Human Blues: a Novel by Elisa Albert

Author:Elisa Albert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 2022-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Back to the acupuncturist. Day what, now? Twenty-four. Tits getting heavy and sore. Insomnia in full force. Bloating. She couldn’t wear a bra.

“I’m trying this new mantra,” she told the acupuncturist. “It goes: There is nothing wrong with my body. There is nothing wrong with my body.”

“How about ‘everything is right with my body,’ ” the acupuncturist suggested. “Not ‘nothing is wrong.’ Take out the negative. ‘Everything is right.’ ”

* * *

A business card on the bulletin board at the co-op: Kirsten Tabowski. Full-Spectrum Doula.Pregnancy, Birth, Postpartum, Infertility, Stillbirth, Miscarriage, Abortion, Menopause. Black lettering underneath a plain circle. The circle was complete, but empty. Or full? Or both empty and full at the same time? A sun, or a moon. Or a void. Or a world.

Aviva sat in the parking lot.

A cheerful voice answered on the second ring. “Kirsten Tabowski!”

“Hi. I found your card at the co-op? I’m looking for a… doula?”

“The co-op!” said Kirsten Tabowski with a great honking laugh. “I can’t believe my card’s still up there! They must not clear those things too often. I moved to the Adirondacks like four years ago and sort of hung up my hat. No one’s called me in a very long time. I’m sort of retired. But hello! I’m glad you found me. Maybe I can help.”

“Okay…”

“It’s really weird you found my card, I have to tell you. I’m not… for everyone. My circle has… shrunk. I only do this work when it’s… right. I don’t have the same energy I had twenty years ago.”

“Is this, like, a get-turned-away-from-the-witch’s-hut-three-times-before-you’re-accepted-in thing?”

“Ha. I’m not explaining very well. What I’m telling you is, I can totally recommend someone really great who can hold your hand nonjudgmentally. Because everyone deserves that. But I don’t do that anymore. I used to. But not anymore. How deep and in what kind of shit are you?”

“I’d say like knee-deep?”

“So let me just tell you my deal. I was an abortion companion back in the day, that’s how I started. I went with people to their abortions, ’cause I had had an abortion myself, so I was the friend who went with everyone to their abortions. I cared for people before and after. There wasn’t really a name for it, back then. I didn’t hang out a sign or anything. I was just that friend who’d hold the space for you when you had an abortion. Then I started having babies, I had a whole bunch of babies, wham-bam, four in ten years. I was really into babies. I was, like, good at having babies. So then I became a birth doula, obviously, because I got to know a fuck of a lot about how that whole process goes. And there was a name for that, and I could make a little money. It was awesome, all that warrior-woman shit, felt like a real calling. Then I sort of got tired and more into gardening. What else can I tell you? Who are you? What’s your story? Tell me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.