From The Seduction of Emy and Other Stories

Copyright 2023 A. R. Gregory

 

Preggers

Blondness catches your eye, sheer, dazzling, spun-gold blondness gleaming in the crisp, March morning sunlight. You lower your newspaper, squint out the picture window across your suburban front yard. The shapely young thing standing on the porch of the house across the street, her back to you, is about what, twenty? Wow! In her tight sweater and even tighter jeans… You coax your reading glasses down for a better look. So what’s she doing there on Mary what’s-her-name’s porch. Then you spot the guy, as young as she is, hugging her. You notice the casual way his hands roam down her back, from her shoulders to her...

Wait, Jenny? Mary what’s-her-name’s daughter? You aren’t sure if you’ve forgotten the last name of your neighbors across the street or you never knew it. You glance toward your wife, who’s oddly setting the dining room table for breakfast. One of the vegetables has just ripened in her backyard garden, and the kitchen table’s overflowing again with her canning hobby.

You stare back out the window, wonder out loud, “What, is Jenny home from — college? Is she in college?”

Your wife steps into the living room, cranes her neck for a peek out the picture window. She turns back to you, cocks her head the way she always does when your cluelessness becomes an issue. She gives you her patented duh! look, says, “Yes, that’s Jenny, but as far as I know she’s still sixteen, still in high school.”