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. He s in a big meeting.Can t be disturbed.Emergencies only. I think this might qualify, he said, his eyes crinkling at the corners. I doubt it, I said. I m fine now.Walter smiled. Thatta girl. But his tone wasn t nearly as condescending as I would haveexpected. Thanks, I said, after a moment.Walter sat down, slowly. For what? I don t know. I pulled out another cracker and contemplated it. Not& letting me crack my headon something, I guess. Well, you re very welcome.I swallowed, and cleared my throat. I m sorry, I said. For? Walter raised his eyebrows a little. I m sorry I yelled at you. I did feel kind of bad about it, in retrospect.Not that he didn t deserveit, but I still should have been able to control myself better.I half expected him to make some joke about pregnancy hormones, or otherwise write it off.Writeme off.But instead, he just looked thoughtful for a moment. I know I can be unpleasant sometimes, he said, with a bluntness that, in retrospect, shouldn thave surprised me. It s just& I guess it s just a habit, at this point.Some people bite their nails.I man asshole.We all have our, you know, our hobbies. Have you ever considered just& not being one? I set the bottle of water down on the floorbeside me. It s not too hard. It s surprisingly hard when you re not used to being any other way, he said, standing up andcoming over to extend his arm to me. Hospital? I guess, I said.I wasn t too keen on the idea, but he was probably right.I should get checked out,just in case. Think you can walk? Most likely.He escorted me out to his car, a heavily used station wagon that smelled faintly of old cigarettes.Ikept the window rolled down for the drive.We went to the non-emergency door and the check-indidn t take as long as I d feared. This your father? one of the orderlies asked, nodding towards Walter. In law, I said, realizing this was the first time I d ever acknowledged his existence to anyoneoutside of the family.If any paparazzi happened to be lurking around the corner in the chapel, thisstory was going to blow up.Or maybe not.Thinking back on it, I wasn t confident that Daniel ever discussed his parents ininterviews.It might just as easily have been one of those topics he carefully avoided, like the lawsuitall those years ago when he d still been in college, and one of his  buddies accused him of stealing aprototype design that eventually became Plum s first bestselling phone. Everything looks fine, as far as I can tell, the doctor said, after they d finished poking andprodding at me for a while. It s actually not that uncommon to lose consciousness when you repregnant, even during the first trimester.It s a combination of blood sugar and rapid blood pressurechanges that go along with your veins expanding.If you went without eating for a while and then stoodup suddenly after sitting still for a long time, that sounds like a perfect storm.I wouldn t look for anymore complicated explanations than that.I nodded.Walter, in the chair besides me, was nodding too. Just make sure you eat something every few hours, even if it s just something small, and keepyourself hydrated too.And whenever you stand up, try to do it slowly and gradually to give your bodytime to adjust. The doctor snapped his chart shut. I ll tell the nurse to get your discharge papersready. This is humiliating, I muttered, after the door shut behind him. Not even twelve weeks pregnantand I m already turning into an invalid. Oh, it s not all that bad, said Walter. Laura had preeclampsia the second time around.She wason bed rest for two straight months. Oh, God, I groaned, leaning my head back on the pillow. Is it too early to put me in twilightsleep?I realized, belatedly, that Laura must be Daniel s mother.Her name had never come up. About thirty years too late, I think. Walter was smiling. And quite a few months too early forone of those spinal doohickeys.Actually, you know, when Lindsey was born, we had to look aroundfor a hospital that would promise us a natural birth.It wasn t quite out of practice yet, to completelyknock  em out so they had no memory of even having a kid.Laura had a friend who went through it.She declined the shot, but they gave it to her anyway.I guess when they do it, they strap them down tothe bed.She had bruises on her arms and legs when she came to, and the whole story terrified Laura.She wouldn t agree to give birth in any hospital until she d conducted extensive interviews withpractically the whole staff. God damn, I said.I reached for my phone. I wonder if Daniel s out of his meeting yet.Iguarantee he s going to be offended that I didn t call him, even though everything s fine. I ll let you get changed, said Walter, standing up and heading for the door. Meet me in thelobby.By the time he d driven me home and helped me settle on the sofa, insisting on staying until Danielgot home, I realized I d gotten to know Walter surprisingly well in these last few hours.As hewashed the glasses in the sink, I contemplated what a strange turn the day s events had taken [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]