Ketchup Popsicle - Part II

The following weeks were dull and boring and hot. Sandra had taken her last month of the pregnancy off work to relax and prepare for the baby’s arrival. Every morning the baby woke her up early by pressing on her bladder. She would navigate the stairs down to the main floor and sit quietly at the kitchen table drinking orange juice and popping vitamins before heading out to explore the neighborhood.

The block of houses where they lived was in a new development and she liked to spy on the neighbors who were just moving in to see if they had children too. There was a park across the street where Sandra would sit and imagine her and her baby spending their days playing in the water area that looked like a sunken pirate ship or pushing him on the swings. The water looked so refreshing that she would slip her shoes off and wade around near the mast.

The sun would just begin to become uncomfortable when she would watch Mike pull out of the driveway and head to work. This was her cue to go back to the house and relax. Lugging around forty extra pounds of baby and fat wasn’t an easy task and so she would nap on the couch in between Jerry Springer and Oprha. By the end of the day the heat inside the house was almost as unbearable as it was outside.

Mike would get home most days around seven o’clock from the city. The city that she used to live in before moving to the Burbs. The city she loved to float around in on a Saturday afternoon, popping in and out of the shops on Queen Street, latte in hand. She would try to make dinner, but up until she got pregnant her dinners usually consisted of a bag of popcorn and a coke. Chicken was easy enough to cook and so that’s what they had most nights.

"It was really hot today." She said to Mike once they settled down on the couch after dinner.
"Yeah," he replied, turning on the TV. The heat really didn’t seem to bother him.
"I mean," she continued, "it’s still really hot in here." Sandra was so fat and so uncomfortable in the heat that she could barely move. She felt like a beached whale. Mike needed to Free Willy and get her some air conditioning. He stood up and turned on the ceiling fan.
"I don’t know if I can go on much longer in this heat. Mike, look at me. I’m dying here."
"You do look kinda swollen." Mr. Sensitive replied.
"It’s the heat, it’s not good for me…and it’s probably not good for the baby that I’m feeling this way."
"I’ll call somebody tomorrow about getting some AC." Mike said, reluctantly.
Halleluiah! Thought Sandra.
"Thank you," she said and kissed his cheek. She pulled herself closer to him and was happy when he leaned back and let her rest her belly against his side. The baby kicked at him and Sandra giggled.
"Baby says thank you, too." She said.