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Poor Thomas, he’s hardly said a word Everyone ht he has to work the night-owl shift at the et hoh the back door of the Hudsons’ white colonial A wraparound porch with swings and ferns in pots and wicker furniture graces the front Before we get into the kitchen, I hear a screairl got pregnant hteen or twenty, a fully grown man; she’s only fourteen, little ray-streaked brown hair done up in a bun, sits at the long et up The cook, Nancy Savage, a thin coffee-colored wo starts up again

Thoe’s wife "Mrs Hudson" He nods to the colored woe "Miss Nancy, this is Patience Murphy, the e, and her assistant, my sister, Bitsy"

"Bless you!" The cook stands and directs her coirl to settle down She’s going to tear herself up or lose that baby if she don’t behave"

"Yes, thank you sofros and show the The child has already run my husband off, and if this keeps up, I’ll have to leave too"

The wailing starts once more By the sound of it, the pains are about every fourwomen find their oay "It’s their journey," she said "You can’t lay the road for the has never seemed helpful to me, and despite my chosen name, I’m not as patient as she was

Upstairs, Nancy nervously pushes the guest bedroom door open

"Twyla," she whispers, "the other midwives have come" A pillow flies across the room and hits me in the face It doesn’t hurt, just offends me a little "Noyla, don’t be that way! These nice ladies are going to help you get your baby" The girl’s mother retreats and slips down the stairs, understandably at her wit’s end

"I don’t want no baby!" Twyla shouts after her So that’s the trouble It’s hard to suffer the pains of childbirth if you don’t welcoirl turns her back and starts wailing again She’s a slip of a thing, probably not five feet tall, ild curly hair and very light, ale in a brown face Mrs Potts sits in the corner in a rocking chair, her hands eh of this, but a ive up, can’t leave her patient until the baby’s out and the mother and infant are stable

"Whooooooooooooooooooo!" Twyla shrieks Bitsy surprises ht up to the patient, and putting her hand over the young woman’s mouth She pats Twyla’s lower face so her wail sounds like a barn owl "Whoooo Whoooo Whooooo Whooooooo" The girl slaps Bitsy’s palm away "Who are you?"

"I’et you under control," Bitsy states firmly Mrs Potts and I stare at each other, shocked at such boldness

"Yeah? Have you ever had a baby? I feel likeripped apart!" The profanity doesn’t bother me, I’ve heard far worse on the union picket lines, but Mrs Potts cringes

Bitsy doesn’t miss a beat "Well, I’ve never had no dale with the contractions They alin You’re justti him, don’t you know When you screa" I s hoell Bitsy puts this You scare the baby I’ll use that line myself with my next out-of-control patient

Another pain hits before the older midwife and I can consult about the baby’s position Twyla starts her yell, but Bitsy, undeterred, lays her hand over the girl’s ain and this time pats so fast that the Whooooooooooo cohs She’s irl’s face with a cool cloth, and that’s the end of the screa too old for this," Mrs Potts confides in a whisper "I don’t irl struggles and there’s no father You heard?"

"Thomas told us"

The old lady shakes her head "We’ve been doing this all night I checked her one tio She was only halfway dilated, but the head was real low Maybe you can check her now See what you think If she’s not progressing, we’re going to have to get her to the hospital, nohappen"

I approach the patient for the first tiain or be hit with another pillow "I’ close to delivering I’d like to check you after your next contraction to see if the baby’s getting lower"

I don’t offer the alternative: And if it’s not coainst your will and drag you to the hospital in Torrington, fifty as, and have the baby cut out (Dr Blum could probably do it, but he doesn’t take coloreds) The Hudsons are a respected family in the mountains and would pay for a cesarean section, even in hard times

I remember the story Mrs Kelly told me, that the first successful cesarean section in the United States was, in fact, perforinia, back in the late 1700s According to her, a physician performed the operation on his wife, as in obstructed labor The doctor, a Mr Bennett, accoery with only laudanuly, both mother and infant survived

Bitsy persuades Twyla to lie still and open her legs while I ith loves on When the next contraction ends, I kneel at the bedside Mrs Potts is right The head is very low, and I’ of cervix left "You’re almost there!"