Mary and Maude

Maude was a good friend. She was there for Mary when she was pregnant during the fall of 2019. Mary’s husband John observed this one day, the good friend thing, and said, “Being there for someone else is what friends are for, right?” John felt right after he said this. Mary agreed. And, as she sat at the kitchen table eating her eggs, Maude by her side, she couldn’t help thinking what life would be like without her.

Who would lie next to her in bed, watching over her, head on shoulder? Those nights, the pregnant ones, were Mary’s least favorite of her life. They made her kick and scream, stand up and stretch at 2 a.m. and wail on her hips and thighs in the middle of the night. They were miserable nights, with aching legs, a stiff bed, an inability to find comfort anywhere.

“Try Unisom,” they said. “Maybe you should take magnesium before bed,” they offered. “Try putting pillows underneath and all around you,” some blogs suggested.

One day Mary read about how tart cherry juice contained a lot of melatonin. She wanted some to see if it’d put her at ease come 9 or 10 p.m. John didn’t ask how much melatonin. Just, a lot. With that in mind, he left the house to buy her some. Not like it was that easy, though. He forgot his wallet, but only realized that when he got to the co-op. John asked an employee if he could just Venmo him some cash and the employee could pay for it…