“Just make sure it gets to me,” I said, wise to her ways. She dropped her mouth as if shocked then smiled slyly. Meanwhile, Cipher had finished eating and pushed the remainder of his broccoli soup toward me. I squeezed his leg under the table and smiled at him in thanks before digging in. I’d swear each meal in Promised Land was more delicious than the last.
“I’ve been out of the loop a bit,” Marion said to Cipher, leaning in to keep her voice low so that I had to do so as well. “What are your impressions so far?”
“No Rabids, no crime, and no nonsense,” Cipher said, though it was obvious to me that he didn’t necessarily believe it.
“Brother Larry certainly has influence in this town,” Marion said.
Cipher met her eyes and he said very purposefully, “He certainly does.”
She nodded as if some silent understanding had passed between them, a mutual distrust maybe, or an agreement to keep their eyes peeled. I appreciated their caution, but it was hard for me to stay vigilant, especially with a full belly and a warm bed.
After lunch Marion and I returned to the birthing center, which connected to the hospital by a covered concrete pathway. We finished setting up two examination rooms, though our pace was slower, mainly because I had a lot of questions about the equipment.
Marion showed me how to measure blood pressure using an inflatable cuff and how to listen to a heartbeat with a stethoscope. She showed me another tool called a doppler, which would allow us to listen to a fetus’s heartbeat. When she placed it against my stomach, the sounds of my food digesting sounded like a growly monster. Marion also explained some of the basics of human biology, using a diagram to point out the various organs–uterus, umbilical cord, placenta… My gaze caught on the fetus curled up inside a woman’s womb like a flower bud waiting to blossom.
“It’s really amazing, isn’t it?” I said, marveling at the many wonders of the human body, to feel such a range of pleasure to pain, to be able to grow and birth another life. Even with the fever, it was kind of amazing that the human body could endure such a terrible virus and survive, even if it meant becoming something else.
“It really is,” she said with a soft smile.
“I feel so behind,” I told her with a sigh. My mother did her best, but feeding ourselves and staying safe had always taken priority over our education.
“You strike me as someone who catches on quickly.”
“I hope so. Especially if we’re going to have patients here next week.”
“Unless someone goes into labor before then,” she said with a teasing smile.
“Crap. Do you think they will?” I asked, starting to panic at all that I didn’t know.
Marion only chuckled and shrugged. “Babies come when they’re ready, especially these days, which reminds me…”
She handed me a two-way radio and told me to keep it on me at all times in case of emergency. “This is a big responsibility, Joshua. Are you sure you’re ready for it?”
Despite my fears, I wanted to learn from her and do a good job. “Yes, ma’am. Absolutely.”
Before we finished out our day, Marion insisted I take a look at her library of books. I picked out one for myself and she suggested another to help me learn more about human reproduction. She also let me borrow a cuff to practice taking blood pressure measurements on my friends.
With her situated in the chair, I wheeled her back to her one-bedroom bungalow a few blocks away from the town center, and before leaving, made a plan to pick her up the next morning.
On my way home, I stopped by the school to visit Artemis and borrow some children’s books that might help me with teaching Teresa how to read. I didn’t tell her why I needed them, but she seemed to know already.
“I’m glad you’re doing this,” Artemis said. “Teresa didn’t want to tell me herself that she needed help.”
“Because she looks up to you.” We were each prideful about the things that needed protecting. Teresa worshiped Artemis, similar to the way I felt about Cipher, always wanting to please and impress him.
The children had woken from their afternoon naps and were out on the playground, so I sat with Artemis for a spell and watched them climbing the structures and sliding down the playground equipment. Part of me wanted to join them.
“Do you want children of your own one day?” I asked.
“Maybe. Far, far into the future. If I find the right person to help me raise them.”
“Someone like Macon?”
She smiled and shook her head. “You are a nosy one, aren’t you, Kitten?”
“Come on, Artemis, you’re as bad as Cipher. I’m all ‘what does sixty-nine mean’ at the dinner table. Meanwhile, you don’t tell anyone Macon and you are together for, like, months.”
“I still haven’t told you,” she said pointedly, but she didn’t have to. I saw the way they looked at each other when they thought no one was watching. I might tease Macon about that, but not Artemis.
