"Oh my god!" I cried as I came home from a date to find my husband had packed his clothes and left the baby untended. The baby was choking on a bead and rolling around on the floor. I called the ambulance, just in time. I was in shock. All because I wanted a little fun out of life, my child almost lost his!
It all began the day Jeffy was born.
I was terribly unhappy. There I was, only 19 years old, saddled with a husband who drank so much that he couldn't satisfy me, and now with a baby too! Could my life get any more bleak?
I heard a soft knock on my door at the maternity ward. It wasn't my husband. You can bet he was out drunk somewhere. I nearly fell off the bed when I saw Brad, the guy who used to sit across from me in high school biology class, peeking shyly around the door. I remembered how I'd tease him in Mr. Gough's class by sliding my legs open just enough for his eyes only to reveal my panty-less bush. He'd give me a little smirk and I swear I could see a bulge grow under his jeans. How I missed those carefree days!
"Hey, Alice. Ginny told me you were having a baby, so I just dropped in to see how you was doin'. Are you up to some company?" His command of English wasn't the greatest, but he knew just what to say to cheer me up. Plus, he made up for his ignorance with his looks. Dark eyes, thick brown hair curling around his head. Long, muscular legs straining against his tight jeans. Strong arms tanned from working outside building houses. He'd be a good catch for this Ginny person, whoever she was. I pretended I knew who he was talking about, not wanting him to know I'd forgotten her.
"Why, Brad. How sweet of you. Tell Ginny I said hi, won't ya? That asshole I married is out drunk somewhere, as usual! I'm so depressed, I don't know what I'll do!"
"Whoa, I know how to handle depression. Shoot me a text when you get home from this place. We'll go out dancin'."
"Oh, Brad, that sounds wonderful! John will never even notice I'm gone."
"What a dickweed! If I was him, I'd sure keep you home, and not by force either!"
I texted Brad as soon as I got home from the hospital. John was asleep. I left a note, just in case he got worried. Ha! That's a laugh. He'd be dead to the world for two days, sleeping off all that beer he'd drunk during the Super Bowl. It was my turn now to have some fun. I dropped little Jeffy off at my best friend Sue's house. I told her I had some shopping to do and that John was sleeping off a hangover. She was thrilled to take care of my baby. She's very maternal. Well, good for her, I say. I heard her cooing like a moron as I closed the door behind me. I was satisfied Jeffy was in good hands.
I met Brad at a singles bar in the big town across the river. He bought me a Singapore Sling and he had a whiskey sour. The band was really hot, a blues-boogie band, real Southern chooglin' style.
Brad and I don't like disco, or whatever you call that electronic stuff, at all. I call it disco and I don't care what anybody else calls it. All I know is, it's for candy-asses who don't know how to get down and boogie like real people. We were such a hot couple on the dance floor that night, everybody kept ogling us. The chicks all wished they were me, and the guys couldn't take their eyes off my big tits. I felt like a queen, or maybe a princess. Brad glowed with pride.
After about two hours of drinking and dancing, I felt really good. I completely forgot I was a new mother. I was just a carefree girl out on a first date with a hot new guy.
"And why shouldn't I be?" I thought. "I'm only nineteen. Everybody else my age does this every weekend. I'm no different from them!" At my wedding the girls thought I was so lucky. John was still cute, and his future was all mapped out. He was going to take over his dad's shoe store's new branch. I thought I was set for life.
My friends envied me but swore they'd keep in touch. That promise sure got broken fast. Faster than you can say, "Johnny jump up!"
They're too busy getting laid by some new guy every week, it seems. They go out camping, or hang-gliding, and get into all kinds of wild things I've never even heard of. Things I'll never get a chance to do. Or would I?
Brad was taking quite an interest in me lately. "It's probably just out of pity," I thought. After all, I still had that mommy-weight to lose.
"If we keep on dancing like this, it'll be gone soon!" I shouted over the music.