wandering sails

the third one.

i finally read the third book in the traveling pants series (big gap, i know, from the first two, but i won't get into the strange whys on that one). i literally could not put it down. after i got my dinner going last night, i took the book out to the front porch, sat down on a rocking chair, propped my feet on the railing and started to read. a few chapters in, i ate my dinner and read some more. later, i made my way to the chair in my bedroom and after that, to my bed. i was absorbed. at about quarter after eleven, i tried to reason with myself that i ought to go to bed, since i had to get up and shower in the morning, but i failed. i got up, quickly took the shower and settled in to finish the book. let me share with you a part that made me laugh out loud.

what's been happening in the story is that the mother of one of the girls (carmen) is having her baby early and carmen sets out to find her stepfather who is traveling for business. she doesn't want her mom to be alone, so she calls and calls and finally gets ahold of tibby, who is one of the other girls in the sisterhood. tibby is not close to her mother and generally steers clear of situations that require her to show emotion. carmen assures her that the baby won't be coming until that night and so all she'll have to do is keep her mom (christina) company. soon after carmen leaves and tibby comes, christina starts to go into labor. she's fighting it because she wants her husband or daughter there and she doesn't want to do it alone. after an inner struggle and some pushing from the midwives (lauren & minerva), tibby steps up to encourage christina. she has donned scrubs over the pants and is kneeling on the bed next to christina, letting her squeeze her hands until there is no color left in them and then some. make sure you're shouting with tibby... that's when it's funny.

Tibby was just as hysterical as Christina, but Christina was pushing now, and both Lauren and Minerva looked delirious with relief.

"Tibby, I'm pushing!" Christina whimpered.
"You are! You are unbelievable! You are a star! You are the hero! You are the bomb!" Tibby was shouting; she was beside herself. Somewhere back there was self-consciousness, and here, right up here, was she.
"Tibby!" Christina cried. She was getting some control now.
Tibby kept right on yelling and screaming, the dumbest, silliest things. She wasn't even listening to herself anymore.
Contractions came, and with each came a push. Minerva & Lauren were shouting their encouragement too, but the world had shrunken to just the two of them- Tibby & Christina, a funny pairing most every other day of the year.
Christina kept her eyes fixed on Tibby's, on Tibby's very pupils, and Tibby did not blink. As long as she could keep Christina right there with her, she could make a difference.
"I see the baby's head! I feel it!" Lauren shouted.
"Oh, my word. Did you hear that!" Tibby thundered. "She can feel the baby's head!"
Christina smiled a real honest-to-God smile.
"The baby is right there. Right there!" Tibby was beside herself. She had Christina's shoulders in her hands, then her face. "You got it! You know what?"
"I got it!" Christina cried. She was coming to life.
"I feel it," Lauren said. "I feel the hair."
"Tina, your baby has hair!" Tibby screamed. "Can you believe it?"
Christina looked like she liked the idea of a baby with hair. "Carmen had hair," she said faintly, "when she was born."
"Well, lucky thing, that is. I love hair. Hair is great!"

Hair is great.

posted by julie @ 2:32 PM