Bonus Fiction: His list of grievances
Participating in Fictionistas March Flash Fiction prompt
I participated in
March Prompt Party. We were given a prompt and 15 minutes to write flash fiction, which was the first draft for this story.The Prompt:
Continue the story. When Simon woke up, his hospital room was dark and smelled bad…
When Simon woke up, his hospital room was dark and smelled bad. His neck was stiff after two hours of his chin resting on his chest while sleeping in an uncomfortable hospital room chair.
Oh great, he thought. Another complaint to bring up when we get out of here.
His list of grievances was long and growing. Two months ago, Simon had reserved and paid for a private room for his wife’s post-delivery. Only the best for his wife Kylie as she brought their first child into this world. Everything needed to be perfect when his little Emily arrived.
But then Kylie went into labor three weeks early. Simon was on a business trip, about to close a deal when the call came in. He was literally in the lobby, about to give a presentation to bring a million-dollar account to his firm. Instead, Simon fumbled through his pitch, and was sure that he lost the new business. This was not what he planned.
The drive from San Francisco was bogged down in traffic, everyone trying to get to Lake Tahoe for the holiday weekend. None of his screaming, pounding on the steering wheel or complaining made his car move faster than the stop-and-go on Interstate 80. Why did she have to go into labor on a Friday afternoon? What might have been a two-hour drive became a four-hour slog to Sacramento before he arrived.
At least the baby hadn’t arrived yet and the delivery room was private. And yet, Kylie spent eighteen more hours in labor. Simon was supportive. It was his wife after all, and little Emily was on her way. But my goodness, the waiting was agony. And when Emily did enter the world, her crying was sporadic, and he only received a few quick glances before she was taken away for further tests.
Then there was this recovery room debacle. After the delivery, some head nurse said there were an irregular number of deliveries, the single rooms were occupied and couldn’t accommodate his request. Regardless of his deposit, they couldn’t kick a family out of the room, they said. What was the point of reservation if there was still no guarantee?
They stuck Kylie in a double room with another woman and her baby. In the first hour, Simon learned her entire history, eavesdropping through the curtains. He raised his eyebrows a few times as this woman shared how this was her fourth kid, with three fathers, and that she was going to need a doctor’s note to get out of work in three days.
The drama increased more when she demanded she be taken outside so she could have a cigarette. She hadn’t had one in four months and the cravings had only increased once her baby had left her. And when she came back, she reeked of cigarettes.
With each passing moment, and the other mother getting to see her baby, before handing him back five minutes later, Kylie’s anxiety was growing. She needed to see her baby. Not yet, they said. They were still running some tests. Kylie demanded to see her baby before finally she was given a small sedative to help her relax and go to sleep.
And now, here he was. Instead of a cot that he requested as accommodation for not getting the room and denied again, he was stiff in this uncomfortable chair, his wife still asleep but the other mother snoring so loud she could wake his dead aunt Winifred. He sighed.
Thoughts of Emily and hoping she was ok pushed him out of his slumber. He stood up quickly, rubbed his neck as he quietly slipped out of the room. Once outside the room, he strode with purpose to the nurse’s station. The nurse – “Teresa” it said on her nametag – looked up over her half glasses.
“Any update on Emily? Baby Jeffries? I need to see her.” He was surprised his voice almost wavering in its delivery. He always prided himself on projecting confidence and self-assuredness. But nothing like a long night and uncertainty to pierce that façade.
Teresa looked up at him, her matronly demeanor making up for the confidence Simon lacked.
“Oh yes, everything is fine, but we didn’t want to wake you, since you and your wife needed your rest.”
The relief he felt when Teresa said ‘fine,’ was only eclipsed by the joy and the desire to see for himself. He was now a father, his first priority to protect his baby girl.
“Can I see her?” Simon’s confidence returning, but also unsure of what happened next. It was not a position he was used to.
“Of course,” Teresa said and brought him to the maternity ward. She went in and picked up the baby and brought her to Simon.
At first, he was unsure. He had never held a baby before. Not really. And this was his most precious cargo. As Teresa placed Emily into Simon’s arms, a full transformation swept through him. He forgot about the other mother, the private room, the traffic, the blown deal, and everything else that he had obsessed over in the last 36 hours. In this moment, his only obsession was sleeping in his arms, her mouth sucking on her lower lip, her eyelids fluttering. He wondered what dreams she was having in her first day of life.
For him, his dream had come true, and the inconveniences of life meant nothing. He was a father to the most precious creation of all.
Lovely to see how this developed (gestated?) since the prompt party.