Night Watch, Part 18

David was roused from a deep snooze by two sounds occurring almost simultaneously: a loud moan from Angela indicating a major contraction, and a soft knocking on the front door.

A ray of orange sunlight slanted into the room. Olivia sat up. She ignored the door and went straight for the bedroom, her eyes only half-open, as though sleepwalking. David hauled himself out of the recliner and opened the front door. It was Buddy and Natalie.

Natalie said "Hi" in her special way, as two syllables, first rising, then falling. She held up a white paper bag. "I brought doughnuts."

David opened the door wide. He hugged Natalie and received a big kiss on the cheeks, then shook hands with Buddy.

"I woke up and couldn't sleep," said Natalie. "How is she? I'm sure she didn't have the baby yet because you would've called, right?"

"The baby hasn't come," said David.

"See? Was I right?" said Buddy.

"Oh, hush up. You're only right once every five years," said Natalie as she deposited the white bag on the dining room table. Then she made a beeline for the bedroom.

Buddy followed her, and David trailed the group into the crowded room. He hoped Angela wouldn't freak out over having her parents watch her go through labor. She had specifically requested that David keep them away, but that was hours ago.

Everyone talked at the same time.

"David could you put on some hot water for tea?" said Victoria.

"Angela you look beautiful," said Natalie.

"We brought doughnuts," said Buddy.

"I don't feel beautiful," said Angela.

"I'm starving," said Olivia.

"I could use a slice of wheat toast," said Victoria.

"I'll get that water on in just a minute," said David. He made his way to Angela's side.

She smiled up at him. "Did you get any sleep?"

"I took a nap on the recliner," he said.

"Good. I'm proud of you. Be a dear and take care of everyone while I lay here and have contractions," she said.

"You're doing a good job," he said.

"In my day we would have been at the hospital by now," said Natalie.

"But our coffee is better than hospital coffee," said David.

"You can say that again," said Buddy.

"What do you men know? My daughter's having a baby and all you can think about is coffee," she said.

"Mom, this is much better than the hospital. By the way, meet Victoria, the doula," said Angela.

Introductions were made. Natalie was polite but reserved. They had discussed the topic endlessly: Natalie could not understand why an intelligent woman like Angela would want to stay home and have labor with no medication when she could simply go to the hospital and be comfortable and have it over with in a few hours. To Natalie it was a step backward in time: her own grandmother had given birth at home with a midwife and no medication.

"I'll get the kettle going," said David.

"If you don't mind, I'll visit the restroom," said Victoria with a professional smile as she turned to leave the room.

"Don't worry, I have plenty of company," said Angela.

Natalie threw up her hands. "Now she doesn't want us."

"Of course she wants us," said Buddy.

"Of course I want you," said Angela. "You're my family. Where's Lou? How come he's not here?"

David went to the kitchen. Lou was Angela's older brother. He worked as a model in Manhattan and kept an apartment in Brooklyn Heights. He was expected to come down after the baby was born, possibly with his latest partner. He was going to be another zany piece to this ever-growing mosaic of family personalities.

David turned on the tap and watched the kettle fill with water. He reflected on how his prediction had been wrong: the baby did not come last night. David felt a mixture of fatigue and worry. How long will this go on? Of course, he reminded himself, having a long, drawn out labor was a lot harder on Angela than on him. He wondered if he should go to the office and try to work. Things were busy at their little business: two new potential clients were waiting on proposals. One of them was a politician, Jessica Van Buren, who wanted some new features on her campaign web site and had been waiting several days for a bid from David.

While the water heated, David ground some coffee beans and started a large pot of coffee. Then he went back to the bedroom to take orders.

"Who wants coffee, who wants tea?" he asked. Everyone had found seats on the edge of the bed or on chairs. Victoria and Angela stayed with herbal tea; Olivia, Buddy and Natalie opted for coffee. "Two herbals, three javas," he echoed.

Angela winked at him. At least she was in a good mood, in spite of everything. He heard the sound of another contraction as he left the room. Having company was good for her.

David walked outside to retrieve the newspaper. The sunlight had turned the moist lawn and garden into a sea of sparkling jewels. It heralded another hot day to come. But, for now, the cool, fragrant air revived him. It was not exactly coolness he felt; it was the absence of heat. Even though he grew up in Georgia, he had acquired a low tolerance for the extreme heat of summer. He envied his sister, Paula, who had moved to the Pacific Northwest and claimed to be perfectly comfortable with no air conditioning. He wondered when Paula would be arriving. It would be nice, he thought, to have one of his own family members present.

Back in the kitchen, he poured hot water over bags of herbal tea and got mugs out for coffee. As the pot made its last few noisy gurgles he opened the business section of the Washington Post to scan the headlines. He liked the business section. It was where he found all the news that mattered to him: new technologies, mergers, people making money, people losing money. He saw a picture of Jessica Van Buren, the Republican lawyer and business owner who was running for the House of Representatives. She had just proposed some new tax breaks for small technology start ups. David felt a wave of panic; he had to get his proposal in quickly. She was obviously going places and it would mean more business in the future.

David carried the hot beverages in on a tray. "Hot stuff, coming through," he said.

"Where's my doughnut?" said Olivia.

"It's with the scrambled eggs you're going to make for us," he said.

"I already had my turn making eggs, Mister Short-order cook," said Olivia.

"But I'm busy, my wife's in labor," he said.

"I could use a bite of fruit," said Angela.

"You need some calories," said Victoria.

"Okay, a little granola on the side, please," she added.

David hatched a plan while everyone sipped. "Since you have company, I was thinking of going to the office and working on the Van Buren proposal," he said.

"You're going to work! When your wife is in labor!" said Olivia.

"I'll only be three blocks away," he said.

"Forget Van Buren," said Angela. "She's one of those anti-tax nut cases anyway."

"But it's a valuable account. We need it," he said.

"Are you talking about Jessica Van Buren?" asked Victoria.

David and Angela nodded.

"I heard she was getting big donations from old electrical utilities that use coal-fired generators."

"See? We don't want a client we wouldn't vote for," said Angela.

"Our voting preferences have nothing to do with who our clients are," said David.

"It will come back to haunt you, trust me," said Buddy.

David groaned to himself; now it had become a family discussion. He wanted to run from the room.

Buddy loved an audience. "I fixed a toilet for a Republican representative and it got into the papers that I was one of his supporters because my truck was in front of his house. You see there was some kind of campaign meeting going on. They thought I was at the meeting. I've been voting Democrat for forty years! What are you talking about? Get this: after that I lost the client because he told his wife to only hire Republican plumbers."

Buddy laughed loudly. David saw a valuable account going down the drain. "This is crazy," he said to Angela. "We aren't big enough to be picky about our clients. We need to be apolitical."

"You got to have principles," said Natalie. "Nobody succeeds in business without principles. People will think you're a flake."

"There's no such thing as being apolitical," said Victoria.

The room was suddenly stuffy. David looked at Angela. He knew he wasn't hiding his frustration very well. But he got no sympathy from her direction. "I'm not voting for that woman," she said, "and I don't want to work for her. Dad's right. If our name is associated with her web site people will think we are on her team."

"Great. So much for growing the business."

Natalie patted him on the shoulder. "Tell you what. I'll make the breakfast. Do you have any bacon?"

"Mmm, I would love some bacon," said Olivia. Then she turned to Victoria. "Would you like bacon with your wheat toast?"

"I'm a vegetarian," said Victoria. David thought, of course.

All eyes were on David. He said, "It so happens we prepared for a crowd. About the only thing I still have any control over in my life is the refrigerator."

"Don't get too comfortable," warned Buddy.