Sleepover

"Hold on, young lady. Where are you going?" Mom asks.

I put my overnight bag down in the front hall and stand at the edge of the living room.

"It's Saturday," I say. "Sleepover at Aunt Alix's."

"Are you sure Aunt Alix wants you, Codie?" Mom says. "With the baby due so soon?"

"Aunt Alix wants me," I say. "Go ask her."

Mom calls Aunt Alix on the phone. While they talk, I slip into the kitchen and pocket three peanut-butter cookies.

A few minutes later, Mom hangs up. "Aunt Alix says of course you should come. She says to run straight over."

Mom bends down. Her breath smells of peppermint tea. I kiss her on the cheek and pick up my overnight bag. The door bangs shut behind me as Mom calls, "Don't slam the storm door, Codie."

"Sorry, Mom," I call back and head up the block to Aunt Alix's house.

Pins and Needles

I practice whistling as I walk up Aunt Alix's path. The dogs leap to the storm door, barking.

From the sewing room, Aunt Alix calls, "Quiet, dogs! Quiet!"

I reach inside my coat pocket and close my hand over the peanut-butter cookies.

"Here, Gina. Here, Lance. Here, Tracy," I say, opening the door and stepping in.

Aunt Alix lumbers up the steps from the sewing room, a dressmaker pin clasped in her lips.

I worry about that pin.

"What if you swallow it?" I ask. "What if the pin sticks the baby?"

Aunt Alix's eyes tell me the pin will not stick the baby. But she takes it from her mouth and pokes it into her wrist cushion all the same.

Up in Aunt Alix's muddled living room, the dogs gobble their peanut-butter cookies. Settling on the lumpy sofa, they lick the crumbs from one another's whiskers.

"How's my cousin doing?" I ask. I put my ear to Aunt Alix's belly.

"Swimmingly," says Aunt Alix.

Aunt Alix pretends it's easy having a baby, but I know it isn't always. Aunt Alix has tried having a baby lots of times. This is the closest she's come to a baby fully done.

Aunt Alix's baby will be my first cousin.

Mom and Aunt Alix have dozens of cousins. It's about time I had one, too.

Make Room for Codie

I follow Aunt Alix down to the sewing room.

Folds of flannel hang over the ironing board. Fabrics spill from the shelves.

Aunt Alix is pinning a skirt on Eleanor, the headless mannequin. I hold up the waist of the skirt and hand Aunt Alix pins.

"Is this for Mrs. Zobris?" I ask. Aunt Alix makes most of Mrs. Zobris's clothes.

"Yes," says Aunt Alix, adjusting the waistband.

It takes longer than usual with the pinning. When we finish, Aunt Alix eases down into her chair.

"Thanks for your help, Codie," she says, reaching out for me.

Aunt Alix holds me close against her big, hard belly where the baby is growing.

I stretch my arms around her middle and try to hug back. Aunt Alix's belly gets in the way.

"Hey," I say to my cousin inside Aunt Alix, "make room for me."

Aunt Alix says, "There will always be room for you, Codie."

And she means it.