Helen.
‘You’re not, are you?’ she said finally.
‘I bloody hope not!’
‘Well, what made you buy it then?’
‘My boobs are getting bigger and I’ve been feeling a bit sick. It’s just a precaution. I’ll do this then I can put it out of my mind. I know I’m not pregnant–I can’t be,’ Janey said decisively.
They opened up the package; there were two tests in it.
‘What do you do with it?’ said Elizabeth, noseying over her shoulder.
‘I haven’t a clue–I’ll tell you in a minute,’ replied Janey, as she unfolded the leaflet inside. She read the instructions twice aloud to make sure she understood them, then she disappeared up the twisty narrow staircase into the bathroom whilst Elizabeth poured out some more juice. Soon after, Janey came back downstairs holding the pencilly thing as if it was something contaminated with the plague.
‘Right. Now, apparently, I wait for three minutes,’ said Janey. They sat at the table, propped the test up against the salt pot and watched it, Janey with her hands clasped as if in prayer, just wanting to get this nonsense over with so she could go back to normal life. They waited for hours, or so it felt.
‘Does a blue line in that box mean you’re pregnant or not pregnant?’ Elizabeth said as it materialized slowly in the second box. Janey didn’t answer; she was too busy going corpse-white and saying F words, which Janey only ever said in the most extreme of cases.
‘I can’t understand it,’ she kept saying over and over and over. She looked as stunned as if she’d just been hit with a sledgehammer, which metaphorically she had. Elizabeth wafted herself with the instructionleaflet; she was burning up whilst Janey was shivering.
‘How? I just don’t understand!’ said Janey tightly, shaking the indicator as if to make it admit it had made a mistake and erase the blue line. ‘We never took chances. Ever.’ Then she swore again as her head slumped forward into her hands.
‘Do the other test–that one might be faulty,’ encouraged Elizabeth.
‘What’s the point,’ said Janey. ‘It says they’re about three million per cent accurate. It’s right, I just feel it. Oh, bloody hell!’
‘What will you do?’ Elizabeth said eventually, taking her friend’s hand and gripping it hard.
‘What can I do but have it?’ Janey said with an unpleasant laugh. I’m totally trapped, she thought, wishing her conscience about abortion was not so strong. She did not want it but she couldn’t not have it. There was no way she was capable of killing it, for that’s what she would feel she had done if she went for an abortion. George certainly would never forgive her if she were to do that, and she could never keep it secret from him–the one secret she had kept from him was bad enough. How, how had this happened? It just did not make sense!
‘George will be happy,’ Elizabeth said tentatively, because she couldn’t tell if Janey was on the brink of going berserk like the Incredible Hulk or about to start sobbing.
She did neither; she just got slowly to her feet, lifted up her bag and her keys and said, ‘I best go tell him then, hadn’t I?’
‘Do you want me to drive you?’ Elizabeth said, thinking Janey didn’t look fit to drive.
‘I’m all right. I just need to be by myself for a while,’ Janey said, thinking that Elizabeth didn’t look fit to drive her even if she had wanted her to.
‘Will you ring me when you get home then?’
‘I’ll ring twice–don’t pick up and don’t panic if it’s not in the next five minutes. I need to circle the block and think for a bit.’
When it rang almost half an hour later, Elizabeth did not pick up. She was too busy drinking more juice and staring at the second testing kit in the bag on the table.
Janey’s house was only a couple of minutes up the road from Elizabeth’s, but it took her twenty more to pull up outside the substantial Victorian stone-built town villa with the
‘You’re not, are you?’ she said finally.
‘I bloody hope not!’
‘Well, what made you buy it then?’
‘My boobs are getting bigger and I’ve been feeling a bit sick. It’s just a precaution. I’ll do this then I can put it out of my mind. I know I’m not pregnant–I can’t be,’ Janey said decisively.
They opened up the package; there were two tests in it.
‘What do you do with it?’ said Elizabeth, noseying over her shoulder.
‘I haven’t a clue–I’ll tell you in a minute,’ replied Janey, as she unfolded the leaflet inside. She read the instructions twice aloud to make sure she understood them, then she disappeared up the twisty narrow staircase into the bathroom whilst Elizabeth poured out some more juice. Soon after, Janey came back downstairs holding the pencilly thing as if it was something contaminated with the plague.
‘Right. Now, apparently, I wait for three minutes,’ said Janey. They sat at the table, propped the test up against the salt pot and watched it, Janey with her hands clasped as if in prayer, just wanting to get this nonsense over with so she could go back to normal life. They waited for hours, or so it felt.
‘Does a blue line in that box mean you’re pregnant or not pregnant?’ Elizabeth said as it materialized slowly in the second box. Janey didn’t answer; she was too busy going corpse-white and saying F words, which Janey only ever said in the most extreme of cases.
‘I can’t understand it,’ she kept saying over and over and over. She looked as stunned as if she’d just been hit with a sledgehammer, which metaphorically she had. Elizabeth wafted herself with the instructionleaflet; she was burning up whilst Janey was shivering.
‘How? I just don’t understand!’ said Janey tightly, shaking the indicator as if to make it admit it had made a mistake and erase the blue line. ‘We never took chances. Ever.’ Then she swore again as her head slumped forward into her hands.
‘Do the other test–that one might be faulty,’ encouraged Elizabeth.
‘What’s the point,’ said Janey. ‘It says they’re about three million per cent accurate. It’s right, I just feel it. Oh, bloody hell!’
‘What will you do?’ Elizabeth said eventually, taking her friend’s hand and gripping it hard.
‘What can I do but have it?’ Janey said with an unpleasant laugh. I’m totally trapped, she thought, wishing her conscience about abortion was not so strong. She did not want it but she couldn’t not have it. There was no way she was capable of killing it, for that’s what she would feel she had done if she went for an abortion. George certainly would never forgive her if she were to do that, and she could never keep it secret from him–the one secret she had kept from him was bad enough. How, how had this happened? It just did not make sense!
‘George will be happy,’ Elizabeth said tentatively, because she couldn’t tell if Janey was on the brink of going berserk like the Incredible Hulk or about to start sobbing.
She did neither; she just got slowly to her feet, lifted up her bag and her keys and said, ‘I best go tell him then, hadn’t I?’
‘Do you want me to drive you?’ Elizabeth said, thinking Janey didn’t look fit to drive.
‘I’m all right. I just need to be by myself for a while,’ Janey said, thinking that Elizabeth didn’t look fit to drive her even if she had wanted her to.
‘Will you ring me when you get home then?’
‘I’ll ring twice–don’t pick up and don’t panic if it’s not in the next five minutes. I need to circle the block and think for a bit.’
When it rang almost half an hour later, Elizabeth did not pick up. She was too busy drinking more juice and staring at the second testing kit in the bag on the table.
Janey’s house was only a couple of minutes up the road from Elizabeth’s, but it took her twenty more to pull up outside the substantial Victorian stone-built town villa with the
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