Poland in the early 1900's.
"I was thinking we could frame some of the ancestor pictures in some of the frames," Jackie says. She trips over one of the bags emptying it, yelps faintly, then finishes emptying it on the floor while her butt is half up in the air. Nancy and I chuckle.
We decide on a huge mixed pasta dish with vegetables and loose meat. I make the meat, Jackie cooks the pasta and drains it while Nancy chops and mixes the veggies...carrots, peas, and cucumbers to name some.
"Almost like old times, only we used to do this at the Lobo," I say as we sit and start eating.
"Yeah...but with beer and pretzels," Jackie puts in.
"And half of the time, one or more of us would have to be carried home," Nancy adds and we laugh, remembering all the times one of us had gotten drunk at the Lobo, especially Jackie.
"It's been so long since I've been there," Jackie says. "Like a year or something."
"We had so many moments of truth at the place..." I say. "And we occasionally still do."
"Yeah..." Jackie sips her wine. "Me and Arnie...Mark and the jukebox...you and Joan..."
"Arnie was such a warthog," Nancy chuckles. "I still marveled that I was married to that guy for almost a year."
"I wonder if Becky remembers about Mark busting the jukebox," I add. "I sure remember meeting Joan there...I was so pissed when I found out that Dad had told her all these lies about us...Jackie, you were so afraid of Joan coming to the house and duking it out with Mom."
"Yeah...I was a wreck, just crying my eyes shut," Jackie recalls. "I was still in denial about Dad and also trying to protect Mom and was just a mess all over."
"So...since all three of us are free tonight, why don't we head over there for an after-dinner snack?" Nancy suggests.
"Great idea..." I say, getting up and clearing away our now-used plates.
"Pretzels and chips for dessert!" Jackie crows.
Jackie:
It's good being at the Lobo again. The three of us grab one of the small round tables and sit. It's changed very little over the years.
"Heyyy, long time no see, Harris sisters and Nancy!" one of the bartenders crows. We wave back, then order our beer and pretzels.
"To us and the Lobo," Nancy says and we clink cans.
The bar is rather crowded, but the tables are sparsely filled. There are only about two passed out people by the bar tonight, which is a low number considering that it's a Saturday night.
Usually on weekends, the bar and lounge is littered with passed out people totally wasted and usually there are a fair number of still-conscious drunk people floating around this place. How well I remember the number of times I've been among the drunk population here.
"This was even the place we celebrated our freedom from Wellman prison," Roseanne sips her beer. Nancy didn't work at Wellman, but she knows the story there.
For many years, Roseanne, Crystal, and I along with several other women worked at Wellman Plastics Factory where we separated various plastic items at low pay. It was tiring, very boring, tedious work and none of us were really happy there.
It had gotten worse when this new boss come on board, a complete asshole who made our lives hell. He put these impossible quotas on us that no one could meet.
Roseanne had tried getting this boss, Faber, to lower the quota, but then he'd demanded that she become more submissive and polite. She tried it for a while, but then Faber reneged in his end of the deal and raised the quotas again.
In protest, every single person in the factory quit, which I think totally stunned Faber. Several years later, Wellman closed down.
"From what you tell me about that Faber guy, he sounds like a mini-Hitler who did a number on you," Nancy chomps a pretzel stick.
"I say..." Roseanne sits back. "I'll never forget when I went into his cubicle to try to negotiate this deal with him to lower the quota...boy, was I young and foolish then...I didn't realize it then, but when he suddenly closed the door and leaned way over me, he was already at work getting to me like a deadly bacteria...I actually felt a flash of fear when he did that...I just absolutely swallowed and agreed to his shitty deal right there just to get out of his office...I left the office feeling like I'd sold myself to the devil."
"And I thought I used to have lousy bosses in the past," Nancy let out her breath.
We sip our beer and talk more over lousy past jobs that we'd suffered through before our Lunch Box/Dinner Pail business took off.
"I lot of my jobs weren't really bad," I say. "Police officer, truck driver..." I tick of some of the good ones I'd had.
"I had a great time in some of Jackie's trucks," Roseanne told us.
"So did I," Nancy adds.
I laugh, remembering how on this one trip Roseanne and I went on, Roseanne had a swell time blowing the horn and trying out various gears on this huge truck I was driving. Roseanne had been really amused at the idea of petite, short me behind the huge wheel of a big eighteen-wheeler.
"I wonder if I'd still be a cop today if I hadn't hurt my back on duty," I say.
"Probably," Nancy says. "But then we might not have had our business."
"True..." I say softly.
I didn't understand this back then, but now I see what people mean when they say that sometimes good things can stem out of bad times.
When I'd herniated a back disk tackling a naked guy on a set of stairs, I'd been forced off active duty and relegated to a desk job, which I didn't want, so I'd quit the force.
To make matters worse, my then-boyfriend, Gary and I broke up. I'd been so devastated I'd cried for several days and was down for several months. I had drifted aimlessly from one dead-end job to another and had lived on disability for almost a year before I went into trucking. Ironically enough, it was becoming depressed, then drunk right here at the Lobo, and accidentally sleeping with the sleazy Arnie that led me to decide on trucking.
We chat and drink for several hours until I'm feeling the familiar tipsiness come over me. Vaguely, I remember Roseanne laughing and lifting me up, saying, "Jackie's re-plowed, so let's have her stay..." and she and Nancy carrying me back to the car and us heading back to Roseanne's place.
"Yuuuup, get the shovel and plows out now," I slur. "I need cleanin', so get the plowwws ouuuut..."
I guess I must have gotten blotto once again, because I don't remember anything more except waking up the next morning in Roseanne's extra room with a thundering hangover. She'd put a pail by my bed, so I could barf in it, then lie back and wait out the hangover.
Darlene:
David, the kids and I are eating when the phone rings. I look at the caller ID and see DJ's number. I answer and try to quiet the kids down.
"Hey, Deej..." I say.
"Hi..." DJ sounds a bit strange. "It's coming early...oh, my God..."
A chicken leg lands beside me and I hear Risa tell Danny, "Ahahahaaa-haahaahaa..."
"Shhhh..." David tells them, waving two napkins in their faces, then he peers over at me in curiosity. DJ, I mouth.
"What is?" I go back to DJ.
"Our...baby..." DJ quivers.
"Okay, remember the lamaze class where they told us deep breaths and included the dad..." I tell him. "Do you need me to come up?"
"Yeah...w-will you?" DJ sounds near tears.
"Can you give me about forty minutes?" I ask. "Do you want me to meet you at the hospital?"
"Yeah..." DJ gives me the directions there and also tells me that he managed to get hold of Aunt Jackie, but hasn't been able to reach Roseanne or Becky. He has left messages with them.
"Okay, just sit tight, I'll be there," I say and we hang up.
"What's going on?" David, Risa, and Danny ask simultaneously.
"Waaagoin..." Sara echoes.
"The baby's early..." I tell them. "I think it'll be all right, but I'm going to go up there to make sure."
David says he'll hold down the forte here. I promise to call as soon as I get news. I also call Jackie. David and I tell her that it's all right if she brings Andy over here, then accompanies me to Elgin.
"Well, kids..." I say as I hug each of them after packing an overnight bag. "As of tomorrow, you'll have a new cousin."
"Boy or girl?" Danny asks.
"Nobody knows, dit," Risa tells him.
Jackie arrives with Andy in tow. They hug as she gets ready to leave. "See you later, sweetheart," she tells him.
"'Kay...bye, Mom...don't worry too much." Andy says. He leans close to me and whispers, "See if you can get Mom's brows to relax."
"I'll try..." I laugh. I can see that Jackie's eyebrows are slanted upward at the bridge of her nose. They always do that when she cries or worries, so it's not unusual.
"Thanks, David," Jackie says. "Bye, small fries."
"Stay out of trouble, kids," I say as Jackie and I head out.
"This so reminds me of when Risa was born," I tell Jackie as we drive up together.
"Yeah..." Jackie nods. "I never told you this because back then you and David were already scared enough, but your mom and I were so frightened we held each other all that night after Risa was born and we weren't sure she'd make it."
Yes, I never will forget Risa being born three months too early and weighing less than a pound and being in that incubator. David and I had wept in each others' arms, sure we'd lose her.
It perhaps was the toughness of the Harris women in our family that enabled my firstborn daughter to hang in there and survive, then thrive into the healthy girl she is today.
"Now when I see Risa, I often feel so relieved she made it," Jackie says. "Let's hope some of the Harris toughness is with this one too."
I can see Jackie's hands shaking, so I reach over and hold them. Jackie grips my one free hand. Since her hands are now holding mine, the shaking transfers to the rest of her body.
"I think this one will be all right," I say. "He or she's only a month and a half or so early...DJ and Lian have even better medical care than David and I did. Relax, Jacks."
Jackie tries to, but her brows slant in worry as she peers out the window.
DJ:
Lian moans as another contraction comes on. I'm so glad I was able to get hold of Darlene and Jackie. They're on their way up now. I sit beside the bed and hold Lian's hand. Lian is kind of smiling, yet a bit tense also. She nearly squashes my hand, then as the contraction eases, she lets out a deep lamaze breath and loosens her grip.
"I just hope this baby isn't as small as Risa was at birth," I say.
"Me too," Lian is trying to lie still, but I can see it's not easy when you're in labor.
The door opens and in walks Dr. Susan Luvante to my relief. She checks Lian over and tells us that she is fully dilated, the baby seems to be at a comfortable weight and is moving fast toward Lian's birth canal.
"My sister and aunt are on their way up; is it all right if they attend?" I ask.
"Sure," Dr. Luvante tells me. "As long as they wear masks and gloves."
I nod.
Darlene and Aunt Jackie arrive.
"Hiii!" I say, so happy to see them that I run over and hug them.
"How's your kid coming along?" Darlene asks.
"Fast," I say nervously.
As if to prove my point, Lian grunts again, then she tenses.
"I think it's almost here!" she manages to say between gritted teeth. "Let this be it...ohhhh, skies of the mamas..."
Dr. Luvante, Jackie, Darlene, and I rush right to the bed.
"Okay, let me adjust the bed..." Dr. Luvante says and moved the bed so the foot is slanted downward for easier delivery.
The next few hours are a blur, but they also seem to go by fast. Lian and Jackie manage to joke around even when the baby's coming right out.
The actual birth is very fast; there's a couple of hours of grunting and groaning from Lian and even a few cries from me, then the next thing any of us are aware of, there is a live newborn baby squalling its head off.
Jackie starts to cry. So do I. This is all so...profound.
"Oh, I can't believe I'm a mom..." Lian adds, her own eyes moist.
"Been through three births of my own, was with Becky when she had Alicia...it's still something new and profound every time," Darlene says, her voice damp with emotion.
It's as if time just stands still for the longest...time, and we just all stare at this magnificent new life, this little being that is Lian and my child.
"I...I'm a dad...God..." Fresh tears spill down my face as I hold the squalling baby.
I can see that it's a boy before Dr. Luvante makes the formal It's a boy announcement. She also adds that it appears that he weighs about five or so pounds.
"Hello, Marvin," Darlene says. "I'm your Aunt Darlene."
"I'm your great-aunt Jackie," Jackie wipes tears from her eyes as she peers down at my new son.
Marvin peers up at them, his squalling slowing down. His eyes are so huge and just full of wonder and bewilderment. Lian holds him for a while, introducing herself.
"He's probably totally confused," Lian smiles down at him, then up at us.
"Congratulations," I say, giving her a kiss and a hug.
She leans on me and we gaze at our precious son for a long minute. His squalling has stopped for now and he does look kind of confused and bewildered. It's as if he's wondering what the hell he's all of a sudden doing out in this bright, cool room and where's the warm, dark, cushioned womb. As if he's hunting around for the womb, he burrows his head into Lian's abdomen, I guess hoping for the dark, soft, warmth again.
"Can you blame him?" Jackie manages a shaky laugh. "Andy was the same way when he was born; he couldn't stop hugging my boobs for two weeks after his birth."
Becky:
Mom and I make it to the hospital the next night. My new nephew is as lovely as Lian and DJ said. We take turns cooing over him and talking to him. Alicia's here, so I introduce her to her new cousin.
"He's getting used to the life routine," Mom says.
He sure is. He has dark hair, which isn't surprising, considering both DJ and Lian have dark hair.
"Was I that tiny?" Alicia asks me.
"You sure were," I tell her.
"I think I'm gonna be like Aunt Jackie," Lian says.
"How?" I ask.
"Boob meal at the alter," she says and we laugh.
How well I remember Jackie breast-feeding Andy at her "alter" when she married Fred.
"I just hope you get your boob out in time when he calls for his meal," Mom quips.
Andy had squalled for his feeding just as Jackie was getting ready to head downstairs in the Delaware street house where she'd gotten married and milk had spurted out all over her wedding dress before she could get Andy and put him on her breasts. She'd been already uptight and this almost made her have a full-blown anxiety attack right in the "aisle." Mom and Dad had to calm her down.
Grandma and Nana Mary arrive a bit later and for a while, it's almost like a mini-party until visiting hours end.
DJ:
Marvin still needs a few checkups and a touch of medicine to make his still-developing immune system stronger over the next few days. In between all the procedures, Dr. Luvante lets us hold him frequently since all this must be a shock for our son.
Welcome to the world, Marvin Conner, I tell him silently.
Roseanne:
"...So I put the pad in the boob area in case," I tell Lian as Jackie, Nancy, Anne-Marie, Crystal, Becky, and Darlene, and I get ready for the wedding three weeks later.
Lian's mom, Li, is also there. So are Crystal, Becky and Darlene's daughters. Yes, all of us women are gathered in estrogen city before the ceremony. The male half of all of us is probably off down the hall having their own testosterone version of a pre-ceremony gathering.
"Thanks," Lian says.
Little Marvin is now asleep in the nearby crib. We're back in Elgin, this time our whole family...Becky, Darlene, David, Jackie, me, Crystal, Nancy, Anne-Marie, Chuck, Becky and Darlene's kids, Angela and Eddie, and Andy.
Lian and DJ rented a lodgelike place for the wedding and the wedding itself is in the courtyard. It's a lovely rather quaint place on the outskirts of Elgin.
Lian looks gorgeous in her lavender long dress. She's wearing a wreath of lilacs in her straight black hair and also is wearing a purple brooch.
"Woah...I can't believe I'm getting married," Lian says, plopping on the bed. "I'm sure DJ can't either."
"Some days, I still can't believe I'm married," Darlene quips and we laugh.
"Me either," Anne-Marie says. "But, honey, it just becomes another been there, done that in your road trip of life."
"One that has all kinds of weird twists and turns," I say.
"And sometimes ending up near a cliff holding on for life," Jackie puts in.
"And you look back and wonder why you made this or that turn back there," Crystal says, waving her blow eye shadow brush and spilling eye shadow on the floor. Her foundation bottle follows suit and leaves a peachish splotch on the rug.
"But once you get there, you realize that half the fun is the actual trip there," Nancy says, leaning back and pulling on her red panty hose that matches her gold dress.
Jackie lays sideways across to keep her from tumbling off the bed on the other side. Her blue long skirt flies upward a bit.
"Thanks...all of you," Lian says.
"You're welcome," the rest of us chime.
It's time to head down to the courtyard, so we quiet down and go. The ceremony itself is beautiful and simple. The weather is swell...flowers all over the place and cool without being cold. I personally think spring's usually the best time to get married.
DJ brings Marvin just in case he gets a hunger attack. He doesn't, but as they say their vows, Lian holds him close just to be sure.
Jackie and I have tears in our eyes by the time the justice pronounces them husband and wife. I can see several others do also. Wow, now all three of my kids have been through the wedding routine. Jackie and I softly wish DJ and Lian as much luck in their marriage as Dan and I had.
More later!
