Perishables by Tina Egnoski

Author:Tina Egnoski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Perishables
ISBN: 9781937854638
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Published: 2010-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

We got married at the courthouse. Four months pregnant, I was just beginning to show, my belly the first bulbous flower of spring. There were witnesses, my friend Cheryl from school and a colleague of Nick’s. I wore a pastel dress and flowers in my hair. Nick’s friend was bearded and disapproving. Hugging me a little too tightly.

My body grew into the sturdy blossom of a tulip. Nick put his ear to the bowed petals and listened. He thought that, aside from the gurgle like sloshing water—indigestion—he might hear the baby’s heartbeat.

At night I couldn’t sleep. The baby turned and kicked, his heavy body squeezed against my ribs. Nick stayed up with me. He cupped his hands around my bare stomach and said, “Maureen, Maureen, Maureen.” My name over and over, and his voice broke into fragments of sound that fell around us like rain. He said, “I’ll teach her how to play soccer,” and I countered with, “I’ll teach him to cook.”

After Nick fell asleep, I waited for the even draw of my breath to rock the baby to sleep. In the morning, I filled the bathtub a dash from the rim and lowered my thick body into water. I floated in the tub, weightless, careless. The water shimmied up the side, cascaded over the porcelain, an erratic tidal wave. The baby pressed a foot against my side, and I wrapped my fingers around the handle of flesh.

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