The Tree of Knowledge

“Oh shit.” I say, frozen in the doorway of Mara’s bedroom. “Blue means…?”

“Blue means pregnant.”

“Shit…aren’t you too old?”

Mara glares at me. “I thought it was menopause…”

“Should I say congratulations?”

Mara shakes her head. “I don’t want this.”

“Shit.”

“Yes, Kit. Shit.”

“What are you going to do?”

Rebecca marches into the room. “You know, our husband is not a patient man. And I slaved over this meal. The least you could do is-“

She spots the blue pee stick and gasps.

“Praise Jesus! It’s a miracle!”

She rushes over to Mara and touches her belly. Mara recoils.

“It’s like Sarah giving birth to Isaac!”

“I hardly think I’m ninety years old.” Mara says dryly.

“What are you all doing up here?” Ryan demands, pushing past me into the room.

“Mara is bringing another life into this house!” Rebecca declares excitedly.

“No!” Mara shouts. She looks pleadingly at Ryan. “I...I can’t keep it.”

Ryan is smiling, but it’s not a nice smile. It’s the smile he has when he looks at the scar he gave me.

“Kit, Rebecca, get out.” he says quietly.

“Is this a sin?” I whisper.

“I don’t think so.” Rebecca whispers back. “We should pray for forgiveness later, just in case.”

We’re in Rebecca’s bedroom, ears pressed against the wall between her room and Mara’s.

Muffled through the wall, Ryan asks, “You want to kill our baby?”

“It’s not a sin if you say it’s okay.” Mara replies.

The Bible is very clear about murder. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, if you kill someone, the punishment is death. If you kill a fetus, the punishment is a fine. So much for the pro-life movement.

“I don’t say it’s okay.”

“Ryan…sweetie. I’m fifty-five years old. The risk of complications is too high. It could be a threat to my health and the fetus probably won’t be viable.”

“Then you should have started sooner.”

“But you have other wives now. Younger-“

“YOU WOULDN’T GIVE ME CHILDREN!”

Through the wall, the sound of him hitting her.

“We were going to start a family! You told me that!”

“We were so young when we got married,” Mara protests, “I didn’t know what I wanted.”

“You wanted your job you power hungry, frigid bitch! You fucked your way up the corporate ladder and left me down at the bottom! You were CEO and I was picking up your dry cleaning! Exactly the way you wanted it! You didn’t have time for me anymore! You were too good for me! Too good for the family we never had!”

He hits her again.

“You’re giving me children now, bitch. I don’t care if it kills you.”

There’s a slam, some shuffling. And then the unmistakable sound of the rhythmic squeak of the bedsprings. Mara sobbing. Ryan grunting and panting.

Rebecca backs away from the wall. “I should make sure dinner stays warm…” she mutters uncomfortably. She heads downstairs. I flee back to my room and turn up my head phones so I don’t have to hear it.

Squeak squeak squeak.