Page 23 of The Light Year

“Frankie!”Jo says, walking to the end of the driveway to greet her best friend for an evening walk in mid-November. “I say this with all the love in my heart, but honey, you’re as big as a house!”

Frankie laughs as she puts both hands on the sides of her enormous belly. The smile on her face and in her eyes makes it clear that there’s nothing she’d rather be at this moment than the size of a house.

“I’m ready to burst, Jojo,” she says with a laugh. Even her cheeks have gotten fuller, and while Frankie has retained the lithe, muscular figure of the Rockette she once was, she is now undeniably softer, rounder, maternal. She glows from within like a warm candle is burning inside of her, and Jo stops and stares, fondly remembering the feeling of harboring new life for just a moment.

“Well, you look gorgeous,” Jo says, blinking tears from her eyes as she reaches out to take Frankie’s hand. The sun is hovering on the horizon, and the air feels cooler now that Thanksgiving is approaching.

The women walk together, slower than usual, and after a block or so, Frankie loops her arm through Jo’s, forcing herto walk even slower as Frankie’s breathing becomes a bit more labored.

“I swear, this kid is taking over my entire body.” Frankie laughs. “It’s got to be a boy—he’s so demanding.”

Jo shakes her head, remembering all three of her own as babies. “Girls can be just as demanding,” she assures her friend. “I felt like Nancy never slept when she was in my stomach, and therefore, I didn’t either. And when she was born, she was alert for about twenty hours a day—no joke. Now, the best part was that she was an observer, always, and would be happy wherever I put her, just watching everything go on around her, but a baby who is awake needs attention, and I felt like I was constantly chasing Jimmy around and also keeping an eye on Nancy.” She stops talking now, recalling this period of her life and just reliving the exhaustion that felt as though it lurked near the surface of her every conscious hour.

“You’re not making a second baby sound terribly appealing,” Frankie says, squeezing Jo’s arm with her own as they walk on, linked together.

“Oh, don’t even think about that until you’re healed from this one,” Jo says, nodding down at the enormity of Frankie’s midsection. “When people tell you the pain of childbirth is forgotten the instant they hand over your newborn, they aren’t entirely joking, but there will be moments during recovery where you are reminded—acutely—of how painful the whole thing is.”

Frankie blanches. “I feel like there are things I don’t know. Do they just keep us in the dark so that we don’t revolt and refuse to have babies?”

“There must be some secret plan along those lines.” Jo smiles at her best friend wryly, matching her steps to Frankie’s as they round the corner and walk in the direction of the neighborhood park. “But the conspiracy must extend to other women as well,because I feel like my mom or one of my sisters could have done me the favor of letting me know some of the more shocking bits.”

Frankie slows to a stop and lets go of Jo’s arm. “I need to know,” she says, eyes wide. “What horrible things has no one told me yet?”

“Oh, Frankie…” Jo trails off, feeling as though she’s already said too much. Of course it’s not true that women would actually revolt and stop having babies if they were all shown informational videos before ever getting pregnant, but Jo is pretty sure that letting them in on some of the more “delightful” aspects of the process would undoubtedly create some reticence on the part of young ladies to give their bodies over to the cause and to act so excited about it.

“Tell me, Joey-girl,” Frankie begs, folding her arms so that they rest on top of her shelf of a belly. “I’m not walking until you do. In fact, I will sit down on this lawn here,” she says, turning and pointing at the house they’ve stopped in front of, “and I will stay here until I give birth if you don’t tell me what no one else will.”

Jo bites on her lower lip, weighing her options. “Okay,” she says, relenting. “First of all, there’s a lot of pushing.”

Frankie rolls her eyes. “I got that much already.”

“Well, it’s just…” Jo looks away, scratching at the side of her neck nervously. “Sometimes when you’re pushing a lot, it can forceotherthings to come out.” She lowers her chin and looks at Frankie, hoping she’ll get the message.

“Like, what? I’m going to push my small intestine out?”

Jo keeps staring at her. “Nope. Not that.”

Frankie lifts an eyebrow, looking a bit worried. “My gallbladder?”

Jo shakes her head and glances down.

“Wait, do you mean—“ Frankie’s face goes red. “Like when you push in the bathroom?” Jo nods slowly as the horrordescends on Frankie. “No way. No. I’ve never heard of that. Not one person has told me that I could accidentally…”

Frankie looks around as if there might be some escape hatch from the situation she’s in, and for a moment, Jo thinks she might actually fall right down on their neighbor’s lawn, as she’s threatened to do. Jo reaches out and takes her friend’s hand.

“Hey, the doctors and nurses see everything,” she says soothingly. “Nothing that happens will surprise them, and most likely, you won’t even know if that happens. They just swoop in and take care of it, and when they go out to the waiting room and let Ed know the baby has arrived, they definitely don’t mention that. No one ever knows.”

“Why did no onetellme this?” Frankie wails, looking panicked. “What else, Jo? I know there’s more.”

Jo tugs on Frankie’s hand and they walk again, making their way to a bench on the edge of the park, where they sit as the sky turns purple and teeters on complete darkness.

“Frankie, baby,” Jo says, lacing her fingers through her best friend’s and holding on tightly. “Sometimes the baby is big. Huge.”

“Of course it is. But the body is designed to do this—giving birth is completely natural.”

“Uh huh.” Jo nods encouragingly. “It is. But occasionally a big baby can rip the mother if the doctor isn’t careful.”

Frankie frowns. “My stomach already feels like it’s going to rip! But it won’t, right?”

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