The Weight of the World (2 page)

Celene
threw her keys and her bottled water into her over-sized purse. She
didn’t stop to bid a summer farewell to anyone else in the science
corridor. When her feet rested, Celene was at the nurse’s office,
at the desk of Dr. Jason Livingstone.

“
Celene,”
Jason said, surprised to see her at his door. Dr. Davis and Dr.
Livingstone had avoided any public conversation since the Titan
attack in February. Lewis Mercer had spun the plausible tale of an
affair as a cover-up for The Pantheon connection. It was a necessary
lie, but neither adult wanted to further perpetuate the rumor by
being seen together.

Celene
was surprised to find Penny sitting in the chair across from the
desk.

“
I
was just recruiting Penny to babysit this summer, so I can get out
once in a while-- have some sanity. Is that okay with you if I pay
her?”

“
Penny’s
old enough to have a little income and a little responsibility,”
she said. Normally she might have been a bit more enthusiastic about
the idea of her fifteen-year-old having her own income. She wouldn’t
need an allowance anymore.

“
Okay,”
Penny said. “I promised Peter I’d see him before I left.”

“
Wait
for me in the car,” Celene said.

Penny
slipped out of the room like a shadow.

“
Everything
okay?” Jason asked.

Celene
closed the office door. “Devon’s pregnant.”

Jason
took a moment to speak. “Frank?” It was an easy enough
assumption. The pair had been practically joined at the hip since
February.

She
nodded, “And a good thing or we’d have to worry about protecting
some poor, stupid boy.”

“
This
isn’t good,” he said.

“
She’s
just a teenager.”

“
That’s
the least of our problems. She’s not just a teenager.”

Celene
nodded, “I know, but she’s a teenager first.”

“
No.
I mean-- yes, it’s terrible. She’s very young. She’s scared,
but Celene, we don’t know if this baby will even be human.”

Celene
hadn’t thought of that.

“
If
she goes to see an obstetrician, you could all be outed. And what if
it has Frank’s strength? Could she even carry it to full term? This
is a disaster.”

“
Well,
it’s fortunate The Pantheon has its own M.D.,” she said.

“
Retired.”

“
You
still have your license.”

Jason
picked up his now-cold black coffee and went to the sink to dump it.
He took his time rinsing his hand-painted World’s Best Dad mug
before answering.

“
I’ll
email her. We’ll have to be smart, though. She’ll need to use
out-of-town pharmacies or they’ll ask why the school nurse is
prescribing prenatal vitamins.”

“
Thanks,
Jason.” Celene turned to leave but stopped. “Oh, uh, by the way.
It might be worth noting that Devon didn’t tell me.”

“
You
mean she doesn’t know you know?”

“
No.
Like... I think she was glowing, but only I could see it. And I heard
a heartbeat. A small, fast one.”

Jason
cocked his head, “Like a baby's heartbeat?”

Celene
nodded.

“
Keep
me updated on that,” he said.

“
Will
do.”

Penny
was standing under the covered walkway in front of the school. Peter
Hadley was leaning against the pillar, dressed in far too much black
for a summer day and sharing a box of candy with her. He was sporting
one of his usual bruises-- this one on his chin-- even so, he was
looking more cheerful than usual.

Celene
ignored a sharp glare from Candice Matthews as she passed the front
office. The other teacher had been cold toward Celene since Lewis’
rumor had struck in February. She pushed open the green glass door to
the lobby and spotted Penny chatting enthusiastically to her sullen
friend.

“
Hello,
Peter,” Celene said. She didn’t like the boy, but she wasn’t
rude. He was a Pantheon member, after all, even if he had stolen her
daughter in a past life. “Excited for summer?”

He
shrugged.

“
Mom,
Peter has a job.”

“
Oh,
something fun?”

“
Retail,”
he grumbled.

“
Good.
Everyone needs to work in retail or fast food once in their life.”

Peter
didn’t look so sure of that.

“
Well,”
Celene said, eager to eat and to get Penny away from Peter. If they
both had jobs, maybe they wouldn’t have so much time to spend
together. “Lunch!”

“
Right.
Bye Peter!” Penny hugged him. He looked unsure of what to do with
his hands.

Penny
practically skipped to her mother’s car. She rolled down her window
to cool off the interior when Celene started the car. “What did you
talk to Doc Livingstone about?” she asked.

“
I’ll
tell you in a minute when we pull out of the parking lot,” Celene
answered. At least, she thought, Devon wasn’t her daughter.

“
Love
is a serious mental disease
.
”

-Plato

ii.

The
god of war, blood-stained and sweaty, strutted

brandishing
his spear as he approached Eros.

He
scoffed at the weapon that Eros wielded

and
bragged of his own.

The
winged god would not be outdone by Ares

and
formed a plot to weaken the warrior.

He
wagered, “Mine is heavier,” to the god,

who
had to test it.

Ares
took the javelin in his two hands

and
was surprised at the weight of the weapon.

Aphrodite
was amused by his defeat

and
laughed quietly.

'Take
it back,” Ares said, holding out the spear,

But
clever Eros just smiled and waved his hand

and
thus bound Ares to the Goddess in love.

“
You
keep it,” he said.

“
No
man loves the bearer of bad tidings.
”

-Sophocles

II.

Devon’s
cell phone slowly spun on the glossy end table as its wake-up alarm
vibrated. It was four in the afternoon. Her father would be home soon
and she needed to make sure that all signs of her boyfriend were gone
from the room. The first thing to hide was, in fact, her boyfriend.

She
rolled over in Frank’s large arms and kissed his chin. “Hey,”
she whispered. He was already awake and alert from the warning alarm.
His phone was set for fifteen minutes later with an obnoxiously loud,
emergency back-up beep.

“
Hey,”
he said.

“
I
think it’s time for you to put some clothes on,” Devon cooed.

Frank
grunted. Devon slipped out of his arms and set about finding their
clothes. She had to make sure that not so much as a sock was left
under the bed. Frank propped himself up on his elbow and watched her
work. He liked watching her get dressed, though it was more fun in
reverse. Devon didn’t put on a show for him today. Usually there
was an element of play in this kind of thing and now that it was
summer and they had even more unsupervised time, he thought she
should seem more relaxed. Devon was actually focused on the task at
hand, though.

“
What
is it?” he asked.

Devon
paused in the middle of buttoning her jeans. She watched him for a
moment, unsure if she should go sit on the bed with him or just stay
where she was. Frank saw this debate in her eyes and sat up.

“
I’m
pregnant,” she said.

“
What?”

“
We’re
pregnant,” Devon clarified. She knew that most of the school
assumed that she slept around, but the truth of it was that it had
only been Frank for almost six months now.

Frank
was a guy who could take a punch, but this, more than anything, made
him look like there were stars in his pitch-black eyes. “You’re
sure?”

Devon
nodded. She walked to her bathroom and came out with a little white
stick. It was a pregnancy test. “Weird thing is, Dr. Davis knew
before I did. She told me this morning.”

“
This
why you didn’t come to lunch with me?”

She
nodded. Devon had steeled herself, driven to the next town, bought a
pregnancy test, and confirmed the other woman’s diagnosis.

Frank
sighed. He was in no way equipped to process this kind of news. He
had sat through health class and heard the startling statistics on
the rise of teen pregnancy in America. He had heard in that 750,000
teenagers in the country got pregnant every year. But he was one of
those teenagers; it was in his natural inclination to never believe
that it would happen to
his
girlfriend.

Frank
was saved from having to think of some profound response by a noise
down the hall. The automatic garage door was opening a whole hour
early. Devon shoved the positive test in a drawer and ran around the
room grabbing his clothes. Frank stumbled around the bed as he tried
to put his pants on. Devon flung open her bedroom window, which
looked out over the back yard, and threw his construction boots onto
the lawn. He could put his shoes on when he wasn’t anywhere in the
house.

“
Why
is he early?” Devon asked no one in particular. Frank placed a firm
peck on her cheek before jumping out the window and landing ten feet
below, outside the basement window.

“
Devon!”
Mr. Valentine shouted up the stairs. “Come down here. I want you to
meet someone.”

Mr.
and Mrs. Valentine had come home together. They had skipped out on
work and rearranged a campaign meeting after lunch to take care of
other matters. They had brought takeout on the way and the meal was
almost finished as the family sat and talked.

Mr.
Valentine always sat at the head of the dinner table with his back to
the kitchen door. Mrs. Valentine sat to his left and Devon sat to his
right. The seat across the table was reserved for guests. The man who
sat there now could not have been older than twenty-five. He had
buzzed hair and sky blue eyes.

“
You
remember Mr. Campbell next door. Well,” her mother began, “he
passed away this week. This is his grandson, Adam. Adam will be
living next door.”

“
I’m
here to sort through his estate,” Adam said.

“
Adam
Campbell?” Devon asked.

He
shook his head. “Montagna. Adam Montagna.”

“
Adam
is going to need help learning his way around town. Maybe tomorrow
you could show him some landmarks? Show him where to find the
supermarket and the bank?”