I looked behind me. The lights were off, but the dark outlines of cribs show’d that they’d been moved back into their normal places. More than any other piece of baby furniture, cribs gave me the willies. It was a reminder that we were prisoners. Even my students got to lay down on floor mats. It wouldn’t take much for an Amazon to lift the rail up as I was putting a fitted sheet on a mattress.
“Sure,” I said. It was a testament to just how much I trusted her. I winced at a minor stomach cramp. Nothing major. “How was your summer?”
Beouf let out a throaty sigh. “Ugh. Probably the last good one I’ll have for a while.”
“Why’s that?”
“My daughter’s about ready to pop.”
Pop? The lightbulb went on. “Oh yeah, I forgot. You’re about to be a grandmother. “
“Moved her and her husband back in. Shopped around for baby furniture. The whole shebang.”
I didn’t know much about Beouf’s family; but I knew her daughter didn’t marry a rich man. So moving back in made sense. Amazons could ask for help without having to worry about being diapered. “Shopped for names yet?”
Beouf shook her head. “Not that they’re telling me. Her and her husband want things to be a surprise. They don’t even know if it’s gonna be a boy or a girl. Had to buy a bunch of yellow, green and red stuff. Pinks and blues not allowed.”
I laughed politely. “Sounds like they want to get to know their baby first before they make any decisions about it.”
My coworker stroked her chin lightly. “Hadn’t thought about it like that,” she admitted. “Sounds a little bit like adoption when you put it like that.”
Damnit. Way to go Beouf. So typical. Another gnawing in my gut that was only partially anxiety related. My anxiety was only getting worse, and I needed things to get back to normal. I badly needed it.
“Got your class roster, yet?” I asked. It was a shit question. Pointless. Beouf had almost a hundred percent roll over from year to year. But it was the first thing I thought of when it came to steering the conversation away from adoption…even if it was only a half-step away.
Beouf frowned. “Yeah…”
I arched an eyebrow and frowned as another cramp pinched my gut. I had to get used to coffee again. “What’s up?”
She avoided eye contact and took her glasses off. “I went through my roster yesterday so I could stock the bathroom. Not all my kids are coming back.”
I wanted to shrug. ‘You’ll get new ones,’ is not something I cared to say, even in comfort to Beouf. “Moved? Private daycare?”
“Worse,” she said. “Taylor’s parents transferred her to New Beginnings.”
“Oh….oh wow…” I had no idea who Taylor was. As a rule, I tried to avoid learning the names of Beouf’s ‘students’. It was less painful that way. Only Ivy stayed in my memory banks for long, and she didn’t really count, being Mrs. Zoge’s doll.
I did however, know about New Beginnings. Damn. That poor woman.
“Her parents thought I wasn’t strict enough with her. Her Maturosis was mild. The data around her developmental plateau was showing that she’d be better off in Pull-Ups. Diapers only for naptime. But they just wanted me to unpotty train that girl.”
I stayed silent. I had no idea how to attack a place like New Beginnings without attacking Beouf. They were both doing essentially the same thing, even if Beouf was a lot gentler about it.