“I’ve got a better idea,” said Bentham before he ran across the street.
He always had a better idea.
When Bentham returned, he held up a newspaper. “Today’s date is June 6, 1994.”
“It’s my birthday,” I said.
“It’s mine too,” Jo added, looking up at me.
“That’s really weird,” I replied, getting that this can’t be good feeling I got lately around my uncle.
“Not as weird as you would think. My birthday is June 6, 1992. Randall’s is June 6—”
“The year’s not important, Ben. Seems like June 6 is an important day, but your birthday must be especially important as we traveled here to witness it,” said Randall, taking the paper from Bentham’s hands and looking it over.
“Well, that solves it. Let’s go.”
“Go where?” I asked, unsure anything at all had been solved.
“The hospital, Einstein. Let’s go see you get born.”
“I think you’re right,” Randall said, folding the paper up and sticking it inside his jacket.
As we trudged along to the hospital, I could hear Jo and Bentham talking behind me. “I tried calling you last night,” he said quietly.
“I know. I just...I didn’t feel like talking. I hope you’re not mad,” Jo replied lowly. I could feel her eyes on the back of my head, no doubt wishing I’d butt out. But I couldn’t.
“Not at all. Jo?”
“Hmmm?”
“Happy Birthday.”
I could hear the smile in the sudden lightness of her voice. “Happy Birthday, Ben.”
***
The good thing about time traveling to the 90’s is how easy it is to get in anywhere. We had no problem hopping a bus and making our way inside the maternity ward at Virginia Beach General. We told them we were there to visit a family member and we were in. No one asked for our ID. No one even questioned why Randall was wearing a suit jacket and pumpkin tie in June.
It was a little odd. I guess so much of my life had been spent fearing a terrorist attack or watching footage of the War in Iraq on television that I forgot life used to be different. We used to feel safe.
Or perhaps simply naïve.
“Now what?” I asked, getting a little uncomfortable looking at the hand-painted bears and balloons that covered the walls of the waiting room. I wasn’t so sure sitting in the waiting room of the maternity ward was any better than sitting through Williams’ talk about boners. They both gave me the weirds.
Even if we were there for my birth.
Mine and Jo’s that is.
I didn’t even know we shared a birthday.
“I think we wait. That’s usually how these things work. Wait for the truth to reveal itself,” Randall said with a smile as he sat down comfortably in a chair, pulling out the newspaper from his jacket pocket.
Bentham and I took a seat as well. Bentham laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. How anyone could sleep now was beyond me. I tried to avoid looking too much down the hall, afraid I’d see something like some woman’s water break.
This was not somewhere I wanted to be.
I looked over at Jo who refused to sit. She was carelessly rifling through a stack of pamphlets on the wall. Unaware of the fact that I was looking, her hand stopped over a pamphlet before she pulled it from its cubby. She opened her purse and began to shove it in. But not before I read the title: What You Need to Know About Birth Control.
Wait. What?
I looked over at Bentham who was snoring. I wanted to punch him right there and then. He had to have been pressuring her. They weren’t even going out yet. Why would she need a pamphlet about condoms and pills? That was probably why she didn’t feel like talking to him last night. She was good at reading people. She knew what he wanted.
But was she planning on giving it to him?
The thought made me feel a little queasy.
I turned from Bentham to look back at Jo only to realize she was starting to walk down the hallway. Something was going on. I glanced over to the nurses’ station to see they too were out of their seats.
That’s when I heard the yelling.
Jo froze, her face still turned from me.
“What’s is it?” one of the nurses yelled down the hallway to another nurse who was rushing down the hall towards us.
“It’s her again. The one with the twins. Ranting and raving. No matter how many sedatives we give her, she’s awake in less than half an hour.”
This was it. It had to be.
Twins?
Oh. God.
I felt my stomach tighten.
I felt lightheaded.
I reached out my hand, holding onto the counter to keep from falling down.
Jo slowly turned around and her eyes met mine. Wide. Frightened. I could hear Randall and Bentham behind me. The commotion must have called them into action. Jo had gone pale, and I could see she was trembling.