The Problem with Dreams

Chapter 29 - Labor Day

Although the Labor Day weekend is traditionally a three day weekend with the holiday observed on Monday, Greg and Susan's planned barbeque was being held on Saturday afternoon, which was actually the last day of August rather than the first of September.

It was a small, casual affair and so Susan arose planning to wear her usual jeans and a t-shirt for the occasion. She got things ready in the morning before going to her closet to change about an hour before she expected the first of their guests to arrive. Her jeans however felt tighter than usual and as she stood in the bathroom contemplating her reflection in the mirror, she tried to decide whether she should simply leave the top button undone, or try to find something else to wear. She went back to the closet and began going through her wardrobe, looking for something that would be loose enough and still casual. She did still have her very oldest jeans from before the crash. They were bigger because she'd been heavier then, but they also weren't really fit to wear for anything apart from housework or gardening. She might get away with wearing them if it was only them alone at home, but not with company coming. And so she put them back, deciding instead on a normally loose-fitting cotton sundress.

"I thought this was going to be casual," Greg commented when he came into the bathroom to find her putting it on.

"It was supposed to be," Susan said. "But I can't button the waistband of my jeans any more. I can still zip them up and I could wear them with the button undone, or I could wear my old ones ... I still fit in those, but I didn't think either of those options were a good idea either."

"Wearing un-buttoned jeans or the ones that are worn out?" Greg repeated wanting to be certain he understood.

"Those are my choices ... or else this, my one sundress. At least it's not fitted," Susan said.

"Do you need some new clothes?" Greg asked.

"Not yet. I have some elastic-waist pants I can use for work and I'll wear my shirts out for a while instead of tucking them in," Susan said. "And I do have a few looser fitting tops I can wear."

"Do any of those work with your jeans?" Greg suggested. "Fasten the waist with a safety pin instead of the button so it's looser then pull one of your summer tops over the waist."

"I'll try it," Susan said.

She did as he suggested and it worked. "That is better. We'll see how long this lasts though," Susan commented as she surveyed herself in the mirror once again.

"As long as it gets you through today," Greg told her hugging her from behind. His hands automatically drifted south. The firmness he'd detected in her lower abdomen the day before was completely undetectable through her clothes, which supported her belief that it was too early to shop for maternity clothes.

Susan turned in his arms and hugged him, pressing her face against his chest.

"Are you nervous?" Greg asked.

"Yes. Aren't you?" Susan replied.

"Not particularly. I believe they will be happy for us," Greg predicted.

"You don't think they'll think it's just odd? To be having another brother or sister so much younger than they are?" Susan asked.

"Susan, I've told you before about the Hebrew attitude towards late-in-life families," he reminded her. "Such occurrences are generally accepted, celebrated even."

"Yes, but that was the attitude of old Jewish men from more than a century ago. Your children are modern men and women who are heavily influence by secular American culture," Susan pointed out. "I have a feeling that on some level, they're going to think this is odd."