Seneca Jewel

By Rickie O. Pauley (a.k.a. @Lymmerik)

“I can do this, I can do this.” Stanley repeated to himself with hollow confidence as he walked up the bungalow’s sidewalk. “It wasn’t your fault, Coco. I’m sorry I blamed you!” His attention turned to the rose gardens on each side of the steps leading to his only regret in life.

Stanley stood at the door for a moment until he mustered up the courage to ring the doorbell. His hands were shaking as he extended his finger and pressed the glowing button. Regretful thoughts of what could have been flooded his mind if he hadn’t ran away.

Coco twisted the lock and turned the doorknob. “Stanley! Hi. You look great!”

“You’re still wearing those strawberry pajamas? Oh, wow, you’re going to have a baby?”

“Yes, I’m having a baby!” Coco rubbed her belly and laughed. “I do still wear them. I wear them all the time. They actually fit me better now that I’m expecting.”

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“The place looks fantastic. Those yellow roses out there have grown a lot.”

“Well, they’ve been neglected as of late. With the baby coming and Dean…is god knows where, I haven’t been able to keep them as nice as you did.”

Stanley peeked over his glasses and raised his eyebrows. “When are you due?”

Coco closed the door behind him. “I need to sit down. My back is killing me. Please, make yourself comfortable.” Coco plopped down on the couch. “Oh, I still have another couple of weeks, but she will come when she is ready.”

Stanley sat in the chair that he once called his favorite, but fidgeted uncomfortably. Coco noticed his uneasiness. She felt the palms of her hands go clammy. “Do you want something to drink? I have fresh lemonade. Let me get you a glass.”

She wiggled toward the edge of the sofa and grunted. Stanley saw that she was struggling. “I’ll get it, Coco. You stay put.” He pushed himself up from the chair and sauntered into the kitchen to the refrigerator. “Are the glasses still in the same place?”

“In the cabinet over the sink. I don’t want any ice.”

“I remember.” He took the lemonade out of the refrigerator, but bumped the pitcher on the refrigerator door. The tangy potion splashed out onto the floor. “Crap!” Stanley sat the pitcher down and put both hands on the counter top and dropped his head. “So, a little girl, huh? Are you excited?”

“What?” Coco heard him, but she decided to avoid the question.

“Oh nothing, I spilled the lemonade.”

“The towels are in the second drawer over by the stove. I would come help, but you’d have to help me back up.” Coco leaned over on one elbow, trying to look into the kitchen. “You’re still a messy man, aren’t you?”

Stanley disregarded her comment and awkwardly wiped up the spill. He wanted to ask her again if she was excited, but he already knew the answer. He filled the glasses halfway and walked back into the living room. “Coco, it is so good to see that you’re happy. Have you and Dean picked out a name for the baby?”

“We can’t agree on a name, now that we know we’re having a girl. I want Seneca Jewel, and Dean wants to name her after his mom.” Her voice trailed off. “Catrina…can you imagine?”

Stanley drew a breath and pursed his lips. “She’d be forever known as Cat.”

“I know, right? I like Seneca Jewel. I think it’s perfect! Both names are names of my favorite strawberry varieties.”

Stanley rolled his eyes through a forced smile. “I didn’t see any strawberries in the fridge. Are you…?”

Coco waved her hand under her nose. “…I can’t stand the smell since I’ve been pregnant. Isn’t that funny?”

“Call the doctor!” Stanley laughed. “She needs aroma therapy!”

“Dean and I are breaking up. He is never here. His job takes him everywhere and he can’t say no to his clients. How could I marry a man who would rather be anywhere but here with me?”

Stanley wrinkled his forehead questionably. “So, you two didn’t get married? I thought you got married year before last.”

“No, we didn’t. Stanley, you and I haven’t spoken in three years. I’m sorry that I asked you here. I should’ve waited until after the baby came. I really just wanted to see you.” Coco looked at the floor for a second and grimaced. “Uh-oh. I-I think…oh no, my water. My water just broke!”

Stanley scooted to the edge of his seat. “What? Not here! Don’t have the baby now!”

Coco doubled over on the sofa and screamed. “Call the hospital. I’m soaking wet. No-no-no, no, no, no! She’s coming!”

Stanley sprung up from the chair like a jack-in-the-box popping out of his confines. “Where’s the number for the hospital?”

“Oh, god!” Coco bawled. “I don’t think there is time to make it to the hospital.”

Stanley wrung his hands and dropped his head into them. “Oh, god…oh, god…oh, god! This can’t be happening again!”

Coco began to pant. She huffed and puffed through a contraction, but a stampede of bitter memories galloped into her mind. “I’m freezing. Ohhh-gaaawwwwd, here comes another one!”

“Can you walk? I’ll carry you. There’s more room on the bed.”

“No! Stanley, I won’t have her in that room. That room is cursed!”

Stanley turned and ran into the bedroom for a blanket. He scooted across the carpet so fast that he shocked himself on the doorknob to the closet.

Coco raised her legs onto the sofa and scooted out of the strawberry printed pajama bottoms. She felt delightful agony rip through her body, but thoughts of fear reminded her of the still-born birth of her and Stanley’s baby girl only three short years ago. Her skin rippled with goose-flesh as down-like tufts of hair rose to attention. “Stanley, hurry!”

Stanley paused uncontrollably and looked around the room. He fought to disconnect from the familiar scent of Coco's perfume that permeated the bedroom. He flashed-back to the loss of his daughter Thalia; there on that bed. He felt the grief that those memories were projecting in slow motion upon the walls of his mind’s eye.

Coco resisted the fear of losing another child, but she felt the old wound rip open again. She stifled the pain of another violent contraction that charged through her abdomen with a tearful promise.

“Thalia, mommy’s sorry. I know that I can’t bring you back, but I’ll be a good mommy to Seneca. I promise that I’ll make the right decisions.”

Stanley’s shadowy phantoms played out his memories like he was peeping through a crack in the door of a theater auditorium. He felt unable to function, and let the tears flow down his cheeks. He shook his head and tore himself away from his vapid hallucinations. He grabbed up a blanket defiantly. “I’m coming!”

Stanley felt his heart skip a beat when he heard the triumphant cry of Seneca Jewel signaling to the world that a Strawberry Girl had arrived.

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings!

@Lymmerik