Chapter 1

Becky

I am six months pregnant with my first. I had just left my mother’s house when I decided to stop at the grocery to get some of the French vanilla ice cream that both Ginger and I crave. She is also six months pregnant. We seem to do everything together. Our doctor thinks we may have gotten pregnant the same day! Cool huh? More on that later.

As I said, I stopped at the store. As I walked in, I saw Amy. She is a blonde that had gotten pregnant by a black basketball player when she was in college. She had been crying and when she saw me, she started bawling. I rushed to her and asked what was wrong.

“Everything, just everything,” she managed to say between sobs.

I asked if she could take a break and she said yes so we walked through a door to where the employees take their breaks and sat at a table. There was no one else in there with us.

“Now tell me,” I demanded.

She looked at me with red eyes and started.

“Did you know I was number one in my high school graduating class? My parents had high hopes for me. I was going to be a nurse. I had planned out my whole life. Then along comes James and I fall for his line of bullshit. The next thing I know I am pregnant and he is kicked out of school for selling drugs. I had no idea he even used drugs! All he ever talked about was going pro and I believed him. He left me when I was 3 months pregnant and went to Detroit. He never sent me a dime like he had promised. Then I heard that he was killed in a drive-by shooting. I came home and told my parents my sad story. No way were they going to take care of a baby while I went back to school. I could live at home, but I was told to get a job and pay my own way. My little girl was born and she is beautiful. No way was I giving her up. I found a job as a cashier here at the grocery store. This job was the best I could find. I still live with my parents because I cannot afford the rent in a trailer park or a babysitter. My mom is great. She helps with the baby. My father came around and plays with her all the time. His smart daughter, who was going to be a nurse, is now a cashier in a grocery store. On top of that, no decent boy will go out with me since everyone knows I have a half-black baby. The ones that do ask me out want to fuck before we go to dinner.”

When she finished, she laid her head on the table and started crying even louder. The door opened and a high school boy started to walk in, I shook my head and he left.

I asked, “Did you try to go back to school?”

“I stayed thru the end of my sophomore year. But after the baby was born there was no way I could take care of her, go to school and work at the same time. Besides, my parents were not paying my tuition. I had a scholarship, which I lost when I quit. I am stuck and I will never be more than a cashier.”