When I re-enter the general store vibrating with fury, I find Lucinda at the front counter talking with Charlie.
“Hi, Dr. Amira!” she says, looking up from the conversation. “How are you today?”
I don’t answer her greeting or bother to correct her since she and the rest of the town seem hell-bent on calling me that.
I just turn to face off with Charlie.
“So, what did he say?” Charlie asks, crossing his arms over his barrel chest like he’s ready to stand his ground if my answer isn’t right.
“I need you to order me those supplies,” I tell him, barely keeping my voice level. “It's for the town. I shouldn't have to get permission from anyone."
“But Waylon said—” Charlie begins.
I slam my hand on the counter and scream, “I swear to God, if you ‘Waylon said’ to me one more time, I will lose it. Completely lose it.”
Charlie exchanges a look with Lucinda, who asks, “Are you okay? Did something happen?”
“Don’t look at her,” I snarl at Charlie. “Look at me, the medical professional who is asking you to do your damn job, for which you, unlike me, are actually paid. I need you to put in that order. Now.”
Charlie glances nervously to the side, then has the nerve to say, “But Waylon said—”
Okay, I warned him. Before he gets his Waylon excuse fully out of his mouth, I sweep the counter, knocking all the bubblegum, cigarette, and candy displays to the floor.
“Dr. Amira!” Lucinda cries, jumping back.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Charlie demands.
I knock over a soda display next. “Open your damn computer, and….”
I spot a pyramid of Heinz beans and push my foot through it.
“Make. The. Order!” I roar as the cans go tumbling down.
“Dr. Amira?” Lucinda cries out again.
“I’m not a doctor. I'm a nurse practitioner!” I repeat for the fiftieth time this week, spinning around to confront her.
But then I freeze when I see the puddle of liquid at her feet.
“Okay, Nurse Amira,” she says, her voice small. “I think my water just broke.”
Other than her water breaking at Charlie’s general store after I throw my temper tantrum, Lucinda's birth of a healthy baby boy goes without a hitch.
Crazytown, who turns out to be a grizzled biker in his 50s, finally comes to his senses and arrives to hold Lucinda’s hand about twenty minutes before the baby's head starts to crown.
By that time, quite a few of the town’s figurative old ladies have shown up outside Lucinda’s small trailer with offers to help.
And though I warn them to have a car prepared with towels laid over a back seat to take Lucinda to the hospital if the birth goes sideways, I can see why women romanticize doing it this way inside their home.
The old ladies not only prepare the car and park it right outside Lucinda’s trailer, but they also do everything from cheering her on outside her windows to bringing over everything I need from the medical trailer and fulfilling my orders for sanitized towels.
Meemaw even brings over paper plates with pieces of celebratory cake to hand out while I’m cleaning the new mom and the baby up. She must’ve started baking as soon as she heard Lucinda had gone into labor.
There’s a lot to celebrate. My first post-partum exam of both Baby and Mom turns out great. Lucinda doesn’t experience any vaginal tearing or excessive bleeding. So, I feel A-OK with allowing her to stay at home with her new baby.
Though, I do mention to Crazytown afterward that the community might want to contract with a nearby midwife or doula who could come out for births like this.
“Births aren’t exactly my specialty, and I don't want to risk losing a mother and child due to my lack of knowledge. Plus, there's a ton of pregnant women in this new town of yours.”
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when he answers, “Well, you'll have to talk with your man, Waylon, about that.”
I rub at my temple and reply, “You know what, never mind.”
I say a quick goodbye to Lucinda and get out of there to keep myself from exploding like I did in the general store.
But other than that, I'm feeling pretty good as I walk back to Meemaw’s house.
Yes, I would prefer the services of a doula for this trailer town. But delivering new life into the world was exhilarating—
I freeze when I see Waylon. I was so focused on my victory, I didn’t notice him sitting there on Meemaw’s front porch.
He’s jacketless and once again dressed in camo pants. But he has on a white T-shirt to go with it, unlike the last time he paid me a shirtless visit at Meemaw’s.
Still, the expression on his face is almost as intense as it was that morning.
He rises from the porch and closes the distance between us to loom over where I’m standing. “What’s this I hear about you paying me a visit right before you trashed Charlie's store and delivered Lucinda's baby?”