“We’ve stabilized your wife. She lost some blood, which caused her blood pressure to drop. We want to take her to surgery and do a Caesarian,” he informed me.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Mom.
“Tell them to go ahead.”
I just nodded. They needed me to sign a form. I didn’t even think about being too young, I just signed the release form.
Greg, Mom and Dad all showed up about the same time. Luckily, Mom had filled them in as to what was going on. Greg had been taking a final and had turned off his phone. Dad forgot his at home. I hadn’t even thought about just calling the country club. Mom’s excuse was she’d sold a farm and had been in a bad cell area.
I became an uncle thirty minutes later. Nathan Edward Dawson was born at 4:35 p.m. He and Angie were doing fine. I missed the birth because I was put in charge of picking up Mac and Kyle at daycare. Greg had called ahead so there weren’t any problems with me picking up my niece and nephew.
They were bouncing off the walls when they saw Unca David was there to pick them up. When we got to their apartment, Mac informed me they wanted a snack. I found Angie had tangerines so I peeled them each one and removed the seeds.
While I had them occupied with their snacks, I went to the bathroom and cleaned up the mess.
I will admit that I might not be the best uncle: I fed them toaster waffles and pudding for dinner. They didn’t seem to like any of my other suggestions. After dinner, we played for a while, then I got some blankets and we snuggled up in front of the couch and watched Finding Nemo.
Greg found us all asleep. I woke up when he picked up Mac to take her to bed. I picked up Kyle and tagged along. We put them in their beds and then he joined me in the living room. When the door was closed, he pulled me into a tight hug. I could tell he was emotional.
“Angie told me what you did. She said she felt dizzy and knew something wasn’t right when the contractions started to come too quickly. Thank you for coming and getting her. The doctor told me the placenta tore from the wall of her uterus, causing some bleeding. I guess it’s normal to have some, but this was more serious. I hate to think what might have happened.”
“Do you have pictures?” I asked, trying to get his mind on what was important—his wife and new baby.
He wiped his eyes and got his phone out. I fell in love with the little guy at first sight. I could see the pride Greg had for his second son.
I STOPPED AT A DRUGSTORE and got boxes of bubble-gum cigars with blue wrappers that announced that it was ‘A Boy.’ I planned to hand them out at school tomorrow. I walked into the kitchen and gave a box to Dad and one to Mom. They could take them to work.
I then grabbed a bucket and rag to go clean my Jeep. Duke came out and helped me. I think his job was to make sure no squirrels invaded his territory. When I was done, I forwarded little Nathan’s picture to everyone and posted it on my social media pages.
Tuesday May 12
I HAD ONE OF MY WORST days in a long time. I’d obviously left my brain at home today. It’d been a little over a week since I pissed off Coach Hope by knocking his son out. He was our substitute teacher for Coach Stevens. The lesson plan was to review for our Geometry final. He’d drawn a trapezoid on the board with three angles identified and told us to find ‘X’, the measure of the fourth angle.
I, in my infinite wisdom, had decided it would better to study for my English Lit exam, which was next period. Everyone furiously worked out the answer. I think all teachers have a sixth sense as to who was paying attention and who wasn’t. Normally I’d be one of those who did listen. I think I may have counted on Coach Hope ignoring me. Wrong.
“David, you seem to be done. Come up to the board and show us how you found ‘X.’” Coach Hope challenged.
If he planned to embarrass me in front of the class, I would at least try and take a stab at the answer. I glanced over at Pam’s sheet, and she had ‘24’ circled. Pam was a ‘C’ student, so I wasn’t confident she was right. Then I was inspired.
“Sir, could you repeat the question?” I asked.
“Please find X.”
I looked at the trapezoid. Angle A was 87°, angle B was 94°, and angle C was 98°. Angle X was unknown.
I knew 24 wasn’t the right answer. I’d have to get Pam into her study group before our test on Thursday. I felt my classmates’ eyes drill into my back. I decided to go with my inspired idea. I walked up the board and circled ‘X’ and stepped back.
Coach looked at me, at the board, then at me again. He then looked back at the board and blinked.
“And?” he prodded.
“You said to find X. It’s right there,” I answered.
I guess he no longer had a sense of humor since he sent me to the office. I had to explain to the vice-principal why I was there. She at least found the humor in what I’d said. She agreed that technically I was right and sent me to my English Lit final.
AFTER SCHOOL, I TOOK Cassidy’s spot and ran sixty minutes of hell so she could study for finals. We had a small turnout since it was finals week, but we decided to go ahead and hold the workout. I know I always was more focused after I’d exercised.
When I got home, I found my trusty hound was full of energy. Since I still had my workout clothes on, I took Duke for a run. He’d started to get big and Dad had told me he was about 80% grown. He was currently being a teenager and acted like a total goof half the time. I had gotten him a retractable leash so he could have some freedom while we ran. His stamina had gotten much better. We did a quick mile run to bleed off some of his built-up energy.
I took him up to my apartment and showered. Dad told me over the intercom that dinner was almost ready. Duke and I went to the kitchen to find Peggy Pratt helping my dad cook. It reminded me of when we dated. I wondered what was going on.
It was amazing how we fell right back into our old patterns. Mom arrived just as we sat down to eat. She gave me a curious look and I just shrugged. I had no idea why Peggy was here. Ever since she started dating Mitch we had been friendly, but I’d taken a step back to give them their space. She seemed happy, so I left it alone, even though I couldn’t really stand the guy. It wasn’t anything specific, just something about him rubbed me the wrong way. I had never delved into it very much because it felt a lot like jealousy. To be honest, that was part of it; but, just because you think people are out to get you, doesn’t mean it isn’t so.
After dinner Peggy, Duke and I went to my apartment. I planned to study. Peggy had other plans. She sat down on the couch next to me and then pulled me into a kiss. I was so shocked I let her kiss me. I’m ashamed to admit to being an active participant since Peggy had always been one of my favorite people to kiss. The thought of Mitch kept flashing in the back of my mind. I was about to stop her when she started to cry.
A guy’s first reaction was always to try and fix something. Tami had pounded into me it might be better to let my first reaction pass. She explained I was a ‘stupid boy’ and should let women decide what to do. Tami had said something about girls being smarter than boys when it came to stuff like this. I fell back on what any Dawson would do in this situation: I shut up and just comforted her. Peggy would tell me her story when she was ready.
“David, are you my friend?”
“Of course, I am.”
“No, I want you to think about your answer before you say you are.”
I didn’t know what she was getting at, but it was something big. My first thought was her parents were getting a divorce. Peggy had moved in with us for a week when things had gotten bad last fall. I wasn’t sure what we would do if she needed to move in again. Greg and Angie planned to come home for the summer and the extra bedrooms would be taken. I didn’t see her living with me as a good option, especially if she were dating Mitch. I didn’t think he would appreciate her sharing my bed, even if nothing happened. The bottom line was if she needed help, I would be there for her.