Excerpt: Untitled, as of yet

Judith Delilah Reynolds slid from the relative safety of her mother’s womb at the same moment her older brother, Kristopher Wayne Reynolds, popped the last corner of his ham and cheese sandwich into his mouth and a car horn sounded from the driveway.

Hers was a perfectly normal birth. Her mother labored for about seven hours, under the influence of all the normal drugs, and after a couple of intense pushes, Judi came screaming out into the world.

“She’s perfect, absolutely perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes and her mother’s cute button nose,” Kris’s dad told an openly weeping Mrs. Conroy as Mr. Conroy stood at her right elbow, nodding with practicality. Kris stood under his father’s arm, dipping his head in a goodbye to his friend Brian as the Conroys congratulated the family and took their leave.

Once the room had cleared, Carl Reynolds turned his son to face him. His smile was almost contagious.

“I’m so sorry we had to miss the game, Buddy. You understand.” He gestured in the general direction of his wife’s labor room.

“Sure, Dad. Of course.” He shuffled his feet a little.

“Thanks Bud. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Cool.” He waited for his dad to ask about the game but his father had already turned to walk back to the nurse’s desk to check on his wife and new daughter. Once Judi had been taken away and swaddled and placed into her mother’s arms, Carl had been shooed from the room so his wife could give her daughter her first milk.

Kris exhaled an older man’s sigh and turned to find a seat.