Oh, Brother... (Chapter 5)

After a few minutes with her family, Lizzie asked to go to check on her friends to tell her what happened. Her parents let her go so she walked through the hallway which seemed to be more clear than it did earlier. She walked out into the lobby to see the girls still sitting in their seats. They were having a conversation until they saw Lizzie. She walked closer to them with a happy face.
"Hey, Lizzie," Madeline said, standing up. "What happened?"
"My brother arrived," she answered.
"He was successfully delivered?" inquired Debra.
"Yes, he was."
"Oh, Lizzie, that's amazing," said Madeline.
She gave Lizzie a hug, encouraging the rest of the girls to get up and share a squeeze with Lizzie. She giggled out of joy, knowing that her brother will have more sisters as long as her best friends were around. After several seconds, all of the girls let go.
"What's his name?" asked Debra.
"His name is Dallas," Lizzie answered.
"Very non-Christian," commented Andrea.
"I know, right? I think they're loosening up."
"How much does he weigh?" asked Skye.
"Three pounds, fifty-one ounces."
"Okay."
"Fifty-one is a lot."
"It is."
"But he's really cute."
"Aw, I want to see him," Madeline requested.
"You guys should wait to see him tomorrow. I heard waiting makes someone look even cuter."
"She's right," agreed Andrea. "I hadn't seen a picture of Zac Efron in three weeks. When I finally did, it was like angels calling."
"What was seeing your brother for the first time like?" asked Debra.
"It was like," started Lizzie, "breathing in a new kind of gasp of air. You know? It was like inhaling and exhaling the freshest oxygen that you never thought existed. It's like the air that is only found in meadows and not usual meadows. The meadows that are more like gardens but only the sky waters the flowers. And all of the flowers are different so there is a variety of colors. The colors are so bright and all over the place that the meadow looks a deformed rainbow. But that's what makes it even more beautiful. Is that what was seeing your brother like, Debbie?"
Debra paused. "No, it was more like someone dropping a big berry pie on the floor."
Skye made a face. "What?"
"I saw my brother for the first time while my mom was giving birth to him."
Madeline gasped. "Ew!"
"Wow, lucky me," Lizzie gloated with a grin.

Oh, Brother... (Chapter 4)

Lizzie and the girls waited an hour in the lobby. It gave Lizzie some time to think about all the possibilities that could happen to her life if her mother goes through with the delivery or not. All the girls could think about was if Lizzie is alright and would she be alright once she was done waiting. Then a middle-aged doctor with dark hair approached the girls.
"Which one of you is Lizzie?" he asked.
"I am she," Lizzie raised her arm.
"Come with me."
Lizzie glanced at her friends before getting up. She followed the tall doctor into the hallway out of the lobby. She passed other doctors and nurses and poker-faced family members. In just under a minute, the doctor stopped and opened a door. He gestured for Lizzie to go inside it first. She entered with the doctor coming in and spotted something like sunshine. It was a sleeping, clean baby wrapped in a blue blanket, resting in her mother's arms. Her mother smiled at her as Lizzie stood in shock. She walked closer to the hospital bed her mom was lying in with blue bed sheets over her legs. Lizzie rested her hands on the railing, staring at the adorable, pink-skinned baby.
"Meet your brother, Lizzie," her mother uttered in a weak voice. "His name is Dallas."
Lizzie smiled and waved at the baby. "Hello, Dallas."
"The name Kansas reminded your dad of Dallas."
Lizzie's father shrugged while smiling under his dark, thick mustache.
"Because they're cities of the same state?" Lizzie inquired.
Her mother dropped her smile and made a confused look to herself.
"Can I hold him?"
"I don't know, sweetie," her mother responded.
"I'm not clumsy."
"You dropped your car keys... several times."
"'Cause I was nervous."
"Are you nervous now?"
"I'm cool."
Lizzie's mom sighed. "Alright."
Slowly, her mother moved her arms toward the left. Lizzie reached out and tucked her hands into her mother's arms. Carefully, she began wrapping her arms around the baby and lifted him out of her mother's arms. She stood up straight while looking at her brother's sleeping face. He had his mother's cheeks, his father's ears and Lizzie's nose.
"Hi, Dallas," she whispered before giggling. "I'm your sister, Lizzie. My real name's Elizabeth but I'll let you call me Lizzie. I'm seventeen years older than you, meaning in three years, I'll be old enough to move out. So I won't see you for very long. But I'm going to make the time I have worth it, okay? I'm really nice once you get to know me. I have four friends which is a lot. One day, you'll have four friends just like me. But I'm going to be your best friend. Actually, it's probably illegal to be your best friend since I'm really older than you. But we'll make it work. Gosh, you're so cute. You're fantabulous. Sorry, I shouldn't utter big words to you. I've been saying that word for a long time and I still don't know how to spell it. But if you need help with anything, I will be there. Except for history homework; I can't help you there."
"What?" said Lizzie's mother.
"Shh! He's sleeping. Anyway, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." Lizzie's eyes began to water and her voice became quivery. "I'm going to be very protective because I never been a sister before. I mean my friends call me their sister but it doesn't count. But this, this counts. This matters. I'm going to be like a second mom except I won't breastfeed you. That's weird and I like my boobs."
Lizzie's father cleared his throat, notifying that her parents were still in the room.
Lizzie looked up. "Sorry, dad." She looked back down. "Where was I? Oh, yeah. No matter what you do, I will always love you. I will love you unconditionally until the day I die or until Jesus kills us all. But whatever happens, I'm there for you. You could stab me in the leg and I'll still love you. You know why? Because I'm forgiving so you don't have to worry. I'm your sister, your big sister. And I'll never let you down. Like that Rita Ora song. Once you hear it, you'll love it. But you're a boy so you'll probably like gangsta rap or something. Mom and Dad won't let you listen to it anyway because they think it's against God. But you'll probably listen to it at school or something."
"Alright, Lizzie, that's enough," said her mother, sitting up.
"Okay, just a 'seccy'. I'm going to give you to your mother now. She's going to love you, even if you switch religions. Because she's a mother and not loving you would be a sin. Dad will do the same. And never forget this... Oh, you probably will because you're a baby. But I'm going to say it anyway: I'm there. I'm square. Which is so not true because I'm round than square but you get it. I love you, Dallas."
Gingerly, Lizzie handed back her baby brother by leaning over the bed. Her mother reached her arms out and wrapped her arms around the baby. Lizzie slowly let her arms go as her mother got a good, safe grip on the baby. Her mother held the baby while rocking him as Lizzie stood up straight.
"That was sweet of you, Lizzie," her mother said. "And Jesus is not going to kill us all."
Lizzie sniffled. "That's not what the church says."

Oh, Brother... (Chapter 3)

Right after, Lizzie used her red car and the help of a GPS to drive her mother to the nearest hospital. Once they got there, Lizzie helped her mother out of the car and walked through the doors. After arriving at the front desk, the doctors immediately took her away, leaving Lizzie to sit in the waiting room. First, she called her father to tell him that his wife was going into labor. Then, she called all of her friends to comfort her. It took a half an hour for all of the girls to arrive at the hospital. Individually, they hugged Lizzie and sat near her in the empty chairs.
"I'm so, so glad you guys are here," she said. "I need the company, especially since my dad isn't here yet."
"Where is your dad?" asked Skye.
"He was at work when I called him. Where he works is sorta far so it has to take him a minute to get here now."
"How was your mom doing before she came here?" asked Madeline.
"Nothing good. She was crying and wetting herself."
"Ew," uttered Andrea.
"She was peeing on herself like that time I did when you guys put my hand in a bowl of water when I was sleeping."
"That was funny," smiled Skye.
"There's nothing funny about peeing on yourself. My mom was in pain; it was probably hard for her to hold it in."
"You're right. Sorry."
"But then she farted and I laughed a little bit."
Andrea snickered, just a bit.
"But she was making a mess in my car so it became unfunny again."
"Ugh!" Madeline made a face of disgust. "Remind me to not call shotgun when we get in your car sometime."
"When have we ever gotten into Lizzie's car?" asked Andrea.
"That's not important," Debra replied. "What's important is that your mother is okay."
"I hope she is," said Lizzie. "I have no idea. I just hope she and the baby are okay. He's not even due yet."
"That happens to some women," said Madeline.
"To be informed of the wrong date?"
"No, besides, those dates are predictions. Yet sometimes, babies are just born earlier than they're supposed to. Got it?"
"Yeah, I get it... that doctors are psychics. Wow, do you think they know when the cure for cancer will arrive?"
Madeline paused and stared at Lizzie. "No," she responded.
Lizzie clicked her teeth and pressed her back against the padded chair. She soon jumped out of the chair when she finally saw her father come in. The two walked toward each other.
"Hi, sweetie," he greeted. "Where's your mother?"
"In a delivery room, getting tubes inserted into her skin," answered Lizzie.
"Hi, Mister Duvall," Madeline waved.
Lizzie's dad looked at the girls, who all waved at him. He waved back, awkwardly.
"Where were you?" asked Lizzie.
"I got stuck in traffic," her dad responded.
"That is no excuse! Mom was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Pain before I drove her to the hospital. I thought the baby was going to deliver himself."
"I'm sorry, I--"
"Don't say sorry to me. Mom needs someone and I don't want to see her naked. So you go in there and be there for her as part of your fatherly and husband-ly duty. You got that?"
"I got it."
"You got that?!"
"I got it."
"Now run to her."
Lizzie's father bolted away across the lobby.
"Run to her like Adam Levine in that Maroon 5 video! You get to her!"
Her father zipped pass two nurses into the hallway which contained the emergency rooms.

Oh, Brother... (Chapter 2)

Later that day, Lizzie went downstairs into the kitchen to keep her pregnant mother company. Her mother was making coffee through a machine that sat on top of the lower cabinets. Lizzie greeted her before sitting on a stool at the counter.
"Mom, does that have caffeine?" she asked.
Her mother looked at her. "No, sweetie."
"Because you know how babies shouldn't have caffeine."
"How do you know that?"
"I did some research. Did you know the baby boom occurred in 1946, right after Elvis Presley died?"
Lizzie's mother raised an eyebrow. "I think he died a little later than that."
"Of course you would know that. You're old."
Her mother stared at her.
"Not that old if you're pregnant."
"Sure, Lizzie." Her mother paid attention to the coffee machine which surged fresh black coffee into the glass jar under the nozzle.
"When is the baby due again?"
"In a few weeks."
"I felt like you told me the news just yesterday."
"I probably did."
Lizzie laughed. "But seriously, this is happening so fast. But that's a good thing for me because I can hardly wait."
"I remember when you didn't want me and your dad to have a baby."
"Well, times have changed. I'd gotten older."
"Not that much older."
"I'm growing every day. Still, I'd gotten older and passed it. Now I can't wait."
Once the machine finished brewing, Lizzie's mother took the jar out of it and began pouring the coffee into a pink mug. "I'm so glad we're on the same page," she shared. "Now we don't have to send you to Sunday school."
"Please, you should go to Sunday school for doing the nasty."
"You're allowed to do 'the nasty' whenever you want after marriage."
"Well, I hope you didn't abuse that rule."
"Look, can we continue talking about the baby?" Lizzie's mother asked, picking up her mug and facing her daughter.
"Okay. So I've been thinking of names to give my brother. I came up with Kansas, Cleo, Lucy, Hannah and Diane. Don't give me any credit; I got those names from a movie."
"Those are girl names."
"Huh, I guess when I was watching the movie, the names did come from girls. Okay, you don't have to name him Cleo."
"Very nice of you, Lizzie, but I think I'll just name him."
Lizzie's mother raised her mug towards her lips and took a slow sip of the coffee. But just after a few seconds, her eyes widened. She spit the coffee back into the mug then dropped it on the floor, breaking into pieces. Lizzie's mother yelped in agony while holding her big stomach.
"It's okay, mom," said Lizzie. "You can always get another mug."
"No, it's not that," her mother moaned. "My water broke."
"That's fine; I'll just call a plumber." Lizzie hopped off the stool.
"No, the baby's coming."
Lizzie took a few steps closer to her mother. "The baby's coming?"
"The baby's coming!"
"The baby's coming!"
"The baby's coming!"
Lizzie hopped. "Oh, oh, do you want me to drive you to the hospital?"
"Yes, please."
"Okay, okay."
Lizzie locked her arm with her slouching mother's arm and helped her walk out of the kitchen.
"Wow, Diane, you couldn't wait any longer?" Lizzie asked, looking at her mom's stomach.

Oh, Brother... (Chapter 1)

"What are you doing?" Lizzie asked into her red cell phone.
"I'm letting the polish on my toenails dry," Madeline responded through the phone. "So while I'm doing that, I'm playing with Crystal."
"You should bring Crystal over sometime."
"Your parents wouldn't mind?"
"No, they like dogs. They thought about getting one."
"Why didn't they?"
"Because they want a rottweiler. I want a jujitsu like yours."
"It's called a shih tzu."
"Isn't that a bad word?"
Madeline paused. "No."
"Oh, okay."
"But you don't really need a dog. You're going to get a pet pretty soon."
"How do you know? Are my parents surprising me?"
"No, I'm talking about the brother you'll be having."
"Oh, yeah. Wait, he isn't a pet. Of course we have to feed him and bathe him and teach him some things... Oh, my goodness. Babies are basically pets!"
"Yeah, I was joking about the 'pet' part, Lizzie."
"But it's so true. Even when you joke, you're still right."
"I know, right?"
"But yeah, I can't wait until my brother comes."
"You can't?"
"Nope, I'm really excited." Lizzie laid on her bed flat on her stomach. "My whole life is going to change once he comes."
"Yes, it will."
"I've been an only child for so long, I couldn't even imagine having a brother or sister. And watching TV where brothers and sisters fought with each other kinda scared me a bit. But I'm totally cool with it now and once I see him, I'm going to instantly love him."
"That's good, Liz'. That's how you should feel."
"As he grows up, we'll do everything together. I'll dress him up, have tea parties with him, put makeup on him, watch rom-coms with him. Everything, really."
"Yeah, boys don't do that."
"Alright, we can skip the makeup part. Still, I'm pretty excited."
"Are you going to hold him?"
"Of course I'm going to hold him. I'm going to squeeze him so hard."
"You shouldn't really do that."
"I'm going to be really excited."
"Yeah but-- Just take some time to calm down before you hold him."
"Okay. Gotcha. Man, I'm going to be standing right there when my mother gives birth to him."
"Wait, you're going to be right there?"
"Yeah."
"Are you sure you want to do that?"
"Well, I've never seen a woman giving birth before."
"Doesn't mean you should start. Listen, just sit in a chair beside your mom and just wait until the baby is out."
"I think I can do that. Oh, man, I'm going to be a sister."
"I think you'll make a pretty decent sister."
"Thanks, Mads."