Baby Talk: The Womb has Ears

Chapter 1 (continued)

Neal pulled his aging Toyota into the parking lot of Snell's Flowers and sat for a moment with the engine running, savoring his last few moments of freedom. By his watch, it was only 7:57. That meant he still had three precious minutes left before he had to succumb to another long day of ass kissing. He had worked at Snell's for less than two weeks, but it already seemed like months. He despised every second of it. Here he was, almost a degreed chemist, spending all his time behind the wheel of a white Chevy van with the words "SNELL'S FLOWERS—LET US MAKE SOMEONE'S DAY FOR YOU!" cheerily printed across it. He delivered roses and chrysanthemums and jonquils to people all over the city, happy people who had not taken a wrong turn in their lives, like he had. If Neal had just pulled out of Annie just a millisecond earlier—just one lousy, goddamn millisecond—everything would be different now. Annie wouldn't have gotten pregnant, Neal wouldn't have felt obligated to marry her, and she wouldn't have had the baby. And instead of driving a damn flower truck all over the city, he would be completing the last year of his college degree. After that, medical school.

But, of course, Neal hadn't pulled out of Annie in time. He had hesitated a fraction of a second to enjoy a little extra pleasure...and boom! His entire world had been turned upside down. Annihilated. One fleeting moment of extra pleasure in exchange for a lifetime of success and happiness.

It just wasn't fair.

Neal dragged himself out of his car and, just as he locked the door, old man Snell rolled into the parking lot in his big blue Cadillac. He gave Neal a fatherly kind of nod as he glided the huge vehicle into the reserved parking space next to the front door. Two crimson pom-poms were visible in the car's back window. Buford Snell had been some kind of football hero back when he'd attended University of Georgia. Based on his age and values, Neal figured it must have been back at the time football players wore knee socks, striped shirts, and those thin little leather helmets that looked like bathing caps.

"Early bird catches the worm," Snell said approvingly as he got out of his car. Neal cringed. Snell and the rest of the his "fambly"—his condescending mother, known as "Grammy," his matronly sister, his loud-mouthed brother-in-law, all his bratty nieces and nephews—disgusted Neal. However, the feeling was not mutual. Neal was well-liked by all the Snells. This wasn't surprising, considering the caliber of most of the other delivery boys. Even though the old man claimed to want to hire college students for these jobs, "to hep 'em out," most of the other drivers were pathetically poor, inner-city blacks. The reason, Neal had soon discovered, was that Snell refused to pay anyone with a last name different from his own a salary above minimum wage. Most college students just weren't that desperate.

As a result, most of the drivers were the type who stopped between deliveries to smoke dope, have "quickies" with their girlfriends, and God only knew what else. The entire clan, particularly Grammy, was amazed by Neal's speed and efficiency. In fact, the first few days his promptness in returning to the shop made Grammy so suspicious that she called a few people on his list to make sure that Neal had actually made the deliveries. Ordinarily, this would have irritated Neal, but it only amused him. He was glad the other delivery boys had a good time while they worked and were taking full advantage of the obnoxious—and oddly naïve—Snell family.

Neal followed old man Snell into the center of the shop, the sickly-sweet aroma of flowers at once making him nauseous. He approached Grammy and started to say good morning, but hesitated when he saw the sour look on her face.

Grammy glanced at Mildred, Snell's aging wife, and looked back at Neal. "Where'd you go yesterday when you were supposed to be deliverin' the bouquet to Miz Foster?"

Neal looked from one Snell face to the other. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Grammy glanced at her daughter-in-law again, giving her an I-told-you-so look. "You might say that. She never got 'em."