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Chevon
Chevon’s mom was acting suspiciously. She’d told her that she needed help with something and asked her to get dressed. Then, as Chevon was coming down the stairs, she’d looked up at her and said, “That’s what you’re wearing?”
Chevon stopped and stared at her. “What’s wrong with this? Where are we going?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there. Go make yourself presentable.”
Chevon didn’t move. “I am presentable.”
Her mother sighed dramatically. “Go put on nice clothes and some makeup. And do something with your hair.”
What was going on? Her mother walked away, and Chevon realized that she wasn’t going to get an explanation, so she went back up the stairs to change.
With a little makeup on, her hair in a neat ponytail, and fresh clothes, she came back down the stairs. Her mother looked her up and down. She still didn’t look impressed, but she didn’t complain this time. “Come on, we’re late.”
What on earth was going on? She followed her mother out to the car.
As they drove away, her mom smacked her gum incessantly. Was she nervous about something? “Mom, is something wrong?” Had her mother changed her mind? Was she whisking her away to some clinic somewhere? She knew her father still wasn’t okay with everything, even though he had finally said that it was Chevon’s decision.
“Everything’s great.” Her body language suggested otherwise, but Chevon did not argue.
She pulled onto Jason’s street and started to slow down. Chevon’s heart raced. The not knowing was making her ill. When they pulled into Jason’s driveway, her mother said, “Don’t worry, he’s expecting you.”
“What?”
Her mother gave her a tired look. “I didn’t want your father to know where I was taking you, but Jason wanted to see you.”
“Mom! You’re so devious!”
“No, I’m not. And don’t ever call me that again.” She smiled and her voice softened. “Now, get out of my car. I love you. Go have fun with your boyfriend.”
Chevon giggled at the absurdity of it all, leaned over and gave her mom a peck on the cheek, and then got out of the car. She hadn’t been expecting this, but now that the opportunity had dropped into her lap, she was excited to see Jason. She walked up to his door and knocked while her mother drove away.
Jason opened the door immediately, looked her up and down, and said, “You look beautiful!”
She grinned bashfully. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
He stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him. He gave her a quick kiss, which she awkwardly accepted. It was so weird having a boyfriend. It was even weirder that said boyfriend was Jason.
“I’d invite you in, but we’re already late.”
She knew that he was trying to keep her away from his mother, and she didn’t mind. She wasn’t quite ready to deal with Mrs. DeGrave. “Late for what?”
He smiled mischievously. “You’ll see. Come on.”
The car hadn’t even warmed up before they reached their destination. New Beginnings Church. She looked at him. “I already promised to go to church tomorrow. Do I really need to go on a Saturday too?”
He grinned and jumped out of the car. With less eagerness, she climbed out too and looked up at the church. “What, are we here to celebrate the anniversary of my great stand?”
He laughed and wrapped his arm around her waist. This sent a thrill coursing through her. “No, I hadn’t even thought of that.” He looked at the church. “Wow, it’s been a week. That feels like a long time ago.”
Sometimes it did. Sometimes it felt like just minutes ago.
He smiled down at her. “But from now on I am going to call that Chevon’s Great Stand.” He said the words in a deep, rumbly voice.
She giggled.
“Come on.” He took her hand and led her toward the steps.
The weird man from church sat on the front steps.
“Hey, Jason. You know what’s going on in there?”
“Hey, Derek. I do, but don’t worry, I don’t think you want to be a part of it.”
What did that mean? Suddenly Chevon was scared. Were they staging some sort of religious intervention for her? She didn’t know how much more Jesus she could take. But the man on the step seemed to accept this explanation, and they walked past him through the first door. As Jason opened the second door for her, before her eyes could adjust to the dimmer lighting, a bunch of people yelled, “Surprise!” and scared the tar out of her. She jumped, her hands flew to her mouth, and then she turned and punched Jason.
“Ow!” he cried.
“Sorry,” she said quickly. She wiped at his chest as if trying to wipe her punch off. After years of being his buddy, it was hard to transition to being his girlfriend.
He took her hand and smiled, and she could see the affection in his eyes.
“It’s not good for the baby to get so scared.”
“Oh, stop it. Come on.” He led her to a giant circle of chairs, almost all of which were full. Many of the women from church were there, as well as some of her friends from school. Her grandmother from out of state was there, as was her aunt. And when her eyes fell on her mother, she started crying. “Mom,” she said and then stopped, at a loss for words.
Her mom started crying too. She got up and came to Chevon and wrapped her arms around her. She kissed her on the temple and then let go. “Come on, honey, sit. You have a lot of gifts to open.”
Gifts! Of course. She’d figured out this was a shower, but she hadn’t yet connected the dots—there would be gifts. Her eyes drifted to a table buried in pastel wrapping paper. Bunnies, elephants, ducks galore. Frogs and trains and giraffes. She giggled nervously. She had never felt so far out of her element.
Jason stepped closer and kissed her on the cheek. “This is a no-dude zone, so I’m going to leave you.” He leaned even closer and whispered, “I love you. Have fun.”
Zoe’s grandmother got up and patted an armchair by the present table. “Go ahead, Chevon. We gave you the comfy seat.”
Chevon went and sat, and when she did, an incredible peace settled over her. She didn’t like crowds, she didn’t love being around strangers, and she didn’t like a whole bunch of people staring at her, and yet she found herself completely comfortable and content. What a bizarre experience. She wondered if it was pregnancy hormones.
“I know this is a bit early for a baby shower,” Rachel said, “but we wanted to be sure you knew how much we’re behind you. And now”—she swept her arm toward the table of gifts— “you’ll know what you have ahead of time so you can figure out what you still need.”
Chevon couldn’t imagine needing anything more than what was there. But then again, she had no clue what it took to raise a baby—no matter how many very thick books her mother bought her.
“I was trying to plan some games,” Rachel continued, “but then we had such an outpouring of gifts that we decided to skip the games because it might take you all day to open the presents.”
Chevon sat there speechless.
Rachel clapped her hands and reached for one of the packages. “So then. Welcome to your shower. Now get to work.” She handed the first package over to Chevon.
Feeling incredibly conspicuous, Chevon started unwrapping.
It was a stuffed duck. She found it rather unexciting but pretended to be delighted and held it up for all to see.
“Is that a stuffed duck?” Vicky sounded disgusted.
“It’s not just a stuffed duck,” one of the women explained. “It’s a womb duck.”
“A womb what?” Vicky cried.
The woman didn’t answer her.
“Barbara! What on earth is a womb duck?” Vicky demanded.
The woman named Barbara looked annoyed. “A womb duck mimics the sound of the mother’s heartbeat as the baby heard it in the womb. Then, when the baby is trying to fall asleep, the sound of the womb duck comforts her.”
“Oh.” Apparently, Vicky had deemed this a worthwhile gift.
