moment I woke. I was overcome with the urge to
vomit. Wave after wave of nausea kept me from
lifting my head from the pillow. I took deep breaths
and tried to keep myself calm. What was happening to
me? Was it a result from my great physical exertion
yesterday? I still had dull throbbing all over my body. When I turned slightly to my left, my nipples
tingled and then I felt a slight aching in my breasts.
Why should that be? A terrifying hot fear shot up my
spine like mercury moving up a thermometer. I shook
my head to deny the possibility, however another
realization flashed across my brain. I hadn't thought
much about it because I had so many other physical
concerns these days-- but I had missed my period
weeks ago.
All of this hit me like a punch in the stomach
and I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I leaned
over the side of the bed and vomited. As I did I
screamed for Aunt Victoria: I screamed for anyone. I
thought I was dying on the spot. Every time I paused.
I screamed again and again. Finally, she came to my
door.
There was a radical change between what she
had looked like yesterday and what she looked like this morning. As if she had woken from a dream, stopped her sleepwalking or snapped out of a coma, she was the more familiar Aunt Victoria again, at least in appearance. Dressed in one of her business suits, her hair brushed neatly, the makeup gone, including the lipstick, she stood in the doorway and stared in at me with a look of disgust emerging from within her bailey face like a bubble of air rising to the top of
some water.
That maddening mind of hers had slipped back
into the present I thought. I hoped.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"What am I doing? I'm sick," I said, "How
could you leave me like this?"
"You're disgusting." she said and marched