Living Without Dreams

Chapter 26 - Close to Ordinary

              Despite Greg’s observation the night before that normal days were at this point rare, he had to admit that by the end of the day on Tuesday that it was as well. The children went to school, he and Susan worked in their office preparing for their various business endeavors over the coming weeks. In the afternoon they did errands before picking the kids up from school. In fact the most interesting part of the day was their stop at the pharmacy that afternoon on their way to pick up Jessie after school. There, Greg was amused to see that Susan bought out nearly their entire supply of ovulation testing kits, and he watched from near the entrance while she checked out.

“Are you trying to get pregnant?” the young, female check-out clerk asked curiously.

“I’m just trying to track my cycles more closely,” Susan told her. Then with a shrug she added, “I’m just curious, mostly.”

“Cool,” the young clerk answered. “I’d love to do that, just to find out if all that stuff they tell you in school is true. Good luck. I hope you find out what you want to.”

“Me too,” Susan agreed as she took her packages and rejoined Greg near the exit.

“You have aroused her curiosity,” Greg remarked on their way back to the car.

“Actually I think she was already curious,” Susan said. “I just gave a voice to what most young women are thinking about.”

Greg arched his brow as they put their packages in the back and got in. “You may have just identified an additional market for the makers of these test kits: young women who simply want to know.”

“Maybe,” Susan agreed. “Maybe I’ll suggest that if I get a job with one of the companies that manufacture these. Shall we go pick up the television wires we ordered last week before we go home?” she asked as Greg started the car.

“I suggest we pick up the children first then we can all go. They always enjoy our trips to the electronics store,” Greg reminded her.

He was right, they did. They didn’t buy anything aside from the many US replacement cords and cables they’d ordered for their various electronics and the extra-long printer cord they needed for their attic office, but everyone enjoyed looking at everything.

Dinner was fast food, followed by homework at the kitchen table. Then before they knew it, it was time for everyone to get ready for bed.

c

That evening, Susan was careful to use one of the tests in one of the kits she’d bought as she dressed for bed. Greg looked anxiously over her shoulder in the bathroom once he recognized what she was doing.

“It’s not doing anything,” Greg noted when she checked the time.

“That’s because I’m not ovulating,” Susan told him and she showed him the booklet which described how to interpret the test results.

“Meaning?” Greg asked.

“Meaning, there is absolutely no possibility that I could conceive tonight,” she said.

Greg’s anxious expression relaxed.

“Do you still want to fool around?” Susan asked curiously.

“Don’t you?” he asked tentatively.

“No. I want to make love to you,” she told him. “No stopping, no hesitation, no pretending that you don’t want to. Unless of course you can come up with another reason you don’t want to?”

“Why would I want to do that?” Greg asked.

Susan shrugged. “Because we haven’t completed Rabbi Sloan’s recommendation of five days.”