She closed her eyes and tried to pray, but it had been a while and she was out of practice. The poetic language of the King James Bible eluded her. She wanted this appeal to be eloquent and stirring, persuasive and impressive, compelling enough to distract God from all the other prayers coming His way at this particular moment.
But God probably wouldn't approve of her purely selfish reasons for wanting to live anyhow, so all she could think to say was, "Heavenly Father, please don't let me die."
When the scream rent the silence, Tiel thought for certain it had originated from the cashier. She glanced quickly at the woman beside her, to see what unspeakable torture had been inflicted. But the woman was still blubbering, not screaming.
It was Sabra Dendy who had screamed, and that first startling sound was followed by, "Oh, my God! Ronnie.1"
The boy rushed over to her. "Sabra? What's the matter?
What's happening?"
"I think it's… Oh, Lord."
Tiel couldn't help herself. She raised her head to see what was going on. The girl was whimpering and staring aghast at the puddle of fluid between her feet.
"Her water broke."
Ronnie whipped his head around and glared at Tiel.
"What?"
"Her water broke." She repeated the statement with more composure than she felt. Actually her heart was hammering.
This might be the spark that set him off and caused him to bring things to a swift conclusion, such as shooting them all and then dealing with his girlfriend's cr
isis.
"That's right, young man." Unafraid, the elderly woman sat up and addressed him with the temerity she had demonstrated when lecturing her husband about fiddling with the home video camera. "Her baby's coming."
"Ronnie? Ronnie?" Sabra crammed the skirt of her sundress up between her thighs, as though to impede the course of nature. On bended knees, she lowered herself to the floor until she was sitting back on her heels. "What are we going to do?"
Clearly the girl was frightened. Neither she nor Ronnie seemed adept at armed robbery. Or at childbirth, for that matter. Taking courage from the older lady, Tiel also sat up. "I suggest-"
"You shut up," Ronnie shouted. "Everybody just shut
I)» up!
He kept his pistol aimed at them as he knelt down beside Sabra. "Are they right? This means the baby's coming?"
"I think so." She nodded, shaking loose tears and sending them rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. How much time… How long before it's born?"
"I don't know. It varies, I think."
"Does it hurt?"
A fresh batch of tears formed in her eyes. "It's been hurting for a couple of hours."
"A couple of hours!" he cried in alarm.
"But only a little. Not bad."
"How long since it started? Why didn't you tell me?"
"If she's been in labor-"
"I told you to shut up!" he yelled at Tiel.