Momfriends (13 page)

“Oh, shit!” I yelled.

“Shit, what?” Ruth asked.

“I think I—” but I wasn’t sure. Maybe it wasn’t true, but I realized that it was. I had locked the keys in the car. And I locked Sage in the car. “Can you take her back a minute?”

“Sure,” Ruth said, still confused. I sprinted down the steps and tried to open the front door. For Sage’s sake, I kept a big smile on my face when I realized the door was in fact locked. I looked down on the floor, and I could see the top of my key chain sitting at the top of the diaper bag. This could get ugly fast.

“Sage, can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” He looked concerned.

“Mama just has to . . .” But what, what was I going to do? We had never made that other set of keys. It was one of the things that slipped through the cracks. I drove this truck more than David, and if he drove it, it was usually when we were together.

A car pulled up along side my truck. A woman rolled down her window.

“Are you getting out,” she asked

“Not yet,” I said, brightly for Sage’s sake. The woman drove off.

“Honey, I forgot to tell Ruth something, I’ll be right back, ok. You’re doing a great job being patient. Thank you.”

Sage didn’t say anything, but he didn’t cry so I figured I had a few minutes to pull it together and figure out what to tell him. As I started back up Ruth’s walkway, I heard him start to yell. Great.

“Mommy, Mommy, Mommmmmmeeeeeee!”

I turned back. “Yes, honey, don’t worry, I’ll be right there.”

“No forget Naomi.”

“Of course not, honey,” I said. I raced back up to where Ruth was bouncing Naomi and glancing nervously back at Abe.

“What’s up?” She asked.

“I locked my keys in the car.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, shit. You want me to take her so you can check on him,” I said. I extended my arms, and she gave me Naomi. She went back in her house and checked on Abe. I feared that any minute these two babies were going to lose it and we moms wouldn’t be far behind. But Abe seemed ok, still milk drunk from his feeding. How could I be so frazzled? My cell phone was in my diaper bag, too. “Oh, can I borrow your phone and maybe a phone book. Do you have one?”

“You can have the phone, the phone book . . .” She looked around the living room. She picked up the phone and walked it back over to me, still looking.

“It’s ok, I can call information,” I said. “I mean if that’s ok.”

“Sure,” she said. “Hey, do you have triple A?”

“No. Shit.”

“Don’t worry I do,” Ruth said.

“Cool. Um, can you take her back for a minute, I’m going to just check on Sage.” I handed Naomi off again.

David and I were pretty adamant about not lying to our children. Ever. It was something we were sensitive about. We never wanted that to be something they held against us. Lately, with all of Sage’s fears and anxieties, I was starting to let a few white lies slip.

“Hey, honey,” I said to the window. “How are you?”

“Forgot Naomi,” he accused, pointing at me. Another car pulled up next to my truck and the driver mouthed the words “are you leaving?” I shook my head fast.

“No, honey. Naomi pooped in her diaper. Ruth is going to change her.”

He wasn’t buying it, I could tell. His dark eyes narrowed a little. He looked down at the diaper bag on the floor.

“Naomi’s diaps.”

“Well, Ruth has diapers, too, sweetie. Remember, Abe is Ruth’s baby, so she can use his diapers.”

“No, too small.” Man he was getting smart. I was proud of him for that quick comeback. Another car slowed and I looked up.

“I’m not leaving,” I said to the driver. I was starting to get frustrated. I was already playing out a million scenarios in my head, all of which ended in Sage have major trauma and anxiety.

“Well, Ruth bought diapers of all sizes when she got Abe. She is really prepared.”

“Why?” He asked. The last thing I had time for right now was the why game. I looked up and shook my head at another slowing car. These people were vultures.

“Because they were on sale,” I said. He appeared to accept this. His grandmother was a big proponent of buying things on sale. “I have to go up and make sure Ruth knows how to change a girl, since she is used to changing Abe, so I’ll be right back. Are you going to be ok?”

“Front to back.” He said. I had walked him and Jules through Naomi’s diaper changing process many times.

“That’s right. I’ll tell her. I’ll be right back.”

I ran back up to the stoop. Naomi was starting to fuss. Luckily, the wild card Abe was holding out. I noticed Ruth’s cheeks were flushed from the alcohol. She was bouncing Naomi and waving a piece of paper.

“Do you want me to call triple A?” she asked.

“That would be awesome,” I said, grabbing Naomi. I bounced her and silently begged her not to lose her shit, because I was about to. I couldn’t believe I had done this. I felt so stupid.

“The locksmith will be here in a half hour,” Ruth said. Abe was back in her arms. “I tried to get them to come sooner, but that’s the best they could do.”

“Ok, can I use the phone again? I need to call Julissa’s father to get her at school.”

“Sure,” I said. I dialed the number and got his voice mail. I left a message and gave him Ruth’s number after a couple of false starts and miscommunications. Hearing his voice on the message, his calm steady tone, almost made me start to cry. I knew this wasn’t the biggest deal, but I was starting to panic. I considered trying to call other locksmiths. Thirty minutes was a long time to wait. But would be the same story with everyone? I wondered how expensive they would be and if I could manage trying to have a conversation with them while keeping Sage calm. I was going to have to break the news to him.

“Do you want a drink?” Ruth asked. She was being supercool and calm. It was comforting. She had talked to the AAA people. She was holding the phone. I was grateful not to be alone for this.

“Maybe some water,” I said. What I wanted was the rest of that bottle of wine.

“You got it,” she said. I went back down to the car. I could tell that Sage was no longer buying any of my stories. I should have owned up to my mistake from the get-go. I shouldn’t have lied. I could imagine David was going to be disappointed in me when he found out, but at that moment I didn’t care. “When we gonna get Julissa, Mommy? We gonna be late.”

“Honey, Mommy locked the keys in the car,” I admitted. I held my breath, but he didn’t freak out. He stared at me. Ok, I continued. “Someone is going to come help us open the door.”

“Julissa come home.”

“She will, sweetheart. Daddy’s gonna go get her.” I hoped. I watched him and he seemed to be handling it quite well. But his bottom lip pouted out and that was a sure sign of trouble.

Ruth was next to me with shoes on, balancing Abe, a glass of water and the phone. I took the water and she held the phone out to me.

“It’s your . . . “she was searching for a word and when she got it, she smiled. Her choice lightened my mood a little. “Babydaddy.”

“Hi, babydaddy,” I said, smiling. To Sage, I said, “It’s Daddy.”

“Hi,” David said into my ear at the same time I realized it had been a mistake to tell Sage who it was because now he wanted to talk to him. He started to whine and fidget in his seat. “What’s going on? Who is this person I am calling?”

“I locked the keys in the car. I need you to pick up Julissa. The locksmith is going to be here in at least twenty five minutes, and she gets out of school in twenty.”

“How did you do that?” He asked. I wanted to ask him why it mattered. I heard him sigh. “It’s not cool for me to leave.”

“Well, David, I don’t know what to tell you. Someone needs to pick her up. I’ve got to deal with things here. I don’t know how long it will take.” I was getting angry. I wondered when we got to the point where we just downloaded information to each other. We were air traffic controllers bringing planes in for landings without any sign of emotion or passion.

“I could go if you want,” Ruth said quietly in the background. “The car ride might be good for Abe.”

The preschool would never let Julissa leave with a stranger, and I couldn’t leave Sage with a stranger. I shook my head mouthing gratitude and turned away from her so that she wouldn’t hear my icy tone to David. “I’m sorry but you have to get her.”

“Well, I guess I will, then,” he said and hung up. I couldn’t believe it. In over nine years together we had never hung up on each other. That stung worse than any part of the day. I faked a good-bye for Ruth’s sake and then turned back to my son, who was starting to really freak.

“Sage, do you want to try to get out of your car seat and open the door?” It was worth a shot. Another car pulled up and Ruth shook her head. I pointed to the clasp that connected the arm straps of his seat. “Just press that black part.”

It took Sage a couple of tries to squeeze the right piece in his small hands, but he did and wiggled his arms out of the arm straps. Ruth actually cheered.

“Great job, getting out of the straps, Sage. Now can you push on the red part to disconnect the leg part? Then you can help Mommy and Naomi get into the car.”

This was not so successful. Sage tried and tried and then at some point realized that he was actually going to be in the car without the car seat and he freaked out.

“No, no, no,” he yelled. “Safe in my car sear. No.”

And he put his arms back through the straps and tried to reconnect the clasp. He couldn’t do that. So instead he started to wail. I turned around and leaned against the car with my head pressed against Naomi’s. I heard Ruth trying to comfort him through the window. She then ran back into the house and when she came back she was without Abe. She took Naomi out of my arms. Sage’s cries were growing shriller.

“Do you want to go for a walk and I’ll stay and wait for the guy?”

“No, but thanks, I think that will only be worse.” I took a deep breath and turned back to Sage. I started singing “Jeremiah was a bull frog.” It didn’t help, but I didn’t stop singing and Sage didn’t stop wailing and Ruth didn’t stop bouncing Naomi in time to my song.

Finally, the locksmith showed up. He was about sixty and smelled of old cigarettes and looked like he had had a few drinks, too. I wondered how steady his hands were.

“Hi, there, cutie,” the locksmith said to Sage. This caused Sage to let out one blood-curdling scream after another and Naomi started crying as well. I took her back from Ruth and began a speedier bounce. I apologized to the man, who chuckled and shook his head as though he had seen it all before.

He pulled out a wire snake and started to shove it through the window. After his first two failed attempts, I realized that Sage had quieted down. He, Ruth, Naomi and I were staring hypnotically at the man’s attempt to lift the lock. He tried a few more times and then cursed. He pulled the snake out of the car and I was sure he was going to give up and we would be stuck forever or have break the glass. I couldn’t imagine how much worse this day was going to get.

The locksmith made a quick adjustment to the snake, twisting the wire a hair and when he tried again, it worked.

“Oh, wow!” I said and Ruth gave a little cheer. I quickly handed Naomi back to Ruth and scooped Sage out of the car seat covering his little face with loud dramatic kisses.

“My brave boy, you did so good,” I said, knowing that once again I was lying.

“All’s well that ends well,” the locksmith said with a dramatic flourish. “There is a fee of thirty-five dollars that isn’t covered by Triple A.”

“Oh, of course,” I said. I grabbed my keys and wallet out of the diaper bag, telling yet another person I wasn’t leaving. I only had twenty bucks in my wallet and I held it up and looked at Ruth. She smiled and shook her head. She pulled some cash out of her shorts pocket as if she had expected to pay. She took my twenty and handed the locksmith a few more bills.

“Thank you so much,” I said to both of them.

“Take it easy,” the locksmith said. He got back in his car and drove off.

“Thank you,” I called again. I was still clutching Sage tightly.

“I should get back to Abe,” Ruth said. She was already bending in the car putting Naomi in her car seat. I had no idea how to ever repay her.

“Thank you,” I said when she popped back up. “I’m really not usually this spacey.”

“No worries, I was happy to be the calm one for a change,” she said and laughed.

“Sage, how about a big hug for Ruth, who saved the day?” I didn’t wait for him to answer. I pulled her into us. Someone pulled up beside the car and beeped. I groaned and she giggled.

“Ok, I’m leaving,” I yelled. I squeezed the keys in my hand and held it up triumphantly. “Give me a minute.”

I buckled Sage into his car seat again, as best I could while still clutching the keys in my hand. I was never letting go of the keys. I gave Ruth another hug. I owed her the world.

“I have no idea how to ever repay you.”

“I’ll think of something,” she said. “But I’m sure the chicken potpie will be a great down payment.”

I got out of the spot and started the drive home. I was only a few blocks from my apartment. It had been so much trouble for such a small trip.

It only took two blocks for both Naomi and Sage to conk out. After all the drama it would be a shame to wake them so soon. I began to look for parking spots. The hunted had become the hunter. And as I passed my apartment I saw Jules and her dad walking up to our house. She looked thrilled to be strolling along with her father, but David looked bitter and tired. And beautiful. The thing about David was that whenever I saw him after not seeing him for a little while, I was still surprised by how attracted to him I was. His curly hair, his dark beard—sometimes he reminded me of a lumberjack. He had this warmth that drew me in. I wondered if I still had the same hold on him. From the tone of his voice on the phone, I might as well have been the old ball and chain.

I thought about calling out to them, waking the kids, explaining the day, but I wanted some quiet time. I needed to decompress, so I kept driving. I drove all the way to Coney Island and when I saw the ocean I parked for a few minutes watching the waves. Then I turned around and drove back.