2.2: Meet James Jr.

    I sat on my writing shorts on my laptop. My publisher emailed that I needed to write a collection of children's stories to gain more of an audience; I couldn't write stories for adults and teens, I needed stories for babies. So far, I'd written Gumbo Learns to Share,  Gumbo's Surprise Party, Gumbo's Halloween, Gumbo's Thankful: A Thanksgiving Short, and Meet Gumbo all in the past two months. My publisher thinks Gumbo will catch on, since he's a turtle.
    Stupid zombies, ruining my flimsy fraction of a love life. I had locked myself in the room, only leaving when I had to. I wasn't counterproductive; I'd wake up at six, shower, write until eight-thirty, Google 'The Great One' or 'Zombie Cure' until nine, write or play computer games until noon, eat lunch, go back to my room, write some more, do one hundred jumping jacks, eat dinner, write, and send whatever I'd written to the publisher for feedback, then go to bed at ten. The result was I'd written seventeen novels in twelve weeks.
    "Come on Tiff." Jamie walked into my room.
    "Where?" I saved my work and shut my laptop lid.
    "We're going to go see someone."
    "I don't need a therapist."
    "Good. We aren't going to see one." He grabbed my arm and pulled my off the bed, into a standing position.
    "Who are we seeing?"
    "A good friend." I followed him downstairs, to the convertible. "You drive."
    "I don't know where to go."
    "I'll tell you."
    "Bu-"
    "Dammit Tiff, quit the pity party."
    "Gee." I mumbled, getting in the car.
    "Tiff. People have bigger problems then you do. I'm not saying that yours aren't important, but you could stop hiding in your room and act like you care about somebody other than yourself. I know you really liked that guy, but it isn't the end of the world."
    "Where to? And who told you about him?"
    "You told Evelyn, who told Alex, who told me. Turn right. To the park."
    "Did she mention the hm-hm part?"
    "Yes."
    "Evelyn!"I didn't tell her the I-slept-with-him part, but still.
    "We're here." I parked the car and hopped out. "Follow me." Jamie instructed me.
    "Why are we at the Winter Fest?"
    "You'll see."
    "You know I hate surprises."
    "Hi honey. Are you okay?" He said softly, lovingly. Then he hugged her. I stood behind, looking to who he was talking to.
    "Cassie?" I gasped. Her eyes had dark bags underneath them and her stomach was rounded.
    "Hey Tiff." She weakly said.
    "Are you-?"
    "Yeah..."
    "How far-"
    "Eight and a half months. Thirty-four weeks, exactly."
    "When's the due date?"
    "Early March."
    "Congratulations..." I whispered, hugging her. Then it hit me. She was working while heavily pregnant, in the snow.
    "Honey, you can always come stay with us. You know that. You don't have to work. You shouldn't."
    "Jamie....I can't mooch off your parents."
    "You aren't. You're-we're dating and carrying their first grand kid. They'd love to have you."
    "Do they know?" I asked.
    "No....I tried to tell them. The day you came home. You started acting weird and they where freaked out about that. I try, but they're so worried.....about you..."
    "I'm sorry." I whispered. "Was the baby, he or she, you know. Planned?"

    "Not exactly." Cassie laughed, weakly. Of course it wasn't planned. Cassie was the insane eight and a half months along...conceived back in June. We'd either just graduated or where still in school....or course it wasn't planned! Who planned a baby when they where still in high school? Granted, we'd graduated, but still.
    "He." Jamie quietly added. We're having a boy...."
    "I'm going to be an aunt! And Cassie....Jamie....parents!" 
    "I guess we are." Cassie smiled. She smiled, walked over to me, and opened her mouth to say something, when she slipped on ice. She fell onto her back and started moaning in pain.
    "Cassie!" Jamie yelled. He picked her up and began carrying her to the car. "Get the door!" He screamed. He laid her in the back seat. I sat upfront, next to Jamie. He began driving to the hospital, when Cassie spoke.
    "Jamie....go home..."
    "You're hurt! You need medical attention. And the baby...."
    "Jamie...the baby's fine...." She spoke slowly.  "Take me home."
    "Cassie...."
    "Don't mess with a pregnant woman...." Her voice faded and her eyes closed.
    "Cassie. Cassie!" He spun around, to look at her. We pulled over and he felt for a pulse. She was alive. Sleeping.
    "Tiff what to I do?"
    "Take her..." Home or hospital?  "Home."
    "Home." We  drove like mad through the street, towards our house. Jamie carried her imminently to to his bedroom and laid her down.
     "What's wrong?" Harry, Mom, Alex, and Evelyn rushed in. Evelyn wasn't living with us, but sometimes it felt like she was.
    "Cassie slipped..."
    "She pregnant!!" Mom shouted.
    "Yeah...we...."
    "She's pregnant!"
    "Going to tell....kinda forgot."
    "I'm going to be a grandma!" She hugged everyone twice, then turned to Cassie. "Is she okay?"
    "Yes. She is." Everyone turned to look at Cassie who was sitting up on the bad.
    "Cassie!" Jamie kissed her. "You're okay. The baby-"
    "Is fine. Thanks to his Daddy." She winked at Jamie. "Um...." She turned to look at the onlookers. "I'm kinda-"
    "Pregnant?" Mom filled in for her.
    "She's living with us. If that's ok-"
    "Of course." Harry replied. "She's family."
    Cassie sold her apartment and moved in with us. She and Jamie where planning on buying a home of their own, as soon as the baby was born and they had the money. It was nice having someone to hang out with. Cassie would stay in my room while Jamie worked, sitting on my bed as I sat at my desk. We'd chat about baby things, cribs (Mom and Harry bought Cassie, baby, and Jamie one as a gift), and names. Everything thing was pretty routine, until two days before Valentine's Day.
    "I came up with a name." Cassie shouted, excited.
    "What?"
    "James Jr."
    "Jame Jr? Like after Jamie?"
    "Yeah...what do you think?"
    "I like it." I smiled. I always thought it was kinda lazy if you named your kid after you....like you couldn't come up with anything better. Then again, Cassie was eight months, three weeks pregnant and had suffered head trauma.
    "Where's the bathroom?" I pointed to the door on the left side; the one that wasn't the exit. "Thanks." She tried getting off her back and onto her swollen feet. "Can you?"
    "Sure." I pulled her off the bed with her arms. She waddled to the restroom, in a way that reminded me of  penguin.
    "Hey." Jamie poked his head into my room. "Where's Cassie?" I pointed to the door again. "Hey, Tiff...I'm sorry....about what I said to you last week in the car."
     "It's fine. Don't worry...I was kinda bitchy."
     "Don't say that word."
     "Your baby isn't even born and you're already worried about people swearing around it. You're going to be a great dad."
    "Thanks."
    "JAMIE! OW GAW!" A scream irrupted from the bathroom. We both jumped up and ran to her. "Jamie Jamie Jamie!" She screamed again.
    "Cassie? What's wr-"
    "I'm in labor, you idiot!"
     "Labor?!" He panicked.
    "Get her to the hospital!" I screamed, panicking. They both rushed, or in Cassie's case waddled, to the car and zoomed away.
    "Cassie's in labor." I announced to the empty house. Alex was working and Mom and Harry where doing something hey refused to tell us about.
    "Labor?" A voice behind me asked, shocked.
    "Huh?"
    "Hey, silly." Evelyn walked up behind me.
    "Evelyn? What are you doing here?"
    "One of Alex's clients donated this weird relic collectible thing to him. He couldn't leave, so I drove it over here. It's in the back yard. Tiff, you haven't even unpacked!"She gestured to my backpack that I hadn't touched.
    "I will...."
    "No worries." She picked it up and dumped the dirty clothing into the hamper. She picked out the makeup bag and shuffled though it. "Tiff!" She exclaimed. "You sly dog you."
    "What?" She dumped the contents of the table. The makeup and everything else was there except the....oh. Because I'd used them when I slept with Francois.
    "Come on Ms. I-lost-my-virginity-with-a-hunky-French-dude. Who?"
   "Francois...."
   "Your boyfriend?"
   "Yeah..." I shifted around, uncomfortably looking for an excuse.
   "The old relic thing Alex got is in the backyard, if you want to go look at it."
   "Seems like a good enough distraction." I followed he rout of my room to the backyard. "Should we go to the hospital?"
    "It wouldn't hurt...but I'm just Alex's girlfriend. Does that make it awkward?"
    "We could either both go or both stay."
    "This is it." She dramatically gestured to the station.
    "It's an alchemy station!" I gasped, looking it over. "I could create an elixir to cure Francois, but I need..."
    "The Great One. Right?" She finished for me.
    "Yes."
    "You're in luck."
    "Are you besties with her and she owes you a favor?"
   "Not that lucky. I had a roommate who was a supplier to her."
   "Supplier?"
   "The Great One needs fairy dust to live. My roommate was a fairy. Bea, Beatrice is her name, wanted to become an alchemist. The Great One made an exception and taught her."
    "But?"
    "Bea will  give you some dust and you can trade for the spell."
    "But?"
    "No catch." Evelyn smiled. "Wait," She thought. "You know you'll have to gather the cure's ingredients and preform the spell yourself, right?"
    "I know...I'll practice." I heard the garage door open and we both turned to look at one another. "They're home."
    "I want a baby." Evelyn sighed, quietly. Quiet enough that I almost didn't hear her. We walked over to the garage and stopped. Cassie was holding a gorgeous baby boy. Jamie beamed next to her, with Mom, Harry, and Alex behind him.
    "Hey guys." Jamie said. "Meet James Jr."
    He was precious. I couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. I didn't want children until I was married and close to, or over, twenty-five. And I didn't want to be living with my parents still. Francois is an ocean away...and a zombie. I was no closer to having a family of my own then I was before I met Francois. I just had to change him back. Change him back. Change him into a human. I wanted a baby seven years from now...that seemed like eternity. Maybe just five. Five years...Not before Twenty-three. Married after twenty. Baby at twenty-three. Of course, Francois may have different plans...assuming he doesn't hate me for the whole zombie thing. What if he does? He wouldn't. Would he? No...I'm turning him back into human.


 Human boyfriend. Marriage. Baby girl. The plan seems so simple.Yet, there was no way I'd be able to know that life doesn't follow a plan until it was to late.