Chapter Four: A Mistake

Being a criminal was harder than it seemed. Mary had expected be doing things like what she saw in action movies, but it seemed like the only thing she did was exercise. Exercise, exercise, exercise. Her job had become so demanding in terms of athleticism, and she was barely keeping up. She wouldn’t give up though; no, she had come too far to do that now. Although it seemed like she was going to spend the rest of her days jogging down a dirt path near her home, Mary knew that she couldn’t exercise forever. She would have to have some kind of social life, wouldn’t she?

Yes, a social life was needed. Even though her initial plans of what she was going to do with her life had changed a little, she still intended to start a family, and to start a family, you had to have some kind of life outside of work. Mary thought about her friends. She had two; Kanoa Parrott and Li Lo. She spoke to them often at work, but outside of work, Mary rarely ever talked to them. “I suppose I’ll have to change that,” she murmured as she finished her jog to the community pool.

Mary floated on her back and looked up at the morning sky. The pool was empty and the world around was quiet except for the song of the birds. It was peaceful; very peaceful. Mary watched as the sky turned from purple, to pink, to orange, and then to blue. While the sun painted the sky, Mary was painting her future.  She had decided that she would meet up with Kanoa. Mary last heard that he and his wife had separated. It was now or never.

After drying off, Mary called him and asked if he would like to hang out that day. “Sounds like it’ll be fun. Where should we meet up?” he said somewhat sleepily. It was still early in the morning, so Mary assumed that he had just woken up. Mary didn’t know the town very well despite living there a few weeks, so she let Kanoa pick some possible candidates for where they would meet.

After discussing it further, they agreed to meet at a nearby dive bar called the Watering Hole Saloon. Mary didn’t like the sound of the place. Just by the name, Mary assumed that it was going to be very . . . country themed—not that everything in Appaloosa wasn’t country themed or anything—and being from Bridgeport, the sound of a little country-themed saloon didn’t sound very appealing to her.

She would have to settle for it though—there weren’t many other places to go. Mary sighed, “When I’m finally able to move out of this dump . . .” she trailed off as she wandered away from the pool and to the meeting place.

The saloon was just as Mary had guessed it would be: cheap, dirty, run-down, and country-themed. Neon lights flickered about and country music blasted at an ear splitting volume from a stereo in the corner. Mary inwardly screamed. In front of Kanoa, though, she forced a smile. “Well . . . this is quite a place, isn’t it?” she said. She felt her forced smile waver.

Kanoa huffed and crossed his arms, “I’ll say.”

I’ll say? He’s the one who suggested we meet here! Mary inwardly groaned and then looked around, “I’ll get us some drinks.” She impatiently walked off and did just that. It seemed Kanoa wasn’t enjoying himself and he wasn’t afraid to show it. Mary frowned. It wasn’t her fault that Appaloosa had nothing interesting to do. She drummed her fingers against the bar and conjured up a plan. Her frown slowly turned to a grin. Just because Appaloosa was boring didn’t mean she was too.

After picking up their rather colorful drinks, Mary turned around and put on her best smile. She handed him his drink and then took a long drink of hers. Strong was an understatement. Mary already felt a small buzz come over her. A few gulps later she was ready to party.

The two partied late into the night. They danced wildly, had a weeks-worth of mildly strong shots, and if Mary remembered correctly, they slipped off sometime around midnight and went skinny dipping in a nearby lake. Ah, the fun they had had. The night was winding down though and the finale was approaching. Still intoxicated, the two stumbled back to Mary’s home.

After many crude insults from irritated neighbors who had been awoken from their deep sleep, the two finally slipped inside Mary’s tiny little home. It was dark inside, but they managed to find the bed. The night hadn’t been just friendly fun, oh no. They had stolen kisses from each other, openly cuddled on park benches, and a little butt grabbing had been done, but now the teenage fun was over, and things were getting serious.

As the sun slipped over the horizon, they slipped below the covers

*  * *

The day passed slowly. Mary didn’t remember much of what happened the previous night, and she spent most of her day raking her pounding head for answers. She knew she had been with Kanoa the previous night, but for how long? He wasn’t around that morning, and she couldn’t remember him leaving. Mary shook her head. Whatever had happened that night, it had left her with an upset stomach and a killer headache. Too much booze . . .

(Please ignore the legs. >.>; Mary had guests over when she wasn’t supposed to.)

Although she had spent most of her day in painful daze, Mary managed to get a promotion. She was now a bagwoman. Mary felt stressed already. She climbed into a taxi and then began working out her workout schedule. “Alright, treadmill from nine to five on Thursday, jogging from six to ten on Saturday . . .” she mumbled to herself. Goodbye, social life.

By the time she was finished, her stress had peaked. I’ll never be able to get where they want me to be! Mary sighed and stepped out of the cab. When she stepped into her home, almost all of her stress melted away. Four little kittens were lying beside Gigi. Mary smiled. “Since when were you pregnant?” she asked Gigi. Gigi only meowed and rubbed against her leg.

Mary knelt down to pet the furry little creatures. Three of them were identical and only one looked different. Mackie, Otis, and Roxy all looked tiger-like, while Espen had a dark coat of black fur instead of stripes.

Mary’s family had grown once again. She used her promotional bonus and savings to enlarge her home. With her extra money, she added a stove, a new bed, new counters, and plenty of cat beds.

After all the furniture had been moved in, Mary stretched and yawned. The sun had risen; it was time to crawl into bed. When Mary was changing into her nightwear, a strong wave of nausea passed over her. She put a hand over her stomach and made a dive for the toilet. She immediately began letting her troubles out. After she was finished, she grabbed a piece of toilet paper and wiped her mouth. “What was that about?” Mary gasped, “Certainly it wasn’t the alcohol . . .”

Mary sat down and thought about what may be wrong with her. She remembered Li saying that she had felt a bit sick to her stomach lately. “I guess I just picked up something at work . . . yeah . . . that works.” But another thought lurked in the shadows of her mind. What exactly had she and Kanoa done that night? Perhaps she was . . . No, I can’t be. Kanoa and I didn’t go that far . . . but she doubted herself. She doubted herself a lot.

* * *

(This picture can be interpreted as her hold her stomach because of nausea or because of the baby. Your choice.)

Days passed and the nausea didn't leave. Mary was drinking more than enough stomach medicine, but she was still sick. Finally, she took a day off to go to the hospital.

Mary waited patiently in the waiting room. She fidgeted a little and twiddled her thumbs. She was worried. What if she wasn’t sick? What if she was . . . pregnant? She had no idea what had happened that night, and she couldn’t bring herself to ask Kanoa if he knew. And what if she was pregnant? How would she tell Kanoa? He obviously wasn’t looking to start a family.

Soon a nurse called her name. Mary rose timidly and went where the nurse told her to go. After escorting Mary to her room, the nurse closed the door behind her. Mary climbed onto the examination table and waited. She was in a state of calm and terror. A child was the last thing she needed right now! Mary took a deep breath in and cleared her head, “You’re not pregnant. You’re just paranoid!”

In the middle of pep talk with herself, Mary’s doctor stepped in. She was a pretty woman with light blonde hair and forest green eyes, and her skin seemed to be almost lighter than Mary’s. “Hello Mary, I’m Dr. Amary,” she said cheerfully. Amary held her hand out to Mary, and Mary timidly shook it.

“H-hello . . .” this woman was pretty in a way that Mary knew she would never be. She looked as though summer and spring had kissed her very feet at one point. Mary grew self-conscious. She took a handful of her white hair and looked closely at it. In a mirror behind Amary, Mary saw her reflection. Compared to Amary, she was ghost of winter. A plain woman whose hair looked aged past its years. Her beady black eyes shied away from their own reflection.

Amary smiled as though nothing was going on, “Okay Mary, could you tell me how you’re feeling?” Mary told her what was happening and then Amary went on to exam her, run a few tests, and so on and so forth. Amary left the office for a number of minutes. She later returned with a smile as bright as the sun, “Congratulations, Mary, you’re expecting!”