reaching out

It felt so quiet in the house. Bella actually laid in bed listening to the birds sing outside in the early morning. It made her smile and yet she felt so sad. The new place was so empty. It would take time to get things, she guessed, and she couldn't be on Fish's case about it. As it was he was getting ready for new teachers' orientation and then after that was a three week work shop for music teachers and there was something else after that. It seemed endless.

And her stomach was growing. In spite of daily yoga, learning the Turkish bump and other exercise to try to keep her calm, the baby was coming. She was faithful with her diabetic diet of small snacks through the day, and all the blood testing to check her level of sugar in her system. She did all this to keep from taking insulin shots. But it left her a nervous wreck most of the time. She'd get shaky and be happy with salsa on rice cakes.

Of course there was the crocheting with Whitney. Bella really enjoyed the company. She loved to hear about Rosco and Charlotte's spats. Did she know how Rachel was doing? "I bet she's big as a cow," Bella would find herself saying and wishing she hadn't. Why was she like that? Really, she wanted Whitney to know she could be a nice person. It just took a lot of effort to do and really, it wasn't the number one thing on her mind. She knew Whitney dreaded coming over on weekends to work the kinks out with these hats. As it was she was knee deep in little crochet rose buds. Not actually, there were boxes of them in the empty bedroom. She'd decided to make that her temporary craft room in the basement.

As she laid there in bed, she finally thought maybe she might do something nice for Whitney. But what?

She got up then and went to the kitchen to make Fish coffee. Maybe she'd make him breakfast. She rarely did. Usually, he slept as late as he could and ran around in his underwear for the longest time trying to get ready.

It was a weird feeling indeed. Wanting to be nice to people. She got out some deli ham and cut it into little squares. She put it in an omelet for Fish. She sprinkled some of her low-fat cheese on it too.

As she worked with the eggs and put them in the skillet to set, she knew he'd rather have waffles, but the waffle maker was her Mom's. She'd have to get it.

Soon Fish smelled the coffee. He came into the kitchen just in his briefs to pour himself some coffee.

"You're up."

There was whole wheat bread in the toaster browning.

He sat down at the old table in the kitchen, and she brought him his plate.

"Nice." He smiled looking at his breakfast. The egg was a little messy and gooey, but he didn't seem to mind as he dug in with a fork.

"What can I do for Whitney?" Bella sipped her decaffeinated tea. She poured agave syrup on toast and ate it.

"I have no idea." Fish sighed. "What does she like?"

"Beats me." Bella shrugged.

"Sounds like you need to get to know her." This ended up being Fish's best advice. He ate up in time to take a shower with Gib. "You'll think of something," Fish said later as he was about to leave. "You always do."

He gave her a good-bye kiss and went to work.

Bella sighed with a smile. She wondered if Whitney knew how to belly dance.