Caleb's Story: She's Pregnant After All

        Caleb sat once more on the edge of that broken down futon pondering what to do next. It was official that Shelly his wife was pregnant. A trip to the doctor less then a week ago confirmed his fears. In his own way he was happy. Caleb was the only male in his family and had yet to produce a son. That growing list of ex-girlfriends had only produced female children up until now.

        This was only supposed to be a routine visit into town to drop off Christmas presents and spend some time with family and friends before things went sour as they usually do. A simple routine visit to an old buddy led to another argument with Shelly. It didn’t take long for her to run to her mothers while he was left to visit his sickly mother and spend the night alone once again. “What did I do wrong?”

        A sharp pain sped through the muscular arms as fist and knuckles landed on painted drywall but the anger was too hard to confine anymore. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”

        Those blasted feet guided Caleb off of his broken down bed and through the house, just to turn off Mom’s radio only to turn and pace back and forth across the floor. Even Marvin Gay had no possible hope of calming this young man’s nerves.

The constant pacing of the living room floor gave him something to do and helped in working out all that built up agitation. Those old and intrepid beams on that worn hard wood floor cracked and cried out as if pleading for the 170 lb. intruder to stop but Caleb had to do something before his agitation caused him to break his mother’s Christmas decorations. Her tree was quite lovely this year as it heaved with her collected Hallmark ornaments filling it from floor to ceiling. The new base that made it spin continuously and made the place feels less poor then normal. Still despite all of this Christmas would never be a favorite holiday. Nothing ever turned out right in this world. Still, the constant pacing of the living room floor gave Caleb something to do and helped in working out all that built up agitation.

That damned pregnancy confirmation changed everything. It was merely 2 weeks ago he was contemplating leaving her. Still, Caleb had promised to love her for better or for worse when the two of them said “I do”. Shelly had always been crazy and over bearing. For the longest time she claims that they would one day wed. Her mind was always set on joining the military as well. A baby on the way changed all plans though, even her impending deployment to Alaska. “How is the military going to handle this? What is the standard protocol for a pregnancy after deployment orders have been issued? Why is that crazy bitch’s mood swings getting worse?”

The frustrating circumstances brought him to the kitchen. Under the micro-wave sat his mother’s faded antique cabinet that used to belong to her grandparents. The paint had long since faded. This family treasure had obviously seen better days. While reaching down to grab a trash bag, he pulled the hinged door open and was immediately reminded that mom had a rodent problem.

Under normal circumstances all the black fecal matter would have been left for someone else to deal with but not this time. It was out of character but something needed to be done to stop the coursing anger through his pulsing muscles. That damned right hand had a mind of its own and reached out to grab the green handled corn broom that stood by the back door in the kitchen. Impulsively the cabinets contents were pulled out before all the droppings were roughly pulled out and spilling all over a cheaply laid linoleum floor.

Within minuets of examining his mess it was thought that perhaps he should war plastic gloves. Despite the oozing wounded knuckles Caleb dismissed the thought, not actually caring and almost wishing he would come down with some incurable illness. “This is really nasty!” Caleb began felling a little better over the current accomplishment. White gloves forgotten, the fecal mess was swept up and in the garbage in no time. “Anything to alleviate the pain she caused. What am I going to do with that crazy bitch?”

After putting the broom back in its proper place he retraced his steps back to the living room to see if there was some other way his mother could be assisted.

Mom’s blasted dogs began barking and crushed gravel from a car pulling in was overheard. At the sight of her little silver vehicle, all pleasant thoughts were crushed once again. The sight of Caleb’s pregnant bride buried all the pleasant thoughts of helping mother out and brought back the pain of what needed to be endured. Yet he would try for the sake of love.