Hodges So I told her all about it, as if it was a story. Actually, all of a sudden I was desperate to tell her before she remembered for herself. Before she could write it off as a tiny, sad incident that had happened a long time ago. This is what happened, Dr. Hodges. FYI. Alice and I were both pregnant at the same time. Her baby was due exactly one week after mine. Alice’s third pregnancy was another accident of course, something complicated and typically Alice (typically old Alice; not the new and improved pedicured, manicured, peeled, waxed, and tinted Alice) to do with swapping brands of
Hodges So I told her all about it, as if it was a story. Actually, all of a sudden I was desperate to tell her before she remembered for herself. Before she could write it off as a tiny, sad incident that had happened a long time ago. This is what happened, Dr. Hodges. FYI. Alice and I were both pregnant at the same time. Her baby was due exactly one week after mine. Alice’s third pregnancy was another accident of course, something complicated and typically Alice (typically old Alice; not the new and improved pedicured, manicured, peeled, waxed, and tinted Alice) to do with swapping brands of the pill. My pregnancy was not an accident. The very idea of an “accidental pregnancy” seems so flippant and free. It makes me think of summer holidays, kissing for hours, smooth young skin, and . . . I don’t know, piña bloody coladas. It feels like something that would always have been impossible for me, not just because of my stupid body, but because I don’t have the right personality. I’m not whimsical enough. I don’t get caught up in the moment. I want to say to people, “Why didn’t you just use CONTRACEPTION?” Alice told me once that if she’d just stretched her fingertips a bit further she would have found the condom in her bedside drawer and Madison would never have been conceived. I found that immensely irritating because how hard is it to stretch your fingertips, ALICE? Ben and I tried to get pregnant naturally for two years. We tried all the stuff people try. The temperature-t...
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