Claire looked over at the clock. Only noon. She could spend the whole day with Elizabeth but they both had their chores and Claire had already told herself she'd put off shopping until her husband was out of town. He'd been away for a few days already and was coming back early now. Claire couldn't put it off much longer.
"Off I go," Claire said, hand mysteriously glued to her belly, content on rubbing in small circles. It wasn't until she reached for her purse that she noticed the motion. "Feeling my own bloated gut? What am I doing?" Claire said, shaking her head and removing her hand, the warmth of her middle lingering on the palm.
Once in her car, Claire struggled with the seatbelt, her breasts now sore and sensitive. The strap had to be placed just right to cause minimal distress. "Guess that's one thing I need to add to the shopping list: new bras," Claire scoffed. She'd never thought she'd become increasingly endowed in the middle of her 40s. She'd given up on those prospects in high school. Maybe I should schedule a doctor's appointment too...
As she drove, Claire flipped around on the radio. One station had two obnoxious DJs and an overly sexualized female sidekick advertising some sort of bikini contest, which drove Claire to change the channel quickly. The other stations weren't much better. All Claire got was a sea of classic rock that all seemed to have suspiciously similar themes.
"♫ Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move! ♫"
*click*
"♫ Mama...just killed a man... ♫"
*click*
"♫ Mama told me not to come! ♫"
Eventually, Claire just flipped the radio off, scratching her head nervously. Maybe Elizabeth's little comment about feeling pregnant, plus the movie made Claire see patterns that weren't there. It got her mind focused on pregnancy. And as Claire got older, it was definitely something she was thinking about more. She would never have another chance to feel one of her children grow and move inside of her. Instead, Claire was wondering about when her own daughters would take on the same burden and have their own kids. Well, she wondered about it with Brittany in a slightly more idyllic way. The idea of Bella getting pregnant at 16 was a constant source of fear for Claire and her husband.
In retrospect, the choice to complete the drive without the radio on created a nice moment for Claire. Left alone to her thoughts, she got to think about her life as a mom and what the future had in store. Now if she could just get rid of this light nausea, she could start on the path to enjoying that new life.
She parked in the mall's lot and walked in, surrounded by other bustling shoppers. One of Claire's friends, Susan, was having her baby shower in four days on Saturday and Claire knew the baby stuff she had back home was way too old to pass off to her friends. Claire was surprised by the amount of foot traffic there today, but more than that, there were a lot of wide-stomached people. Men and women. Claire didn't think too much of it. After all, she wasn't in great shape, but she didn't know there were that many overweight or paunchy people in town. She'd always thought the city was pretty attractive on the whole.
"Free samples. Free samples here," a dull-voiced man and woman parroted in front of one of the mall's larger stores. "Super Nutrient Health Center Max," not to be confused with the smaller chain, "Super Nutrient Health Center," was a store for athletic gear and lots of hokey supplements, powders, that sort of thing. Both of the employees standing in front of the ol' "SNHCM" were holding a serving tray with lots of little dixie cups, filled with a strange black liquid. And to Claire's surprise, nearly every passerby was taking a cup and drinking it. None of them seemed too pleased with the result however.
As Claire walked by, the woman, a short, college-age girl with long brown hair, a nose ring, and glazed over eyes, reached her arms out slightly. "Ma'am, free sample? It's a new energy drink, Xpect." Like most everyone else in the mall, she had a bit of a bloated look to her.
"Xpect?" Claire said with a raised eyebrow. "No thanks, I've had it before. It's...pretty bad."
"Yeah, it's nasty," the man, also a college-aged kid with short spiky hair and obnoxious gauge earrings and similarly dead eyes said. "But the store's selling a lot now so...that's cool, I guess."
"It's whatever," the woman said. "We're not making any more money off of it."
Claire smiled politely. "Well, good luck. I hope other passersby are nice to you." As she left, she saw the guy had a rounded stomach too. Geez, you'd think a health store could hire some employees who were actually in shape. Or at least not put them in front of the place, Claire thought, one hand moving to her own belly. But who am I to judge?
"Man, this sucks," the woman said. "It sucks that we can't get stoned after work anymore."
"Yeah, it's been two days now, ever since the new boss started doing those drug tests more regularly," the man said, letting more strangers take samples and contort their faces at the taste.
Claire continued around the mall, eventually finding what she was looking for: Baby Universe, the biggest baby and maternity product store in the state. Walking around inside, Claire was immediately greeted by the smiling clerk, her dark black dress doing little to conceal her own bloating. "Hello, welcome to Baby Universe!"
"Thank you," Claire smiled, looking around. "I'm looking to get my friend something for a baby shower. This will be Baby Number One for her."
"Exciting!" the clerk said, putting her hands together. "Well, you can't go wrong with a crib." In all honesty, a crib seemed like far too big of a gift for a baby shower, but the clerk wanted to move merchandise. The rate of births in the city had dropped off dramatically and if there wasn't a big string of pregnancies soon, she might go out of business.
"A crib, huh?" Claire said, looking around the section, feeling nostalgic as she ran her hands over the bars. "That's a good idea. I'll pick something out."
"Excellent!" the clerk grinned, hurrying back to her desk, her new-found weight impeding her speed some and causing her to take some deep breaths. As Claire looked around, she passed by the maternity clothes, specifically the maternity bras. They were bigger than what she was used to and they also looked...soft and gentle.
"Excuse me," Claire said, taking one particularly good-looking bra and bringing it to the clerk. "Does this...feel as good as it looks?"
The clerk giggled softly. "We found a company that managed to make maternity underwear that had the whole package: support, comfort, and a touch of sex appeal. Think your friend would want something like this too?"
Claire blushed, not wanting to reveal the state of her own increased bosom. "M-maybe. I'll...look into it." Claire snuck back to the bras and picked out a number of pairs, trying them on in secret in the changing room. To her delight and slight surprise, they went well with her new cleavage. She certainly couldn't go around wearing her old bra. It would leave her chest deformed.
Claire put the pile of bras on the counter and gave the clerk the order number for the crib she liked the best as well. "That can be delivered to your house tomorrow," the clerk said, typing everything up. "And here's a coupon, if you ever need another crib."
Claire laughed. "Thanks, but unless another friend of mine has a baby shower, I don't think I'll be needing a crib any time soon."
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