On Tenterhooks

Part 1

Traffic had been completely stationary for only about five minutes, but patience was absolutely not called for at this moment; so it felt like five times longer, at least. Connor groaned and pitched forward, burying his head quite deeply in his folded arms. "Oh God, why does there have to be a construction zone when we're so close..."

"I know."

"And why does it have to be a one lane road ahead kind of thing?! Seriously. We haven't budged an inch in the last five minutes."

"Because, apparently, they decided to chew up the entire road, right down to the bed."

"It's so unnecessary," said Connor, knowing he was whining but not caring about it.

"Hold on, we won't be coming back again this way," said Kevin, smirking to himself at the reversal of their usual roles-- he now the sunny optimist, with Connor now the worrier. "Hey, look, traffic's starting to move again!" After a slow, effortful crawl through a stand of cones and a makeshift shoulder, Kevin said, still more cheerfully, "There's McIntyre Street. We're almost there."

"Two more miles. Two more miles," muttered Connor into his folded arms, keeping his eyes out of the blazing afternoon sun and his nose out of the distinct fishy-chemical smell of a straining air conditioner. "What is this, the hottest day of the year? And during rush hour too..."

"Everything's happening at once."

"Exactly!"

"I guess you could say, everything's perfect," said Kevin, turning to him and grinning.

"Perfect as rain," said Connor, straightening up again. "Oh, good, we're out of that mess... no, no, don't turn red! It's on the yellow, run it, run it... Yes!! Thank you," said Connor, sighing with relief.

Just then, Kevin's phone rang. "You'd better get that, I can't."

"Okay... Where is it?" The synthesized instrumental version of "A Whole New World" continued while Connor dug around the car seats, finally locating the phone between the driver's seat and the emergency brake. "Hello? ... Yeah, Janelle, we're almost there! We ran into some road work... Did your water break? ... not yet, good... We've got some towels in here just in case it breaks on the ride over... Can you come outside? Thank you." Then, ninety seconds later: "Hey, I see your house... I see you! We're there!"

After Kevin stopped the car, Connor immediately got up and moved to the back seat, allowing Janelle to ease down into the front passenger seat. "Oooh," she said. "There goes another one..."

"How far apart are they now?" said Kevin.

"Four minutes apart. No... three minutes."

"Wow," said Connor. "We'd better hurry."

"Three and a half minutes." Janelle reached for the seat belt and opened it all the way, so as to fit around her belly.

"You need help?" asked Kevin.

"No, I'm fine," she said, clicking the belt shut and settling in. "It's definitely time, though. I can feel it."

"I'm sorry we took so long to get here."

"That's OK. It's not here yet, so you're good." Janelle turned to the back seat. "You OK there, Connor?"

"Yeah. I guess..." said Connor. He squeezed her hand. "Please, you be OK."

"I will."
She squeezed back, reassuringly.

"Hey, Janelle, is there another way out of here?" said Kevin. "I am not going back through that crap again."