Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price

Author:Reynolds Price [Price, Reynolds]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Literary, General
Publisher: Atheneum Books
Published: 1986-05-28T23:00:00+00:00

He called on the absolute stroke of nine, and Douglas made me answer. The wreck had been worse than even he expected. War secrets were strewn all up and down the valley.

I asked were any gorillas loose?

He said “Several dozen” and that he wouldn’t be home till late tomorrow; were we fat and sassy?

I said “Let Douglas tell you.”

He and Douglas laughed through another five minutes, which calmed me enough to start my Latin. By half-past ten I’d finished and was too tired to want ice cream. So Douglas ate without me; and I turned in, passing out in two minutes. The last ten bombs of the war could have gone off right at my door and not touched my rest, not the first three hours.

But then I woke up, fully alert and not knowing why. I checked first thing and my door was still shut. So I knew I’d waked myself. Or that something not human had called my name. I lay on peacefully and waited a good while. No voice spoke though, in my head or out. The next thing I wondered was, could a baby call me—just a one-day-old? I knew that was foolish; but I pressed my whole belly gently, in hopes some contact would start. And there, exactly on the center line just under my navel, I found a hard spot that was bound to be him still small as a grain (I was that convinced and I knew it was a boy).

Next thing, the whole dark world fell on me. The chill I had felt at school wasn’t fear, more like a huge surprise. But now all the facts—me being sixteen, unwed, no parents (in a time when unwed mothers weren’t showered with gifts on TV)—they all piled on me so I could barely breathe. To save myself I thought “Kate, you’re crazy. You’re no more pregnant than Admiral ‘Bull’ Halsey.” That didn’t work long. Next I tried to pray. For the first time ever, my words were blocked by the plain plaster ceiling. So I shivered again a few hard minutes, hoping for tears. I thought tears would tire me back down to sleep. I was dry as a stove; I had to seek help. So next I stood up and walked in to Douglas.

The instant my foot touched the sill, he said “Kate.”

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