" Are you sure this is the place?' Joyce asks dubiously.
cj compares the words on the horizontal signage on the wall against the small pamphlet in her hand. She nodded. " Yes, it is."
" Looks a little run down." Joyce remarks as her eyes took in the peeling blue paint on the door.
" What does it matter? It's free!" Pam shrugs it off casually. " C'mon, let's go in!"
" At least they have the sense to use pastel colors ~" Joyce mutters when they walk into a small reception area all done up in pastel pink and blue.
" They got the colors right!" cj giggles. " Lighten up!"
Just then a middle-aged plumpish lady can rushing out and began gushing excitedly. " Ah! I thought I had the door opened! Welcome! Welcome!"
" Is this where we attend a free pre-natal lesson?" Pam asks.
" Yes! Yes!" The lady smiles a tad over enthusiastically. " Do we have new mothers here?"
" Yep!" Pam smiles proudly.
" Oh, that's always exciting! I'm Mrs Burns ~"
" Figures." cj remarks mischievously to Joyce in a very low whisper and they both giggled.
" I'm Pam, that's Joyce ~" Pam introduces dutifully. " And that one is redundant so let's forget about her."
" Hey!" cj cried out indignantly while Pam guffaws. " I'm cj!"
" You are not pregnant?" Mrs Burns asks cj.
" Nope."
" See why she's redundant." Pam chuckles merrily despite the hated glare cj is directing at her. Before a full scale fight develops, Mrs Burns ushers all three of them into another slightly bigger room where 5 more would-be mothers are waiting too for the lesson to start.
Pam and Joyce sat down gingerly while cj plops down onto the carpet floor and made herself comfortable, totally oblivious of the wistful looks the two pregnant mothers are giving her.
" Don't you have classes today?" Pam asks cj.
" Yes, I do."
" You play truant!" Joyce exclaims.
" Asking you to skip school was like asking you to cut off a pound of flesh before." Pam teased.
" Well, I gotten a little lazy." cj scratches her head thoughtfully. " Recently I just keep wondering why I am studying so hard since I am already married. I won't need to work for a living anyway."
" You make your husband sound like some millionaire." Pam laughs cruelly.
" Is he?" cj asks.
" He's your husband and you are asking us?" Joyce frowns.
" But I really don't know much about his life outside the house." cj laments. " He never talks about his work and he told me not to touch his files."
" Pam has been with them the longest. Do you know what Goro does at work?" Joyce asks curiously.
" Of course not! Like cj said, Goro never say a word about his work." Pam replies.
" Our anniversary is coming up and I don't even know what to get him." cj sighs sadly.
" You are a pathetic excuse for a wife!" Pam hisses.
" Ssssh ~ the lesson is starting!" Joyce whispers excitedly.
" Well, I am not going back there again, that's for sure!" Pam said with a trace of frustration as they amble towards the train station.
" Now I know why she has to give out free lessons." cj laughs.
" She should make up her mind. She couldn't decide if we should breathe in or out!" Joyce grumbles demurely.
" I think she got confused with the sequence." cj remarks.
" I think she is confused to start with." Pam sniffs.
" Aren't the both of you going to enrol in proper pre-natal classes?" cj asks curiously.
" Why should we? We have ima!" Pam grins.
" Do you guys need me to repeat the steps?" I ask after seeing the thoughtful look on Nakai's face and the confusion reflected in Tsuyoshi's eyes.
" Yes, please." Nakai replies solemnly.
" Ok, first you fold this into a triangle ~" I began patiently. Kelly gurgles happily at the attention lavished on her at the moment.
" How did Shingo learn something so difficult?" Tsuyoshi mutters when I secure both ends of the nappy around Kelly's cherubic waist.
" Hey!" Shingo protests throwing down the magazine he was reading. " Be nice! I lent you my daughters to experiment on!"
" Shingo did not learn it! My wife and ima did all the nappy changes." Takuya said pointedly as he carries a very hyper reeanne tightly in his arms.
" Did you feed reeanne mocha milk again?" I question Shingo who turned away guiltily.
" Mocha milk?!" Takuya exclaimed loudly, frowning deeply in disapproval. reeanne kick her leg up high narrowly missing his nose. " No wonder she's so hyper!"
" Well, I was drinking mocha milk and reeanne started crying so I thought maybe she's hungry and I fed her some." Shingo explains wisely while the four of us stare at him in disbelief.
" Every time ima is not around he will be up to mischief." Nakai narrow his eyes sternly.
" By the way, where is ima?" Takuya asks. " My arms are tired!!" He whines and pass reeanne back to Shingo. " You hold her!"
" Sit still, pumpkin." Shingo said softly to reeanne. His voice is almost hypnotic and to our utmost surprise, reeanne quiets down and sits obediently in his arms. The smile on her face was almost bliss.
" Wow ~" Tsuyoshi remarks in awe just as kelly burst into tears.
" Uh oh ~ kelly's jealous." I tease as I set the frustrated baby in Shingo's arms too.
" Hey, where are all of you going?! No one is going to help me out here?" Shingo cried in a panicky voice as we file out of the nursery.
" Your kids!" Takuya replied offhandedly.
" What for? Lesson is over." Nakai said next.
" Enjoy ~" I said with a grin.
" B ~ bye." Tsuyoshi said unsurely but Nakai dragged him out before he has a change of mind.
