I been married a few months now, and Nat is sick. I can tell 'cuz she'll smell somethin' and go pale and take off into the bathroom to throw up. It started about a month after we got married, all this sickness. I dunno what's wrong, so mostly I just keep out of her way. All this bein' sick's put her in a sour mood most of the time, too, after all. I also stay outta her way 'cuz whatever it is, I don't wanna catch it.
"J.G. Jones, can't I trust you to be pickink up your own laundry!?" She snaps at me one day. I look lazily over the back of the couch to see her glarin' at me.
"I did too pick it up. Stuck it in the washer machine too." I tell her.
"Then why is your underwvear all over the bedroom carpet?" She asks with that tone in her voice that's only used when someone's real ticked off at you.
"It ain't all over. It's one pair that I was wearin' to bed." I tell her. Maybe if I act calm it'll help. She's been lookin' kinda... well, maybe it's what she's been eatin', but she looks kinda fatter, 'specially around her stomach. Strange, since people who're as sick as her usually lose weight. She's still yellin' at me, though.
"Am I the only one to do anythink around the house? I thought..." Her voice starts to break, like she's gonna cry, "I thought when I married you it was because you love me, not because you need maid..."
Well that makes me get up and rush over there in a second. She's been doin' that a lot too. She'll go from happy and laughin' to bein' mopey and sad or even angry with me. Women are strange, changin' their emotions like TV channels and all.
"Nat, no! You know I love you a lot, Nat... Hey, don't cry. Here, c'mere. Now lemme hold you fer a bit, 'til you stop the cryin'..." I sigh a bit as she holds onto me tight. "Maybe all the sickness is gettin' to you. You gotta go to a hospital, even, maybe."
"I-I..." She starts, then sniffles, "I think I know what is the matter. You have to trust me on it, though."
"Alright, alright, I will. Just please stop cryin'... whatever it is, it ain't worth all that." I tell her, helpin' her to the couch.
That's how I ended up in this store, lookin' at my feet, with the Thing Only Meant For Girls in my hand. It ain't even the Thing Nat usually makes me go get, with the blue and pink box with "Always Comfort" written on it in frilly letters and a picher of a flower. This Thing is in a plainer white box with black letters I ain't bothered to read. 'Cept for what it is. Nat wanted me to go get a test to see if she's pregnant. I told her a million times she can't be 'cuz of a lotta reasons, but she wants to do it anyway.
So, bein' a good husband and gentleman, here I am in the Allan General Merchandise Shop with this Thing in my hands. Mrs. Wenns, the old woman who owns the store with her husband, looks at the Thing I set down and smiles. She knows everyone who's lived in Allan their whole lives. The fact that I ain't got any older in the time she's known me don't seem to bother her overmuch.
"You and your wife are expecting already, eh, J.G.?" She says, typin' the price into the register.
"I s'pose so, ma'am." I say. That makes her smile more.
"Even when you're flustered like this you always have been such a polite boy. I'm sure yer kids'll have the same qualities."
"Thank'y, ma'am." I say, handin' her the money and lettin' her put it in the unmarked bag.
"Y'all take care now, and do tell me when Nat's havin' the baby when ya know, alright?"
"Yes'm. You take care 's well." I say as I leave. I'm real glad the store puts things in bags, I really am.
"J.G., no matter the result you must promise to not freak out, alright?" Nat says. She ain't looked at the test and I ain't neither, so we're both gonna look together.
"I ain't gonna freak out, Nat." I tell her for the fifth time.
"Alright. Package says 'a plus means pregnant' and 'a line means not.' Ready?" She says for the sixth time.
"Nat, I been ready since I got back from the store." I'm really nervous and about to scream, but I'm gonna act calm so she acts calm.
She pulls the thing outta the box she put it into so we could both see together. There's a faint but easy to notice mark that's a "+" on both the lil' circles.
"J.G..." Nat says, lookin' at it with the joy plain in her eyes. "J.G... we're havink a baby."