a lot more interested in her own body than in the body at the end of the road.
"So you're not working now?" I asked, keeping one eye cocked at the patrolman, who was now using his radio. The workmen had calmed down and moved into the shade of a tree in Macon's front yard. Macon disappeared into his house, popping back out with a camera and notepad.
"No. My doctor told me I had to take off work and keep my feet up for as long each day as I can. Since we got most of the boxes unpacked and the nursery is ready, I just do house things about two hours each day, and the rest of the time," she told me gloomily, "I just wait."
This was so - un-Lynn.
"Are you excited?" I asked hesitantly.
"I'm too uncomfortable to be excited. Besides, Arthur is excited enough for both of us."
I found that hard to picture.
"You don't mind anymore, do you?" Lynn asked suddenly.
"No."
"You dating anyone else?"
"Sort of. But I just stopped minding."
Luckily Lynn stopped there, because I simply would not say anything more about it.
"Do you think you'll keep the house?"
"I have no idea." I almost asked Lynn if it would bother her if I did, then I realized I didn't want to know the answer.
"Are you going to that party?" Lynn asked after a moment.
"Yes."
"We will too, I guess, though I'm not much in partying shape. That Marcia Rideout looked at me like she'd never seen a pregnant woman when she came over to meet me and leave the invitation. She made me feel like the Goodyear blimp and an unmade bed all at once."
I could see how that would be, given Marcia's aggressively good grooming. "I better go check on the kittens," I told Lynn. The situation down at the end of the street was static. The patrolman leaned against his car, waiting for someone else to show up, apparently. Macon was standing at the end of the pavement looking down at the bones. The workmen were smoking and drinking RC Colas.
"Oh, you have kittens? Can I see?" For the first time, Lynn looked animated. "Sure," I said with some surprise. Then I realized Lynn was in the mood to see baby anything.
The kittens were more active today. They tumbled over one another, their eyes still not open, and Madeleine surveyed them with queenly pride. One was coal black, the others marmalade and white like their mother. Soon their energy ran out and they began to nurse, dropping off into sleep directly after. Lynn had carefully lowered herself to the floor and watched silently, her face unreadable. I went into the kitchen to replenish Madeleine's water and food, and I changed the litter box while I was at it. After I washed my hands and had a gulp of my drink and most of my hamburger, I went back to the bedroom to find Lynn still staring.
"Did you watch them being born?" she asked.
"Yep."
"Did it look like she hurt?"
"It looked like it was work," I said carefully. She sighed heavily. "Well, I expect that," she said, trying to sound philosophical.
"Have you gone to Lamaze?"
"Oh, yeah. We do our breathing exercises every night," she said unenthusiastically.
"You don't think they're going to work?"
"I have no idea. You know what's really scary?"
"What?"
"No one will tell you."
"Like who?"
"Anyone. It's the damnedest thing. I really want to know what I'm up against. So I ask my best friend, she's had two. She says, 'Oh, when you see what you get it's worth it.' That's no answer, right? So I ask someone else who didn't use any anesthesia. She says, 'Oh, you'll forget all about it when you see the baby.' That's not an answer either. And my mom was knocked out, old-style, when she had me. So she can't tell me, and she probably wouldn't. It's some kind of mom conspiracy."
I thought it over. "Well, I sure can't answer any questions, but I'd tell you the truth if I could."
"I expect," Lynn said, "that I'll be telling you, and pretty soon."
When I left the house to return to the library, I saw two police cars parked in Macon Turner's driveway, and the city truck was gone. The rest of the skeleton having been found was a great relief to me. Now the police would be working on finding out who it was. Perhaps the remaining bones would be enough? If they could find out from the bones, I mentally promised The Skull I would