Day 15

Well, what do you know. The month is half over already. Funny how quickly time can move. I’ve made it this far, I might as well keep on going. All the way to the end of the month…forward, march!

Today I am continuing my Enjoli saga. Yes, Megan could bring home the bacon. Now can she fry it up in a pan? Well, if not, who will? The next installment in the wonderful glamorous and sexy life of an average woman who ‘has it all’.

First, five awesome women who did things:

• Madeleine Albright - first woman Secretary of State of the United States

• Awkwafina - first woman of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe for leading actress

• Simone de Beauvoir - writer, philosopher, social theorist

• Doris Burke - American sports announcer; first woman to call a New York Knicks game

• Sojourner Truth - former slave and abolitionist

FRY IT UP IN THE PAN

Brady slept in on Saturday, but Megan had to get up. She had too much to do to lie around. She had finally managed to get a shift with weekends off, so now they could spend their weekends together, but it didn’t seem like they spent much time together anymore. Not since Mia, anyway.

She had the bathroom clean by the time Brady slouched into the kitchen. As soon as she heard him get up, she put the bacon on the stove, and cracked eggs into the poacher. The toast was ready to be pushed down, but Mia was screaming. “Could you push the toast down?” She ran to get the baby and changed her diaper with one hand while she answered the phone with the other.

“No, Mom, she’s fine. Yes, I felt the fever last night, too, but she woke up fine this morning. Of course I’ll keep an eye on her. Yes, I’ve got a thermometer. No, she isn’t read. Yes, she’s crying, because she’s wet. I’m changing her diaper now. Brady, did you get the toast in? Sorry, Mom, just trying to do three things at once. Yeah, sure.” She hung up, fastened the tape across the diaper, and flew to the kitchen, Mia perched on her hip. The toast was still in the toaster, no started. “Brady, why didn’t you push the toast down?”

“Huh?” Brady was looking at a small hole in the baseboard. “Bet we’re gonna get mice. You better call the landlord.”

“Yeah, sure. After breakfast. Could you hold Mia for a minute?” She handed the child off to her father, and washed her hands so she could turn the bacon. “Just in time”, she said. One more second, it would probably have burned. She shoved the toaster to start the toast cooking and checked the eggs. Almost ready.

“Baby baby baby”, Brady cooed. He stuck his finger at Mia’s face, and she screamed.

“You know she hates it when you do that. It scares her.”

Brady handed Mia back to Megan. “You better take her. I can’t do anything with her when she screams. I don’t think she likes me.”

“She likes you fine. Just don’t poke your finger at her.”

“I saw someone do that in a movie. The baby laughed.” Brady poured a cup of coffee and thumped into his place at the table.

“That was a movie. Babies are paid to laugh in movies.” Megan cooed at Mia until she giggled, then put her in the swing so she could finish breakfast.

“Yeah, right. How you gonna get a baby to laugh for money?’ Brady scowled at the hole in the baseboard. “I bet we already got mice. I better get traps.”

“What’ll we bait ‘em with?”

“Cheese.”

“We haven’t got any cheese. We can’t afford cheese. We can’t afford traps, either. Maybe you better get a cat.”

“Yeah, like we can afford a cat. Cats gotta have food, milk, stuff like that. I’ll get a trap and put some…bacon.” Brady grabbed a strip and shoved it in his face. “We got lotsa bacon.”

“That’s the last package. If your dad isn’t gonna butcher another pig soone, we won’t have any more bacon.” Megan dropped his plate of eggs and toast on the table,

“Dad won’t have another pig ready for at least a month. I asked yesterday. He says pigs take time to grow, and we should quit eating so much.” Brady jabbed his fork into his egg. “It’s runny. You know I hate it runny.”

Megan grabbed the plate and shoved it in the microwave. “At least we’ll still have eggs. Mom said the chickens are laying good.”

“Why can’t we buy more food? You’re working all that overtime. What you doing with the money?” Brady glared at her.

“I gave it all to you. You paid the electric.” Megan rescued the plate from the microwave. “There. Not runny.”

“They’re hard now. Like…plastic or something.” Brady scowled at his eggs, but ate them as if they tasted good. “What are you doing today? I thought we might go throw a Frisbee in the park or something.”

“I have to do laundry. And the floors haven’t been mopped all week ‘cause of all the long shifts. I gotta scrub out the refrigerator and take out the trash.”

“I’ll take out the trash. You’ll have time to do all that other stuff when we get back. C’mon, Megan, it’ll be fun.”

“Who’ll take care of Mia?”

Brady frowned. He never thought about Mia until Megan mentioned her. He seemed to forget they had real responsibilities now. He brightened. “We’ll take her with us. Put her in the stroller, and we can watch her…and she can watch us. She’ll have fun.”

“You pawned the stroller. So we could buy diapers.” Megan finished her breakfast and offered Mia a spoon of baby food. It was time to get her to eat solid food, but the child resisted. She only wanted to nurse. She closed her mouth tight and shook her head from side to side as Megan offered her the pureed peaches.

“Oh. I forgot. Well…” Brady fell silent, faced with a problem he didn’t know how to solve. “Hey, maybe your mom would watch her.”

“Mom has her…meeting…today.” Megan stepped lightly. Brady hated to be reminded that her mom went to AA. It scared him having a mother-in-law who was an alcoholic. He watched every glass of wine Megan drank, even though she never drank more than one in a week, and only that if they could afford it. She hadn’t had a glass of wine for months.

“Well, maybe…next week.” Brady finished his eggs and stomped off, upset to have his plans destroyed.

Megan got Mia to eat three spoons of peaches before she gave up. Now she really had to do laundry. Both she and the baby were covered in peaches. She slipped into the bathroom to change into a clean sweatshirt, and bundled up the laundry. She really would have liked to play Frisbee in the park. They used to do that every Saturday.

“Hey Meggie!” Brady yelled from the living room, not bothering to come to the laundry room to speak to her in a normal voice. “I’m gonna go play Frisbee with Mark and Julia. I’ll be home by two!” The door slammed, indicating he had not waited for her answer before leaving.

Megan had the washer loaded and started before Mia cried again. She sighed, exhausted, and headed to see what her daughter wanted. Day off work, she thought. Sure. I love my day off work.

TO BE CONTINUED