Frances' seventh month of pregnancy came...She was 'plagued' with a few backaches here and there, and there were nights where she couldn't sleep a wink! She had been having bad heartburn...and sometimes the baby obviously didn't know if it was the daytime or nightime, because the little stinker would be up, kicking her like crazy!

"Ohhh!" Frances moaned. "Why? Why there?"

"Hmmm..." Fred mumbled. "What happened?" He said, now waking up a little.

"The baby found a spot where he just LOVES to kick me! The ribs!"

"I'm sorry, honey..."

"Its allright, what can you do about it anyway?...Nothing! That's what!" Frances tried shifting positions a little. "I couldn't get to sleep anyway...It wasn't just the baby...I just can't sleep..."

"Well, we're both up now..." Fred smiled, and put his arm around her. "Wanna talk?"

"Talk...or....Do you want a little sex?...Hmmm?" Frances said, raising an eyebrow.

"Talk!...A conversation! The thing where your lips move and sound and words and sentences come out!" Fred laughed, and rubbed her arm. "Thought of any names for the baby?"

"I thought of a girl's name. Rose...I really like it...But for a middle name. Not a first name."

"Franziska Rose...I like that." Fred suggested.

"No! No way! I am NOT naming this baby Franziska!"

"Oh honey, it would be so great! Grandmother, mother and granddaughter would all be named Franziska!...What a nice tradition!" He smiled.

"NO!...Its way too long of a name! She'd get teased by saying she has every letter of the stinkin' alphabet in her name! I should know!...I was..."

"Its such a beautiful name!"

"No! No!...And a thousand times no!...How about we save the name for future generations!" She said at last and laughed. "We don't even know if we're having a girl...it could be a boy, you know..."

"You just want one..." Fred grinned.

"And what's wrong with that?...Besides, I have a feeling it is a boy..."

" I figured...You keep calling it a 'he.'" Fred smiled.

"I can't stand calling the baby an it!"

"Then just call the baby...Baby." He laughed, and looked over at her to which he saw a look like "I have been!" from her in the moonlight..."Have you thought of a boy's middle name yet?...Since he'll have my first name..."

"No...I can't think of any that sounds right..." Frances sighed.

"See...you can't pick a boy name...Shows we'll have a girl!"

"No it doesn't...It just means I can't think of a name..." Frances rolled her eyes at him and gave him a friendly shove.

Frances liked to take walks now that it was autumn. She and her new friend Helen Clark Spencer, a newly married young woman about Frances' age would walk into town together almost everyday.

"How've you been feeling lately?" Helen asked.

"Oh allright...I've had better days..." Frances chuckled. "I've had some trouble sleeping some...Baby's kept me awake lately. And what with the constant kicking at my ribs, I've been so sore...Can't wait till this baby finally drops!...I'm finding it hard to BREATHE sometimes!"

"You want to go stop at my Grandfather's office? I'm sure he wouldn't mind checking you over...Its his job!"

"No, that's all right, Helen...My next checkup is later on in the month...I'll see him then."

"Grandfather's teaching me little things here and there...I'm his nurse. My Pa's a doc too...He and Grandfather work alongside each other...You know my Ma's a midwife. She's been teaching me too...I've been a "midwife-in-training" since I was about 14 years old. Will come in handy...once Ross and I finally decide to have one of our own...How pathetic is that? I'm 20 years old, two years older than you, and I STILL haven't had sex with my own husband!"

"Not even on your wedding night?"

"No...Ross just wanted a nice, quiet evening together...He just wanted to go...home." Helen smiled. "We've been married only a week, and he hasn't even wanted sex yet! Its driving me crazy!...I WANT it!"

"I know you'll roll your eyes at me, Helen...but it isn't all its cracked up to be..."

"Oh, I'm sure you enjoyed it 7 months ago!" She grinned at her...

"Oh, don't get me wrong...being with Fred is great...He's wonderful...it just feels different now."

"And that's because?"

"I'll be very honest with you...I made a mistake and I had sex with Fred...a month before we were even married. I fell into my weakness and I justified it by saying he loved me...which I know now, and I knew then that he does...Just do me a favor, Helen...Just wait! Make sure you're ready!...Not that I wasn't...I just..."

Helen stared at her younger, pregnant friend.

"Oh, don't get me wrong Helen,...I'm very excited and very thrilled about this baby...I just wish sometimes, that I hadn't done it so soon...I wish I would've waited awhile."

"Do you think that it doesn't feel the same...because you and Fred...didn't wait?" Helen asked. "I'm not judging, I'm just asking a question..."

"That's most likely true...and I've done a lot of growing up because of it...Just do me a favor and wait...It'll be worth it if you do."

Helen changed the subject, she was beginning to get annoyed. "My Ma says she wants me to be there when you deliver your baby...To help her with things...keep you calm...That sort of thing."

"That would be great Helen!...I'd feel safer knowing that a friend will be there with me..." Frances smiled. "You know what, Helen...let's head up to Dr. Walker's after all...Not for a checkup. Just a walk up and back down the hill. Your grandfather says walking is good exercise for me!" Frances smiled.

"Just don't wear yourself out..."

"I wont!...My word, you're as bad as Fred!" Frances laughed. "I'll rest if I need too, I promise!"

They walked all the way up Walker Street until they reached the very top. Frances sat down on Dr. Walker's front steps for a little rest.

"Are you sure you're all right, Frances?...You look really winded...We can go in if we need to...just to see if you're okay."

"Helen, I'm fine...I just need to rest...awhile and then...we can be...on our way..." She panted, trying to catch her breath. "This baby takes a lot out of me!" She laughed. "I may need a nap when I get home!"

A young lady walked out of Dr. Walker's office.

"Well isn't it the newest Mrs. Gruber!...How are you, Nona?" Frances smiled at her sister-in-law.

"Wonderful, Frances!...These past two months have been wonderful! Joe is the sweetest." Nona smiled.

"My stars, I think I'm going to faint!" Frances laughed. "Joseph Leo? MY brother? Sweet?...Oh, I'm just kidding! He had his good moments...sometimes..."

"How've you been feeling lately, Frances?" Nona asked, politely.

"BIG..." Frances chuckled. "I feel big...And getting bigger!"

"Well, its October...Only two more months to go!" Nona smiled. "Are you coming to the church Harvest Party tonight?"

"You bet'cha!" Frances smiled. "Wouldn't miss it!...Unless this baby comes today!" She joked.

"Well, there's probably no chance of that happening..." Helen said.

"Are y'all about to head on home? I'll join if you don't mind!" Nona smiled.

"The more the merrier!...Umm...can I have a little helping hand?" Frances giggled. "I need help getting up."

"Sure...Easy now." Nona said, helping her stand upright. They set out back down the long hill, talking all the way there.

"So how has married life been treating you, Helen?...And why aren't you with Ross right now?...You think you would be!" Nona grinned.

"Ha!...Ross doesn't want sex this soon...He doesn't want children right away..."

Nona chuckled. "You know...there are means of protection these days...Joe and I have before..."

"No...He wants it to be natural...Like it should be. Putting a thing made of animal skin on his...nevermind!" She said quickly and in a high pitch..."He wouldn't do that anyway. Its too strange..."

Both Frances and Nona started laughing.

"What?"

"Just the way you said that!" Frances laughed. "On his...nevermind!" Nona and Frances busted up laughing again.

"What?...I'm a lady!" Helen said, smoothing her dress and standing up straighter.

"I guess we're not then!" Nona laughed. "When its just us women...We don't really care how we say it!"

Frances was still laughing her fool head off! "Speaking of not being much of a lady, I better make it to an outhouse...and quick! I've gotta pee like a stinkin' horse!"

"Frances!" Helen gasped. "I can't believe you just said that!"

"What? I really HAVE to go! I can't help it!" Frances said to her and walked off down to the outhouse outside the doc's office. "I blame the baby!" She laughed.

"Who has my golden arm?...Give me back my golden arm!...GIVE ME BACK MY GOOOOLLDEN ARMMM...I GOT IT!" Joe Gruber grabbed one of the kids' arms, to which the little girl screamed! Others did too...some with smiles on their faces...and otherwise... They were at the Harvest Party, around a camp fire telling ghost stories.

"Oh, that was a scary one, Joe!..." Nona exclaimed, and layed her head on his shoulder, her hands wrapped on his strong arm.

"George, tell the one about the town drunk!" John said...

"Okay...This one's creepy, but funny!..." And George Jr. began. "One dark, windy night, the town drunk was meandering his way home after the bar closed. Somehow he got turned around and ended up walking through the churchyard instead of taking the road home.

The wind picked up and he thought he could hear a voice calling his name. Suddenly, the ground opened up in front of him, and he fell down, down into an open grave! He could hear the voice clearer now, calling to him. He knew it was the devil, coming for him just like the preacher said, on account of him being the town drunk.

The hole was very deep and inside it was pitch black. His eyes adjusted to the darkness after a few moments, and he made out a form sitting in the darkness with him. It called his name, and he scrambled away in fear, trying to climb out of that terrible grave. Then the figure spoke. "You can't get out," it said.

The drunk gave a shout of pure terror and leapt straight up more than six feet. He caught the edge of the hole in his hands, scrambled out, and ran for home as fast as he could go!

Inside the open grave, his neighbor Charlie sighed in resignation. He'd fallen into the hole a few minutes before his friend and had thought that together they might help each other climb out. Now he was going to have to wait until morning and get the mortician to bring him a ladder." All the kids laughed at that one! "John...Its your turn now..." George urged him.

"Nah...I'm not much for telling ghost stories..."

"OH c'mon, Mr. Gruber!" One of the kids, named Conrad said.

"Nah...I'll...I'll let Frances tell one...Tell the one about the forest in Germany!"

"All right, but if these little ones get too scared to go to sleep tonight, its your fault!" Frances said. "Well...they say that there's this haunted forest in Bavaria, Germany...At night...Its dark...cold...spooky...when you first walk into the forest...you feel...someone...or...something...jump on your back...and it feels like a large, heavy weight on your back. It stays with you the whole time you walk through the forest...and then!" Frances said sharply, looking around at the children...the fire's glow giving her an erie complexion. "...just as you leave the forest you hear a shrill, ghostly voice, "Naaaamon!...Naaaaamonnn!" Frances immitated the voice. "Namon, Weeeeeee!" Frances yelled, which made a little boy fall off the log he was sitting on, to which all the kids laughed!

"It isn't funny! I fell on a stick!" The little boy said, getting up and rubbing his back.

"You all right?" She asked him.

"Yeah, Mrs. Lay...Go on!"

All right, where was I?...Oh yeah!...And then...whatever was on your back jumps off in a split second and the heavy feeling you felt on your back is then gone! Some say...it is an evil ghost...making sure you don't disrrupt anything in HIS forest!...Others say...it is a friendly ghost, and wants to make sure you get through the forest okay..."

"And the truth?" One of the older girls asked.

"No one...knows...for sure..." Frances said, her brown eyes narrowed.