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if I really did have the baby."
"Yes, it gets hard," Mama said. "In the
beginning for a very short time and then longer and
longer as you get closer to delivering the baby." "Yes," Gladys said, and grimaced as if she
really did suffer a contraction.
Mama sighed and turned back to me with a
small smile on her lips. She rolled her eyes. I wanted
to smile back, but the pain grew longer and more
severe.
"Take deep breaths," Mama advised.
"Is it coming? Is it coming?" Gladys asked,
excitedly.
"Not yet, no," Mama said. "I told you. I'm not
sure this is real labor yet, and besides, babies don't
come busting into this world that fast, especially when
a woman's giving birth for the first time."
"Yes," Gladys said, more to herself than to us.
"My first time."
She waddled over to her own bed and sat down,
her hands on her padded stomach. She closed her eyes
and bit down on her lower lip. Mama wiped my face
with a cold washcloth. I forced a smile and gazed at
Gladys, who looked like she was breaking into a
sweat herself. Watching her actions, her silent moans,
her deep breaths, distracted me from my own. pain for
the moment. Mama just shrugged and shook her head. Mama said the contractions were a good five
minutes apart and didn't last long enough to be that
significant yet, but it went on for hours. All the while Gladys Tate lay in her bed beside mine. She ate nothing, drank a little ice tea, but for the most part, just watched me and mimicked my every action, my
every groan.
As the sun began to go down and the room
