The New Arrival

Let's begin by telling you the basics, My name Steven Bo, i'm a software engineer for a local business owned and operated by me. I'm twenty-seven years old and my life could not be going better; i'm engaged to the most beautiful and intelligent girl on the planet, her name is Suzy Treble. Luckily we both get along with each other's parents and both have the same plans for the futur. After our marriage we plan to purchase a little home off the edge of town in witch the current owner has agreed to hold out until September for us, our wedding is on the 18th of that month. Although we may not be rich, her parents, who had invested in a software product, which has skyrocketed, has agreed to give a rather large some as a wedding present. I myself had not had the money to invest in that product due to taxes, so I encouraged her and my parents to invest quickly, my father not being the one into gambling vowed not to involve himself in such factors of chance. So the story remains, are wedding date vastly approaching, my business has never been better and our new, cute little house awaits our invasion. Children are most often a large factor in marriage, we both agreed to take our time when the need arises. However, we are not completly clueless, our home to-be is equiped with an extra room for a new arrival. Also from many councils from parents as well as their aspirations for a grand daughter or grand son has not gone unmentioned.

With a miniscule nine and a half months remaining, my fiancé has caught bride fever, with her parents’ credit card she has been organising and purchasing left and right and up and down. Her dress, the caterers, the flowers, the music, the perfect location, invitations, newspaper adds, wardrob, minister, and then there's me. Sitting undisturbed in the corner watching her surfing Ebay and other sites while watching the home shoppers network. "You never know when the perfect toaster or bridal dress will come up," she says as she viciously dishes out credit card numbers to outgoing retailers over the phone.
She's having the time of her life, and i'm ecstatic to see her so happy and to know I will be with her forever. We've been engaged for 2 months now and the word is out. The night I asked her to marry me, the second she got home she had to call everyone she knew, regardless that it was eleven past midnight.
Tonight I have my monthly poker game with the guys, fortunatly she understands "the guys" and I need time to hang. Seven p.m hits and door bursts open followed by cheering and the guys barging in with cards and beer. Behind them comes a couple of Suzy's closest girl friends, with disguted looks on their faces while they make obnocksish comments under their breath:"Animals,Pigs" they say while giggling to each other.

After the ladies departure to go see a chick flick, the guys and I set up the table, turn on the game and start the fun. We begin by remenessing on the last game, poker and football. Then we proceed to poker, we ainty up and Stan, one of my best friends, starts dealing; the conversation that arose last game came up again right where it was terminated, by me last month. "So little Steven Bo is finally tying the knot eh, finally receiving the 'ol ball and chain eh...” After several minutes of his euphamisums I became annoyed and decided to casually go to the fridge for a beer. When I returned the cards were delt and the boys put on their poker faces, which happen to be very similar to their paranoyed and it wasn't me faces, but I never told them that, their my best friends and I would never want to burst their bubbles. Instead, I tease them about it; they usually just shrugged my jokes off with some rude com-backs accompanied by a burp or two. Half way through night the question finally came up that I was preparing for the whole nightlong. Stan is usually the one whom the other guys bully into coming forward to ask such a delicate question... "Hey, uh, Stevie?"He would begin. He always called me Stevie and it annoyed the hell out of me, and he knew it. "Yeah?" I would respond, knowing what his next words were gonna be. "Have you and Suzy...You know...have ya...?"He muttered nervously, under the influence of the crowed surrounding the table. "No, we're waiting 'til we're married." I said casually and confidently.

The girls’ night went rather differently but the same questions arose under different formats. Nearing the ending of their first chick flick of the night, the infomous question came up that Suzy had been antisipating since our engagement. "Suzy, you and Steven haven't.... You know...,” said one of her friends casualy. "No, whatever do you mean?" Replies Suzy, enjoying watching her friend twist in the wind with a large smirk on her face. Her friend uneasingly continues:"You guys haven't...slept together yet have you?" After a long silence Suzy chuckles to herself pretending to be amused at something in the movie, "No, we have decided to wait." After that the trio gives a slight sigh and continues watching their film atentivly. The movie ended within the hour, and the women returned to their homes.

When Suzy arrived at her and Steven’s appartment she was exhausted, the guys had already left and Steven was watching sport centre. They exchange salutations and give each other a little kiss, then cuddle up on the couch, Suzy made him change the channel to something suitable for both of them, cartoons. Not long after we both fell asleep in each other’s arms both thinking of our night and how lucky and happy we were to have found each other.

When I awoke Suzy was nowhere to be found but she had left a note on the fridge saying she went to pick out the bride’s maid dresses, I chuckled to myself while reading. I went had a shower, brushed my teeth and got dressed, then walk out the door to my business on the other side of town. Once arriving I went straight for the pot of coffee and box of doughnots. I left early that day to meet up with my love at the bridal fitter, she looked radiant in her dress, I wanted to get married now. It was almost time, only a month away now, all the plans had been made, I even got my tux. After three weeks the pressure was on, with only a week away friends and family were already arriving and staying in various hotels and motels. The week was heckteck, with several rehearsels and events like that, I never cared that much for practices, my dad always said: “Their's no practice start or try, it’s either done or not done.” He would say that anytime the word try would subconsciously work its way into one of my phrases.

Well the big day has finally come, I find my self in the little room where I wait for my queu to get ready, I found myself mumbling little incoherent things witch were abolished by dozens of friends and family telling me I just got cold feet. I was pacing back and forth, still mumbling: “Well here goes, I’m finally getting married, why is this room so small, wonder what Suzy’s doing…” The door swung open and their was Stan, my best man, he tells me it’s time and gives a motion with his hand for me to follow him. He directs me to where I’m supposed to stand and I do. The famous music starts up that I herd at so many of my friends’ marriages, yet it seems somehow much different now. The large church doors slowly open and behold for the world to see my bride to be, hung on her father’s arm. She doesn’t look nervous as I am, but she paid attention in all the rehearsels, she looked proud and confident. Her dad leads her to me where he gives her little kiss on the cheek and goes and finds his seat next to his sobbing wife. We stand hand and hand, waiting for the minister to start, his words and the music sound so much different when they’re directed at you, never the less, they mean so much more now than at the practices. Suzy and I exchange nervous glances, and then our vowes. The time has come for the I dos, Suzy was asked first and with no hesitation pronounces the words "I do", my turn. In my heart I know the answer and through my mouth proceed the two most life changing words ever created in the existence of man, "I do". “By the power invested in me I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride.” Our lips meet for only a few seconds then we trot our way back down the aisle to where our limousine is waiting to take us to our honey moon destination, Niagra Falls. We waste now time in getting settled in; we draw the curtains and hop into bed. I will not go into details in case of a younger or immature audience. Few days later we return home. To our new home, our first house already filled with our previous furniture and wedding presents. It took us several more days to get settled in properly and to send out thank you cards to all who attended Steven and Suzy’s wedding day.

We're now in our new house, completly settled in with new and old furniture. More than half of our wedding presents were bowls, but you can never have enough bowls, right? Anyway, my business has taken a little in the market, but nothing a little genius won't fix. My wife is working as an operator at the local Bell station. I most often walk to work, it good for me and plus my job is much closer to the new home. She usually gets home about one hour and a half sooner than I, but today she was nowhere to be found. As usual there is a little post-it note on the fridge. It reads:"Gone to doctor's, see ya around 4:00, love you:-)" "Why would she be going to the doctor's, hope nothing is wrong, i'de better get down there." The car was still in the garage, which was puzzling but anyway I race down there as fast as I could, praying all the way that nothing was wrong. Who knew that such a little piece of paper could invock such amounts of stress? Once I arrive in the building, I ask the nurse where I might find Suzy Bo? I'm diricted to an office down the hall, I'm relieve to see that it's an office and not the ER. Give a few raps on the old wood grain door, the door is quickly answer by a doctor in a white trench coat. He instructs me to have a seat and assures me that nothing is wrong. I take the seat next to my wife facing the doctor's desk; he informs me that he has been trying to call my work and home for quite some time. I give a look at my wife, who seems in good spirits and then back to the doctor. "What's this about?" I ask while nervously cracking my fingers, Suzy gives me a tap on the hand and whispers:"I hate it, when you do that." I apologize, and turn to the doctor again waiting for a reply. He gives a gesture toward Suzy and asks her if she would like to be the one to tell me. She acknowlogdes with a nod, I myself am beginning to get annoyed with all the antisapation. She looks at me and smiles and opens her beautiful month to say:" Sweetheart, I have the most wonderful news." She then pauses witch is followed by a long silence. In my mind I'm attempting to calculate the various possibities of what this "wonderful" news could be. I had a vague idea of it could be, but such a possibilty does not seem so "wonderful" nor possible. The next words muttered out of her lips were the most terrifying and horifyc words I've ever heard, if I thought "I do" was scary I hadn't thought of these syllables before. Her lips had opened and her beautiful yet nervous voice spoke the words:"I'm pregnant." She then sat there waiting anxiously for a reply with an ecstatic grin on her face, but I had none. No words ever written or spoken came to mind, it was as though I died right there in that chair.
I forced a smile and uttered the only appropriate words that rest in the back of my mind:"That's wonderful,” I said with an uneasyness in my voice. Several minutes of smiles and congratulations from the doctor we began our return home. The ride was not as quite as I would of hoped, regardless that my mind was already bombarded with questions that seemed endless with answer, Suzy persisted on knowing how I felt on the matter. I told her I was a little scared, scared was an under statment, and ask her probably one of the most famous questions ask on this subject “Are we ready for this?parenthood?” She quickly reassured that we were; yet under my breath I stammered “Speak for yourself.” Luckily she was unaware of the comment and continued tormenting me with thoughts on what to call the child, what school he or she would attend and so on and so forth. Arriving at home, she stepped out of the car first, and gestured for me to follow. My hands were still gripped tightly to the steering wheel and the engine still running. I was tempted in the traffic of emotions to simply drive off, leaving nothing but the glow of the taillights behind. I managed to calm myself and say
-“I have a bit of work left to do at the office, so I’ll be back latter.”
-“Must you go? Can’t you take the rest of the day considering the circumstances?”
-“Sorry honey, but duty calls, we still like to have a house when our kid is born”
She nodded and gave me a disapprooving smile but stepped away from the car as I back out of the driveway. I couldn’t believe what I just said, “Our kid.” Instead of giving any more thought and speeded down the road, dust flew from behind the tires. I had no specific destination in mind, so I just felt I needed to get away and think how this now completely altered my life. I drove for about two hours, thinking and daydreaming how life changes with a new arrival, until I realise that I was out of town and running low on gas. I couldn’t reconize any of my surroundings; all I saw was trees and dirt. Luckily I spoted an old gas station, it looked very old and used, I wasn’t even sure it was still apporating. There was no sign in the window, I parked the car next to two old fashioned pumps that you would often see in movies from the 30’s. I walked slowly up to the building with one hand blocking the windy sand circling me and the area and the other hand reaching for the doorknob. It was locked, “Damn” I exclaimed. After many minutes of peeking through the windows and cracks in the walls I came to the conclusion that it must have been out of service since the time I was born. I trotted back to my car and just out of curiousity; I grabbed the pump, pointed the nozle away from me and squeezed the handle. To my luck gas squirted out of the nozle along with a burst of air and dust, I opened my gas cap on the car and poured the remaining fuel in. The gas flowed rather smoothly after a few seconds, to my amazement I was able to fill three quarters of the tank before only air ran through the hose. I then climbed back into the car and chuckled to myself when I noticed how full the cage was, I sat alone in the car for several minutes thinking. My life was perfect, I had the love of my life with me, had a nice little house, had great friends and my business was doing good as well, now that a baby is on the way everything will change. My love will be too occupied with the child to do anything else, the house will be full of cries and odders, I won’t be able to see my friends as often and for all those reasons my business will suffer. I reapeating those same questions and thoughts over and over until my head was soar. I had left the house at three o’clock and it’s now quarter to nine. For the first time that night I thought of my wife, thinking where I was, surely she called the business when I didn’t return home at the time I normaly do. She must know I’m not there now. And then it dond on me, “What does she think of having a kid, maybe she was just putting on a brave face in the office and in the car. What if she’s as worried as I am?”

With those thoughts in mind I couldn’t bear leaving her alone in that empty house with her thoughts echoing through the vacant hallways. I rushed home from the gas station, I hadn’t realise how far I had drivin', it took me two and a half hours to get to the house. When I pulled up only a single light was on, our bedroom. I was unsure to wether she would be sleeping or not, so I was quite just the same. The old floorboards cried and creaked as I made my way to the bedroom. I pushed open the door and saw Suzy curled into a ball on one side of the bed with the phone next to her. The last floorboard next to the bed made its final cry and the sound cooed through the room. Suzy sat up quickly in the dark room and cried “Steve? Steve, is that you?” Her voice was coated in fear and worried notes. “It’s me.” I replied lowly as though I had done something wrong and was awaiting the retaliation. She asked where I was, and I replied that I was somewhere where I could think. I apoligized for being gone so long and for not telling her when I was coming home. She understood my fear and shock to the subject of parenthood. And assured me she had thought of all the same questions and how it would change our lives. She told me she had spoken with both our parents on the subject and they both said the same thing; “Having a child is a beautiful event and gift, but don’t think it will be easy. You haft to trust your instincs and just do the best you can.” Me and Suzy then stayed up all night talking and even took a day off work the next day to discuss the matter.

The baby is now born, it’s a boy and should start walking any time now. The house is more full of life than ever and my business remains as always popular, I still have my monthly meet and greet with the guys, while my wife takes Bobby, our son, to the movies or shopping with her friends. Life is wonderful.