Bumper thump, Mary. Kent's beautiful T-shaped family axle slammed into the frame of the garage door, cracks and pits immediately appeared on the white-painted surface, and she looked in the rearview mirror, frustrated and tired — the car whimpered a few feet forward, she tightened the steering wheel, adjusted its direction little by little, and looked down again and again — making sure she was on the brake pedal, the forward pedal or the reverse pedal with her left and right feet. The vehicle salesperson told her that it was a very good, high-performance, uniquely conceived gearing system that "works as smoothly as the planets orbit the sun!" "But so far, Mary. Kent had never felt that—if anything, the car reminded her of the stars of the universe, it was probably its elusive condition and massive, but eroded frame, and the all-pervasive bumps that it claimed to be able to drive on any kind of road, but that you had to endure all the time.

The car was owned by her husband Robert. In Kent, Mary originally had a car of her own, but it had a problem three months ago; It just so happened that Kent's new place of work was thousands of miles away in the District of Harrington, and the company arranged a dormitory for him, and he took the subway home once a month - no need for a car, so it was logical that Mary took over this beautiful looking waste, she didn't think about buying another car, but now she was pregnant and resting at home, Kent had just changed his new job, and the family's savings had been removed by a zero because of the inheritance tax, and all kinds of current conditions forced them to make some sacrifices in some places. Anyway, the car is still good on a flat road.

The garage door slammed shut in front of the front window. The garage was plunged into darkness for a moment, and then the light sensor lights came on, and Mary was glad that the impact had not affected the garage door, although it was a bit of a delay in the descent - otherwise the maintenance fee would be an additional expense, she looked at the child in the back seat from the rearview mirror, and tilted her head: "Okay, dear, get out of the car." She said.

Anne and Dolores quickly unbuckled their seatbelts, picked up their school bags, opened the car door and jumped in.

Dolores ran out of the garage without looking back, and it wasn't long before Mary could hear her footsteps rattling on the floor of the hallway leading to the left, the kitchen, "No ice water, no ice cream," Mary shouted as she stuck her head out of the window, "Milk is not allowed." But she knew that it was mostly useless, and every time she had to go to the kitchen to get the little trickster out, the problem was that she was twenty-seven weeks pregnant, and her belly was already very visibly bulging, and her legs and feet were swollen, and every time she walked, she felt like she was stepping on a puddle of mud, and every step was heavier and heavier, and finally it could sink so hard that she could walk.

Mary got out of the car, Anne did not leave, she obediently went behind Mary, closed the door, Mary comfortingly stroked the little girl's head, in the dim yellow light of the sensor lamp, Anne saw her lips move slightly, but after all, she still did not say anything.

Mary pulled Dolores out of the fridge, and Anne stayed in the kitchen, Mary was not doing well today, but she had to drive to school to pick up Dolores...... Of course, there was herself, so today she cooked dinner, which was not bad, and Mary's food was getting worse, either half-cooked or misplaced - the little girl quickly took out the vegetables, meat, butter and cheese from the fridge, and an hour later she went upstairs to call Dolores and Mary, Dolores came down quickly, she was hungry, but Mary had fallen asleep in bed.

"What are you going to eat today?" The porcelain plate was staggered by Dolores' fork, and its feet swayed restlessly under the table.

"Eggplant meat, grilled chicken wings, and corn soup. Honey apple pie"

"I hate vegetable juices." Dolores frowned at a glass of dark green juice and stuck out her tongue as if she were vomiting.

"That's not for you," said Anne, "it's for Mary, and vegetable juice is good for pregnant women." ”

Dolores shrugged her shoulders, she was attracted to the eggplant meat, which was an interesting dish from the outside—Anne sautéed the dug eggplant meat, chopped onions, garlic cloves, tomatoes, bell peppers, and coriander, then put in the seasoning, stuffed it into the eggplant shell with the cheese and bread cubes, and roasted it in the oven, the golden cheese melted, giving off an enticing sweet aroma, Dolores put a fork deep into the eggplant, turned the contents out, and said, "What is this?" She asked, looking suspiciously at the little black thing on the shiny white fork, "It looks like rat droppings." ”

"Don't be stupid, that's spice, Mary has a bad appetite, I'll use this to appetize her."

"You know so much."

"If you're willing to spend your time playing with boys reading books, you can do that."

"You love to lose your appetite at this time, Mother Anne."

Mother Anne made a straight face: "If you talk again, there will be no chicken wings." ”

***

The next morning Mary's condition got worse, she hesitated to go to the hospital, but finally went to the medicine box to find some medicine, and half an hour later, she announced that she was better, but in the end Anne made breakfast.

While waiting for the school bus, Dolores kept complaining about Anne's poor breakfast today, thinking that she might throw up on the bus.

Anne had a headache, but luckily the school bus came before she could take it any longer.

The orange-yellow boxy box car slowly stopped, the driver got out of the car, pulled the red STOP sign on the side of the car, and Dolores, who suddenly became lively, pushed Anne and the other children away, and as usual, the first one rushed into the car...... She had wanted to sit in her old seat, a single seat in the first row, but changed her mind when she saw a handful of soft blond-brown hair. When Anne and the other children came up, they were surprised to find Dolores, who had never wanted to huddle with anyone else, sitting next to each other with a new person they had never met.

Perhaps Anne should be excepted, because the new kid was none other than Sasha, a precocious freshman, whose father was the new teacher in St. Thomas, who had only visited the whole campus yesterday, and Anne was Sasha's guide, and Dolores ...... It is visited.

Dolores gave up his throne, but the other children didn't dare to sit on it, they all witnessed a fifth-grader being dragged down by Dolores and falling and crying.

Anne didn't take her seat, she walked over and propped her hands between the backs of the two chairs, "Where is your place, Dolores, you never liked to sit with others. ”

"Indeed." Dolores gave a wicked smile: "But I know you want to sit with him." ”

Anne pursed her lips, her eyebrows furrowed together.

Dolores smiled even more. She lifted one foot and stepped on the back of her chair.

"Put your feet down," Anne said coldly, "and fasten your seatbelts." She glanced at Sasha, said good morning, and turned to sit down in Dolores' place.

The children, as well as the driver who came up at some point, looked at the three of them with a grin, and the female driver, who was in her forties, winked at Sasha before starting the school bus.

Sasha looked out the window, he had nothing to say.

The carriage was quiet, but Dolores didn't seem ready to let the new boy go, she took off her bag, tucked it between herself and the armrest of the two-seater, and leaned over as much as she could, as if trying to squeeze Sasha into the corner of the seat, even twisting her legs and upper body at an uncomfortable angle.

Sasha really didn't know whether to remind the little girl that the seat of the school bus could accommodate two muscular adults...... Not to mention that it was only two children around ten years old, and with a fixed-position seat belt, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't occupy the entire seat.

Dolores struggled for at least five minutes, and after realizing that her attempt had failed, she kicked the back in front of her in annoyance.

"Why are you on the school bus?" She squinted at the boy with the pretty face, like an adult, watching her mess around, neither panicked nor angry: "Why didn't you let your father send you?" Did his job search fail? ”

Sasha looked at her, "No," he patiently replied, "The teacher is going to come to school early, I guess you know?" ”

Dolores wrinkled her nose and waved her right hand as if to chase away a fart that happened to be placed in front of her, "Of course I know, but he can get you there early, you can stay in his office." ”

"It's not in order."

Dolores stared at Sasha for a moment as if he had seen an alien—he meant it.

She's really starting to hate this guy.

***

Mary found herself soiling the sheets again.

From the third month of pregnancy, she always has abdominal pain in the early morning, not for a long time, but it will leave a dark brown stain, but the doctor said that this is a normal phenomenon when pregnant, only heavy bleeding needs attention, but in Wedulores she did not have this problem, she has been a little worried, once thought about changing one, but this doctor is selected from the detailed list of obstetricians and gynecologists and hospitals in the location provided by the insurance company, if you need to go to the insurance company to go through a procedure, This was a big trouble for her to get pregnant, and the result has been delayed until now.

The vague abdominal pain ended after Mary changed the sheets, and Mary was relieved that the doctor's private practice was not far from her home, but now she was not willing to take even a single step.

After calling the doctor to inform her of another bleeding and abdominal pain, and getting a routine answer, Mary moved herself to the study, where she prepared to write a letter to her husband.

Dolores was in trouble again, and while she was being punished, she yelled at the new teachers and classmates who came to visit the campus, losing face to herself and the Church of St. Thomas Elementary School.

Mr. Humbert, the head of St. Thomas' Church Elementary School, warned her that if there was a next time, he would dissuade Dolores. She didn't know what she would do if things did get to that point. In addition to St. Thomas, the nearest elementary school is also fifty kilometers away.

Mary finished writing the letter...... Hesitant and ...... She crumpled the letter into a ball of paper and threw it through the window into the garden.

She wrote another.

The letter said that everything was fine.

(To be continued)