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I shrugged. I wasn’t the only one who had problems. Fish Creek was an easy place to hide, so small that strangers were notable. I got the impression that everybody knew everybody else up here.
I was an odd girl out, with my dark eyes, Brazilian blowout, and brown skin. Everyone here looked like a Viking.
They’d been kind enough, though the little kids stared a lot more than I was used to in DC.
I put my case of ginger ale on the countertop.
“Just ginger ale?” the cashier asked.
I nodded.
“I threw up this morning.”
“Do you want any medicine? Do you still feel sick?”
I shook my head.
“Nope. I don’t feel sick at all. It was weird…just a little food poisoning, I guess.”
She looked at me for a moment, as if trying to decide something.
“No offense, but maybe you want to pick up one of our pregnancy tests? They’re in the pharmacy section.”
I felt the floor move under my feet.
“Pregnancy test?”
“Why not? No harm, right?”
I stared at this stranger who was suggesting something unimaginable.
Freaking out, I started counting in my head.
“Could you grab one for me?”
She took a quick look around the store. Nobody was there besides us.
“Sure thing.”
She walked quickly with the instinct of a bloodhound. I felt like I’d been a blind woman rummaging through Woodman’s, but she knew exactly what she was doing. Maybe she was native to Fish Creek, not a runaway like me.
Twenty seconds later, she had an EPT box in her hands.
“Here you go. If you take it and get a positive result, there are some clinics within driving distance…you can find an OBGYN.”
I looked at her and couldn’t process what she was saying. I knew that she was speaking English, but I was flipping out.
“Thank you.”
“You betcha.”
I gave her my credit card and she rang me up. I hadn’t used my credit card since I’d come up here, because I simply hadn’t needed to buy anything.
I didn’t even know which answer I wanted. If I had a baby…if I really…I was a mess.
“All done!”
She pushed the case of ginger ale at me with the EPT box on top. She slid the receipt across the counter, and then I signed it.
