City Streets

Aspen sat on a park bench in the middle of Manhattan; watching people make their way around. She held the paperwork in her hand, crinkling the paper every few seconds. She had finally given into Chris’ consistent referral to the doctors and the only way she could cope with the reasoning behind her sickly self was to sit on a bench and just leave herself with her thoughts. She glanced up at the Manhattan sky; it was cloudy but otherwise sunny. She snickered to herself at the weather because all she felt inside was the exact opposite of sunshine. She glanced down at the paper; her heart stuttering when her eyes read the word positive. It took everything in her to not cry, how could she have let this happen? She was slightly happy that she would have a living being grow inside of her but at the same time, it was terrifying.

“Mind if an old woman joins you on this bench, dear?”

Aspen looked up to see an elderly woman with whispy gray hair standing over her, smiling, she scooched over. “Not at all.”

“Thanks, dear.” Plopping down, she reached into her bag to pull out bird feed. Tossing a handful on the ground, she watched as her normal pigeons flew down to greet her. Nudging Aspen, she chuckled, “I love birds, and they’re just so peaceful to look at.” Noticing that Aspen’s smile wasn’t as sincere as she probably intended, she frowned. “Sorry for bothering you, dear. Ignore me; I do tend to be a bother.”

Aspen shook her head, feeling guilty that the old woman saw through her smile. “Oh, it’s not you. I just received some news that I don’t know how to handle yet.” Pressing her lips together, she looked down at the paper again. A long sigh came from her lips as she shook her head and crumpled it in her hand.

“I don’t mean to overstep my boundaries but whatever news you received; I hope it works out for you in the end.” The old woman smiled, laying a hand over hers that held the crumpled ball, “Everything happens for a reason, dear.”

She looked down and chewed on her lip, “I’m pregnant.” Aspen covered her mouth with her hand, shocked that she so willingly shared the news with a complete and total stranger.

The old woman’s smile got bigger, “Oh, dear. That’s wonderful news, nothing is more rewarding than having a baby.” After seeing Aspen’s expression, she frowned slightly, raising a brow. “Are you not excited at all? Is this not what you wanted?”

“Not really.”

“Come, tell this old woman your story.” She smiled and listened to Aspen’s story, nodding every so often and making humming noises to signal that she was paying attention. She couldn’t help but smile at the young woman because of how passionately she spoke of the man in her story. After what seemed like half an hour of listening, the old woman placed her hand on Aspen’s shoulder. “Whatever decision you make, is entirely up to you. However, if little ole me can sway your opinion, I think you should tell this man. He has the right to know and as much as this new chapter may frighten you. It’s something you shouldn’t have to face alone. You said so yourself that he can’t wait for kids and nowadays everyone is doing it ass backwards. It doesn’t matter as long as you have the same end goal. Have a good career, a few kids, and a love filled marriage.”

Aspen looked away from the gray haired woman, her eyes falling upon a couple with a toddler across the park. They looked so happy, so absorbed in their lives. She watched as the mother ran to catch the little one and the father following suit and hugging them both. Maybe she could make this work, maybe Chris would make it work. She couldn’t deny it anymore, she had been falling in love with him again and as much as she denied to herself, it didn’t keep from happening. She chewed on her lip as she turned to look at the old woman again, who suddenly disappeared. Aspen shot up in her seat, looking around her to find where she had ran off to. Her hand reached to scratch the back of her head as she scanned around her, there was no way that old woman could have gotten very far in such a short amount of time.

Did she dream the old lady? Am I going crazy?, she thought as her eyes caught sight of leftover bird feed on the side walk. Smiling and shaking her head, she started her walk back to her apartment. Aspen was beyond scared. What if Chris freaked out? What if he didn’t want to have a kid with her? What if he were to pack his stuff and leaves? Her stomach started doing flips when she reached closer to her home, her head started to spin as her hand reached the railing that led up to her entryway. Shuffling around in her purse for her keys, her hand trembled to unlock the front door. She could hear her dog barking for her to hurry and for a second, she stood frozen. Her hand and keys still attached to the knob, her brain suddenly forgetting how to make her hand move.

She gasped loudly when the door swung open. Her eyes were stricken with panic when they were met with Chris. She tried to talk but words wouldn’t form and then with a flick of a switch, her brain allowed her to move her feet. She pushed past him, barreling through the front door and stopping in the middle of the living room.

“You okay, Pen?” Chris asked, his head turning slightly at her acting weird. Aspen opened her mouth but couldn’t form the words. Chris took a step forward, cautiously approaching her. “Do you have the flu? Do you need to lie down?”

She shook her head. Her mouth clamped shut.

“No to the flu or no to the laying down part?”

“Both,” she croaked out.

“Okay,” he was starting to get weirded out. Today had been the first time in a while that Aspen had started to act weird. He was starting to wonder if he had overstayed his welcome. “What’s wrong then?”

“I’m pregnant,”