I hammered the last nail in and put the hammer on the table next to the window. "Air, Honey, can you help me move this last one?" I asked, wiping the sweat off my forehead with my forearm. "Uh, yeah. Hold on, dear," She out down her stencil and paint and walked over to me. She put her hands underneath the crib edges and lifted as I did. We struggled moving the crib into the wall, like it was the last puzzle piece. I sighed with relief. I had been building cribs from scratch from 5:00am today. It's 11:00pm. "You need any help?" I asked, lamest gasping for breathe. I haven't been able to get a break. Johnny's been covering for me at work, but I doubt he's barely making a buck; you need experience for that. "Uh, not for me, but what you can do when you can actually breathe is there's those pink and blue mattresses in our room with the covers, you know? Can you put those in the cribs for me?" I looked up at her. I was kidding almost. I was so tired I couldn't do anything! "Ariela... Baby..." I whined, staring at her. She sighed and threw her arm by her side. "Come on, darling, I'm tired too! I've been working since 4:30 this morning! Can you please just do this for me?" She complained, looking down at me pleadingly. I sighed. "Fine...," I said, stomping to go get the mattresses. I flipped in the light and dug through boxes to find the covers, all folded. I laid the pink ones in one pile and the blue in the other. I dug through a couple other boxes but to only find toys and all. "SWEETHEART?" I shouted from our room."Where are the mattresses?" "Underneath your table!" She yelled. I groaned and dug underneath the table to find the mattresses stacked up against the wall. I pulled them out and snagged the covers and ran into the babies room. I placed all the mattresses over the crib frames and slipped the pink and blue covers on each one. "Thank you, baby," Ariela said, painting a giraffe over the stencil in blue paint. "Need anything else?" I asked, scratching my head. "Not really..." "Ok..." I said as I tucked my arms on the edge of my shirt and pulled it over my head. "And I am...done!" Ariela exclaimed, painting a tad more on the giraffe and throwing her things in the bucket. She hopped off the chair and hugged me as I laughed to myself. "I like it..." We looked around the room, staring at it in wonder. It looked great... And it was finally done. "I know... Thanks for helping me." "You're welcome... Thanks for helping me," I said, kissing her cheek. "Shut up..." She said. She locked her hands around my neck and pressed her lips against mine. She suddenly gasped and let go of my lips. "Hmm?" I asked, taking my hand off her waist. "You gotta get a new car, Ponyboy." "I will, next week," I said, trying to kiss her again but she shook her head and pushed me off. "No! You need to get one by tomorrow!" "TOMORROW? Oh, Ariela, why?" I snapped. "Oh my gosh, Pony, how are they going to get the kids home? Huh? They have 8 now, not 2." it was quiet; you could only hear the crackers chirping outside. "I guess I could go look Tomorrow..." "No, you need to BUY one tomorrow." "Ariela?" "Use the money Darry left for the new car!" "Fine! How many does it has to seat?" "At LEAST 8. Maybe 10." "Do you know how hard it is to buy a car like that?" "Get one of those buses or something. Maybe get Steve and Sodapop to fix it up." "The hippie buses...?" "Yes, the hippie buses, Michael." She only used my middle name when she was exasperated with me. "Whatever. I'm going to sleep," I said, grabbing my shirt. "I think I'm gonna stay in here a little longer..." She said. "It's done," I snapped. "You Know what Michael, maybe it's not to me. Just go to bed so you won't be cranky in the morning like you are now." "I'm not cranky!" "GO!" I swore on the way to the bedroom. Who did she think she was commanding me to do something like that? My God, I couldn't believe the nerve of her right now. I threw my shirt down and slipped my pants and underwear off and climbed into bed. And I fell asleep just as my head hit the pillow.