A harsh clap of thunder interrupted what had been a peaceful night of sleeping with rain softly tapping on the roof. I felt like I had not been asleep for more than two hours, but a glance at my alarm clock could neither confirm nor deny my assumption.

The digital clock was blank. Our power was out.

Although it felt like the middle of the night, something told me that it wasn't. With a great deal of effort, I forced myself out of bed. Wobbling unsteadily on my feet and rubbing my still-sore back, I stumbled to my dresser and found my watch.

7:14 AM??!!

"Shit!" (At this hour, I could not be any more eloquent than that.)

"What?" At my remark, James was now wide awake.

"We've overslept!" I croaked, flipping the light switch. Of course, nothing happened because the power was out. Duh. And I'm supposed to be a genius? Luckily, we kept candles and matches in one of the bathroom drawers for times like these. James rushed to his closet as I made a break for the bathroom.

"Are we already late?" He asked. James hates being late as much as I do.

"We will be!" I tossed him my watch.

"Janine, we've got enough--" He started to say.

I didn't hear the rest of what he said because I was already in the bathroom, pulling out the candles and lighting them. James had enough time. But I didn't. He could show up for work at 8:00 if he had to (usually he's early for work), but the time for me to check in at work is 7:45, and I have never, ever been late for work. Come to think of it, I can't really remember a time that I was late for a class, unless it was out of my hands. I was late for an evening class once when Claudia broke her leg. That's about it.

After putting in my contacts, I gave myself a once over in the mirror. Thank goodness I had taken a bath and washed my hair last night. While clipping back my hair, I noticed that my back was hurting pretty badly and just then came one of those Braxton Hicks contractions. They had become increasingly painful as time went by, and I still wondered how I would know the difference between those and the real thing.

By 7:34, I was dressed in my long, black skirt and a gray cable knit sweater. The storm had only grown worse, and the power was still out. Part of me wondered if classes might perhaps be cancelled in such awful weather.

No, no, I would have gotten a call from Mr. Park by now.

It was too bad since the weather only made me want to crawl back into bed, that and this awful backache that only seemed to be getting worse.

Regardless of this, I gathered up my bookbag and my...

"Where is that damn umbrella?" In less than an hour, I had already cursed twice. From a person who usually tries to think of better words, this was unusual. But for crying out loud, how can you lose your umbrella after three days of rain?

"This damn umbrella?" James mocked me while holding out my umbrella. "By the door, sweetheart, where you left it. Are you feeling okay?" Quick glance at the clock. 7:40.

"I have to go. I have to go!" Grabbing the umbrella and taking my car keys from the hook, I opened the door and rushed down the stairs.

"Careful, Janine!" He yelled again. "Slow down, and be careful."

The thunder boomed in the distance like an unspoken warning. My body was telling me to slow down, too, but there wasn't time. I got in the car, turned on the ignition, and left, still ignoring the pressure in my lower back and abdomen that had been coming and going all morning .




______________________________________________


The day was a blur with me running about doing one thing and then another. I ended up doing more than I had done for the past two weeks today. Today, the students in Mr. Park's afternoon biology class were taking one of their major lab practical tests.

I was given the task of setting out all of those models and labeling them. Normally, I could have done it pretty fast, but it ended up taking me almost my entire lunch period to do it. That was okay since I did not feel much like eating.

I knew what was happening. Labor was starting. Or at least, I thought it was. I couldn't tell for sure if it was the real thing. My plan was to tough it out for the remainder of the day. If my water broke, then I would go to the hospital. Then I could be sure that it was the real thing. The thought of going to the hospital only to be told I was not actually in labor made me want to be absolutely certain of it.

So far, I had been able to take it. Only a few of the contractions had actually hurt. The others just felt like pressure. And I had been good about timing them. There were always a good ten minutes in between each one. No big deal. First babies take their time. I knew all of that.

"Janine?" Mr. Park was in the doorway. "Class will start in five minutes. Almost done in here?"

I stuck the last label on a model of a spinal nerve. "All done."

"Very good," he turned and left.

Before class, I headed into the faculty bathroom. As I was going in, another contraction started up. I looked at my watch, realizing then that it had only been about seven minutes since the last contraction this time. And I winced in pain as I realized that this one was hurting more than any of the previous contractions.

Suddenly, I felt something started to trickle down my leg. In horror, I thought that I had actually peed on myself. I dashed into the stall and got my skirt and underwear off just in time for my water to break while I was sitting on the toilet. It started with a trickle, oddly enough, and then came the rush of fluid.

How I had managed not to stain my skirt was a miracle. But I barely gave it a second thought because I was only thinking one thing. Oh, my Lord, Panic washed over me.This is really it.

Now there was no doubt about it. After taking a moment to recover, I got dressed again. While I got dressed, I thought about all those stories of women who did not have time to make it to the hospital. Stop scaring yourself!

The hallway was filling with students heading off to sixth period so I waited for the bell to ring. As soon as the hallways were clear, I headed for the office. Miranda Jennings gets out of class early in the afternoon and works as an office aid. She happened to be the only person at the desk when I came in.

"Hi, Mrs. Y," she said. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually," I was starting to breathe heavier again, and I felt another contraction coming on already. It could not have been more than five minutes since I had the other one. That scared me. The pain spread from my back to the upper part of my belly. I inhaled and exhaled deeply, now supporting my belly with my hand. Miranda got the message.

"Oh, wow," she exclaimed. "You're having the baby!"

In response, I sat down in a recliner to breathe through the contraction.

"Could you get my... ow... my bag? I left it in Mr. Park's classroom. Tell him I start my maternity leave now."

"Right away," she darted out of the room.

I silently wished that anyone besides Miranda Jennings had been in the office. Miranda had a habit of causing a scene, and the last thing I wanted was a group of people flocking to the office to see if Mrs. Yamakawa really did give birth in the office.

I closed my eyes, now dying to be at the hospital, surrounded by doctors and nurses.

When I opened my eyes, Mr. Park, Miranda, and the principal, Ms. Sutera, hovered over me.

"Janine, I've got your cell phone here so that you can call James."

"Should someone call her doctor? What's the number?"

"Do we need to call an ambulance?" That was Miranda.

"No!" I protested quickly. "No, I've got time. James can come and get me."

"Should we call your doctor?" Mr. Park asked again. I nodded and gave him the number. Then I dialed James at work.

"James Yamakawa, science department," he answered.

"It's me," I said. "And I need you to take me to the hospital."

"You-you're... in labor," he stammered. "Are you sure?"

"My water broke. Swing by the apartment to get my bag."

"I'm coming." He just hung up. I could picture him running around, gathering up all of his stuff. Probably dropping half of it in his haste. Like Miranda, James tends to make a scene.

I hung up. Then I made another call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Janine? Hi." She hesitated. "What's wrong?"

"I-" There were so many ways to say this. "Um, the baby's coming. Today."

She gasped. "What happened to two weeks?"

I managed a laugh. "That's what I want to know."

"How close are the contractions? Are you timing them?"

While she said this, I felt another one coming on. Each time, it snuck up on me, starting in my back and spreading to the top of my belly. Then it would peak at that and come down.

"I'm about to... ugh..." I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. Then, talking quickly, I said, "Another one. And I don't know because they were ten minutes apart and now they keep... they keep..." I could no longer speak. I gripped the sides of the chair and thrust the phone at anyone who wanted to take it from me.

Miranda grabbed it.

"She can't talk through them. I think she means they keep coming closer together." (I managed to nod) "What? Oh... Miranda Jennings. I'm a student.... yeah, Janine is here at school... she's still- are you still having a contraction?"

I nodded again, trying to say that it was slowly letting up, but still unable to get a word out. I gestured for her to give me the phone as the pain finally started to subside.

"Mom," I panted. "Its me. That was the longest one yet."

"I'm going to pick up Claudia from school," she replied. "Then we'll be on our way to meet you at the hospital."

"Should she be missing school?"

"Janine!" Mom was aghast. "Claudia won't want to miss the birth."

"Okay, okay," I said. "But make sure she brings her homework. I can help her with it between my contractions."

Mom laughed gently. "Always the same. Don't count on it, sweetheat."

Then we hung up and I waited on James. So much for two weeks. That was fine with me; I was ready to meet my baby. (My nameless baby... yes, there was one problem with this sitation.) Today... what was today? I spotted a calendar.

Tuesday, October 11.



A/N: Chapter 20, coming soon!