As I walked into Wal-Mart I saw Connie Moreno setting huddled on an outside bench and it looked like she had been crying.
Since I knew her for several years I walked up and asked, "What's wrong? Where are Chris and your grandmother?"
She looked up at me, still holding herself and said "Chris and I had another nasty argument here and he left me. Grandma is at her sisters. Aunt Clem is sick and in the hospital in Brenham, TX."
"OK. I'll give you a ride home. Did you do your shopping yet?" I asked.
"No. I can't" she said as she straightened up lowering her arms.
The whole front of her pale blue blouse from mid-chest down was bathed in whitish fluid.
I understood at once. Connie had recently delivered a premature baby that was still in the hospital after about two months. She was lactating.
She started crying again and huddled back down.
I said "Look I can go in and get you a sweatshirt, towel, and a package of diapers. Then you can go into the bathroom, cleanup, and change. Sorry, but I'm not going thru the bra section trying to find you a nursing bra. The diaper will work till you get home."
"Would you please?" she asked.
I went in and made those purchases, returned and gave them to her. As she turned to leave I said, "You do your shopping, after you cleanup, and we'll meet out at my truck. OK?" She nodded and we went our separate ways.
About thirty minutes later we met at the truck and I started toward our homes.
When we got there, I pulled into her homes driveway, which was across and down the street from mine. I started to get out helping carry her groceries inside, when I saw the door was hanging crookedly open.
I told her to stay in the truck and handed her my phone, so she could call if there was trouble inside.
Inside I found someone had broken in, looted, and tore it up. TV, stereo, computer, and other valuables were gone. Everything was thrown about, broken, and ransacked. The refrigerator and the cupboard shelves were stripped of food.
I came back out and called the sheriff's department and told them we would wait for them outside in the driveway.
Within fifteen minutes they arrived with sirens blaring. They quickly inspected the house, took a report, photographed everything and made a list of the missing items.
They told Connie that, "They would do everything they could to find Chris and his pals. It was strongly stated that she shouldn't stay here, in case he/they came back."
Before they left she went inside and packed a suitcase of clothes and a box of stuff. Then the sheriffs shut and secured the doors the best they could.
After they left we sat in my truck and talked about what to do. She said "She couldn't stay with her friends, because they would be scared of Chris and his friends. Her family lived too far away to go there. But the biggest problems were staying close to her baby in the hospital and her employers would be back end of the week."
Finally I said "it's too hot for us to set in a pickup in the middle of a Texas summer sun and talk. Let's go to my house, where it's cool." We drove back to my house, parked under the carport and went inside.
Sitting in the kitchen drinking sweet tea, I asked about her baby and this job she had, because I hadn't known she was working yet.
She happily talked about how strong Clint was getting and how well he was progressing. That maybe next week he could come home.
She was working as a wet nurse for a family that lived in town, but they had to go out of town for a family event. Before they left she had expressed enough breast milk to last them all the time they would be gone plus some. She stated proudly she was furnishing Clint all his milk too.
After she said this she started crying. When I asked why was she crying again.
She answered, "I had about 20 feedings expressed in the freezer and I just realized they were gone and so was my pump. That Bastard Chris did it!
She called the Wal-Mart to see if they had a pump, which they didn't. Then she called the hospital and talked to the doctor on duty in the NICU and told her about what Chris had done.
The doctor said "She could have pump tomorrow afternoon late. She also said Chris wouldn't be allowed in the nursery till this was worked out and the police and I said it was OK".
Connie went to the bathroom twice with a cup and a small funnel trying to express her milk, but came back out after a few minutes.
When I asked if that was working she said "Not well".
After thinking about her problem I came up with an idea of something that might help. After gathering a few things from the kitchen I went out to my shop. After a few tries the homemade breast pump I built seemed to work.
When I went in and showed her how I had drilled a hole in the side near the top of a cup and placed a new turkey baster in the hole.
She was excited to try it as she told me she was in pain. We washed everything well and put it together. She got a basin of clean water, wash cloth and towel.
As I started to leave she asked me to stay in case she needed help. I sat back down. She opened her blouse and removed the diaper covering her breasts.
As she cleaned them I saw that her breasts were large with the skin stretched taut; the wide areolas with darker brown skin than her normal honey colored skin, and her nipples wide as a little finger and about ¾ of an inch long.
When she tried to use the pump it worked, but it was too big for her to get a good seal and pump out the milk. She asked me to try. I really didn't want to get up and show the effects of her breasts had on me, but reluctantly I did.
After a few slow pumps we had to empty the cup into a plastic sack lined bottle. We pumped about 3 sacks out of each breast before the pumping slowed and stopped.
