NOWHERE MAN chapter one

NOWHERE MAN

                                                        A LITTLE SURPRISE, CONT'D

Mavis looked up when Dr.Fenity came back into the waiting room.

"Is it good news?" she asked.

The old gentleman sat beside her. There was no one else in the clinic so early in the morning. He took Mavis' hand, concern clouding his usually merry, light blue eyes.

"That's up to you and John, I suppose," he told her. "All I know is that you're going to have a baby. Is it good news, Mavis?"

The girl's eyes brimmed with sudden tears, and she flung herself into the old doctor's arms. She wasn't sure how she felt about the news, but it was certainly astonishing, seeing as how she'd been on the Pill since shortly after her relationship with John had become physical, so she was not prepared for this at all.

Presently, she drew back and sat up. The old man offered her a handkerchief;

 Mavis accepted it, dabbed at her eyes, and smiled weakly.

"I don't know what John is going to say," she said, "But it's good news to me, I guess-- I mean, I do love him terribly, and he says he loves me, too. How do you think he'll react, Dr. Fenity?"

"Well, I don't really know the man," replied the old gentleman. "He's so damnably healthy that I've never had any occasion to so much as see him, outside of a few words here and there at the pub, but he seems like a nice enough fellow, and I daresay he'll do right by you, my dear child. Where is he now?"

"He's still asleep, God willing," Mavis replied. "Hopefully, I'll have time to shower and compose myself before I wake him and open for the day. Thank you so much for coming downstairs and opening the office so early for me, doctor. Come by tonight, and I'll give you a nice supper, on the house."

"I'll do that, my dear," he said, and the girl got up to leave. The doctor held the door open for her and watched her cross the street to her own place. Once she had gone inside, he closed his shade and went back upstairs to have his breakfast.

Mavis let herself quietly into the pub and locked the door, then made a fire and went upstairs to have a shower.

John was still asleep, and she watched him for a moment, sighed softly, and went into the bathroom.

As she stood in the stream of warm water and soaped her body, Mavis looked down at her flat belly and touched herself there gently.

There's a baby growing in there, she thought, and found herself smiling a little. John's baby, and mine. Who are you, little one? Boy or girl? And what will your daddy say when he finds out about you?

Mavis finished her shower, and once she had dried herself, she opened the medicine cabinet and took out her birth control pills. She stood looking at them for a few seconds, then dropped them into the waste basket and went back into the bedroom. It was nearly seven, and she decided to go down, make the coffee and start cooking breakfast before waking John. She would tell him during the afternoon lull; no one ever came in for a few hours after lunch.

"Ye've been awfully quiet all day, Mavis, izz'ere somethin' on yer mind?" asked John after the lunch crowd had departed and she stood washing the dishes in the kitchen.

Mavis stopped what she was doing, wiped her hands, and turned to look at him. "As a matter of fact, there is," she replied. "Why don't we go out front. We can sit by the fire, and I'll tell you about it."