[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Ours?We check on David in his room, Mary Beth in hers, and everything seems intact.Mrs.Simpson probably spun perfect children's stories for them, or invented games, then baked them cookies without any help from the oven, and sent them to bed without complaints.Once a year seems miraculous.Jill and I try once more in our own bed, but I'm tired.Old.Spent.I sleep hard, and wake to find that it's Saturday morning, the kids watching TV and my wife brewing coffee.The house looks shabby, I'm thinking.After every Birth Dry, it looks worn and old.Like old times, Jill holds my hand under the kitchen table, and we sip, and suddenly it seems too quiet in the family room.Our instincts are pricked at the same instant.Mary Beth arrives with a delighted expression.What now?"He's stuck," she announces."David-?" Jill begins."On the stairs.He got caught somehow."We have iron bars as part of the railing, painted white and very slick.Somehow David has thrust his head between two bars and become stuck.He's crying without sound.In his mind, I suppose, he's making ready to spend the rest of his life in this position.That's the kind of kid he is.Oh God, he worries me."How did this happen?" I ask."She told me to-""Liar!" shouts his sister.Jill says, "Everyone, be quiet!"Then I'm working to bend the rails ever so slightly, to gain enough room to pull him free.Only, my strength ebbs when I start to laugh.I can't help myself.Everything has built up, and Jill laughs, too.We're both crazy for a few moments, giggling like little kids.And later, after our son is safe and Mary Beth is exiled to her room for the morning, Jill pours both of us cups of strong, cool coffee; and I comment, "You know, we wouldn't make very good bacteria.""Excuse me?" she says."What was that gem?""If we had to be bacteria.you know.swimming in the slime? We'd do a piss-poor job of it.I bet so."Maybe she understands me, and maybe not.I watch her nod and sip, then she says, "And they wouldn't make very good people.Would they?" I doubt it."Amen," I say."Amen!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]