About Time
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tuesday night, Collette swallowed a concoction of castor oil, orange juice, and baking soda – an old recipe suggested from some of the mothers in Collette’s life, including Mrs. English, Mrs. Ernie, Mrs. Nickels, and even Mrs. Owen (back in the day) to bring about labor. Oddly enough, there was hardly an aftertaste. Collette almost wondered if OLeif had bought the right type of castor oil; it didn’t seem quite strong enough.
Come that same evening, Collette heard strange noises from the heavens.
Sffffffrrrrrr… Sffffffrrrrrr… Sffffffrrrrrr…
A short amount of time later, she happened to look out the living room window to see a great hot air balloon floating not far above the neighborhood. It slowly drifted by with the firelight producing glow and the sffffffrrrrrr at intervals before settling in the field across the highway.
Shortly later, OLeif arrived home with a lawn mower to cut the grass before the rain might come. Collette worked on a bowl of soup to follow the castor oil. She ate her dinner, wondering to herself how long, exactly, she would be out of commission when the time came.
At around ten o’clock, she decided that it was time to hit the feathers. But she didn’t feel quite right and finally moved her pillows from the couch back into the bedroom. No sooner had she done so, but she began to feel funny, more uncomfortable than usual. A sort of pressured pain hit her lower stomach.
“Hmmm…” She wondered absently to herself.
Several minutes later the familiar cramping pain returned, but stronger.
“Uh oh…”
‘What?” OLeif was fiddling with the television.
“Well, hang on here a few minutes,” Collette sat down on the bed.
The pain returned a short time later with more intensity.
“OK, I think it’s starting,” Collette sat up. “Better get yourself dressed.”
It was an unfortunate thing that at 10:18 her contractions would have started right as OLeif was prepared to take a shower from just having mowed the lawn. Little did that boy realize that he would not be able to take that shower for another three days.
And Collette decided as she quickly dressed between pain waves (though not quite yet serious), that castor oil must have had some magic power after all…