Ten Fingers and Ten Toes (A short story you will find only on my blog)

As promised this will be an ongoing story (Stand-alone book) that will only be found on my blog. It will be written as it goes and hopefully there will be no holes in the story line.

Ten Fingers and Ten Toes. (Dedicated to one of the most precious friends I came to know. This is in your memory Lori Slack Moore. It was through discussions with you that this project evolved.)

What was I going to do? It wasn’t as if something like this hadn’t happened to others before me, or others after me. Still, this wasn’t how I wanted to do things. Who would have thought my Fiancé would have decided pastures were greener after three years of college for me and a year of residency for him. I would have never figured a well-rounded man as Theodore Late would have been a deadbeat. As I think of it, he had plenty of good points, but it didn’t explain that he wasn’t anymore less responsible than I for the situation that now faced me. Neither the less, here I was without him and one very big issue. I couldn’t say it was a problem. No child is a problem. A child is meant to be a gift, so why did it seem such a burden? No matter how I looked at it, I still had a full year of college to finish and if I did what I had intended that may include more college. With no family to turn to it was going to make things very difficult.

Since I had found out a few weeks ago I had weighed my options many times over. None of them was what I considered a hundred percent wonderful. I couldn’t imagine how some of the women had made some of the decisions they did and still seemed to be able to carry on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened. Well, that’s enough of that. In twenty minutes I needed to be on my feet and out the door to my four hour part-time job that ended up being more of a ten hour full time position. I needed all the work I could get and it left little time to study. I was going to have to make a major decision within the next few days and I was going to need the money one way or the other. I wasn’t going to be able to live in the dorm forever, nor was I going to be able to live in a small one room efficiency apartment, well if I decided to keep this child. One thing was for certain, I was going to be walking in my sleep for a very long time.

“You better get a good look at these,” I said to myself after bending down to tie my shoes, “You aren’t going to see them passed your fourth month.” That hit home. I knew quick as things happened to me it may be a shorter time period than I figured. Picking up my bag and slinging it over my shoulder I walked out onto the street now dark, and cold. Hard to believe a month ago, it was still in the sixties, now it was in the high twenties to low thirties. The snow had blanketed the sidewalk and had made it much colder than the stated temperature. Walking was something I had gotten used to. Thank goodness Maurice’s wasn’t a long commute. I did have to walk to the train depot, which witch wasn’t considered safe by most but I had done it since I had begun classes and no one seemed to bother me. Maybe I was too naive to think that anything remotely dangerous could happen. I had been told more than once I lived in a dream world and what I envisioned simply did not exist. There was no such thing as the perfect life, the perfect family, a perfect man, a perfect husband, a perfect love. I had learned lessons the hard way all my life.

The subway was exceptionally quiet for a weekend commute. Most people were leaving the workforce for the weekend yet, there was next to no one around. Standing at the stop I waited patiently for the next train that would take me within a block of Maurice’s. Hopefully it would be a slower night. I wasn’t going to hold my breath. Thanksgiving weekend was never that slow. The place was full from beginning to end with Holiday shoppers stopping in for a meal or a chat with a friend. At least I made good tips during that time. People did seem to tip better during the holiday. There were a few that remained chintzy regardless of the spirit of the season.

The train rolled to a stop, squelching its brakes and the doors slid open. The heat from the inside slapped me in the face as I entered. Wow, what a change in temperature that was. That wasn’t normal. Guess the conductor was cold or someone had complained. It was rarely pleasant, unless of course when it was summer, then it was plenty warm. Maybe it was a way for the homeless to keep warm. There was a comforting thought, just stay on the train, it kept you out of the elements and it was one price as long as you didn’t get off. I had a pass from School. It was good until after graduation. At least till then I didn’t have to worry much about a car.

After hours I did clinical time at the local hospital. There’s an eye-opener. Working in a local hospital float pool that majorly puts you in the ER will put things in perspective quickly. Your life is made up of meetings and partings. It makes you wonder what the creator had in mind. What is the purpose of life if there is nothing more than a beginning and an end? What happens in the middle is made of a life story, boy do I have a dandy one. Growing up wasn’t easy. My mother did what she could but she had died at a young age. Some say it was a broken heart. Who knows? My father did pretty much what ever and whoever he liked. I would hate to say my mother was a push over, but she let him get by. She seemed to be one of the strongest women I knew. I grew up with a brother that would have beat the shit out of him if he knew half of what went on when he wasn’t home. Marlene and I never seen a moments peace after momma died, in or out of the kitchen until we eventually moved out. Unfortunately I was the youngest of the three and seemed to have spent the most time with him. Most girls love their fathers, in my case I was glad he was no longer among the living. Made me wonder sometimes why I had gotten involved with any male.

The cold air woke me as I stepped from the train and walked the block to Maurice’s where I would spend the next few hours. One step more I would be in where it would be warm and total chaos. “Ay, lady! look out!” I jumped at the sound of the male voice. Before I could process a response I turned toward the voice and a large figure slid an arm through my cross body bag and gave it a jerk knocking me to the concrete. The purse remained but the strap broke and contents flew from it. By the time I figured out what had happened a young man came from behind me and assisted me to my feet. “I’m sorry, are you okay? You took a pretty nasty tumble.”

Shaking the snow from my coat I made an attempt to pick up my things from the walk. “Yes, yes, I think so.” The young man picked up the few things he saw and handed them to me. “I wish I had been two seconds sooner, I would have landed him. This has been happening to often.” Taking the things from him I placed them in my bag and looked toward my hero. When I did, my breath left me as he stood examining me with both his hands on my shoulders. “You sure you’re okay?”

#babies #babiesabortion #hero #life #gift