It had been many days since that supper with Alison and Lawson. Yet it seemed like it was five minutes ago. Aside from their professional obligations, Ted and Nicole had become immersed in their own world of baby preparation. One night while competing feverishly to see who cold finish their Sudoku puzzle first, Nicole asked Ted an all important question.
“Do you want to know the gender of our baby as soon as we can?”
“Absolutely! Makes it easier to plan.” Ted replied.
“Good, I was thinking the same thing.” Nicole said.
“That’s why you married me.” Ted smirked.
Nicole playfully threw her Sudoku book at Ted. She then retrieved it quickly, knoing that she had sacrificed valuable seconds in their all too serious competition.
“Finished!” said Ted, gleefully.
“You crazy punk! That makes our score 67-65 for you! I have some catching up to do.” Nicole said, wit a note of resignation. “We are at that stage where we could find out tomorrow after work if we wanted to.”
“I think that’s a great idea.” Ted said agreeably.
They both decided to go to sleep in order to speed up time.
The next day was painfully slow with all the regular tasks and toils. Finally the time had come. Ted and Nicole went to their appointment. As Nicole was being prepared for yet another ultrasound in the progression of many, the doctor asked “Ted, are you rooting for any particular gender?”
“As long as my kid has as good a start as he or she can, I’ll be happy.” Ted replied.
“It won’t be long now.” The doctor said.
The ultrasound came into view.
“I can tell you with a fairly high degree of certainty that the two of you are going to have a baby girl!” The doctor rejoiced.
Ted and Nicole were overjoyed. Ted immediately started thinking of ways to acquire a shot gun. He had to be two times the protector now.
***
In a room down the hall, on the exact same day none the less, Lawson and Allison were having a similar experience. The only difference was that they would be having a boy.
“Hey! Maybe our kid will end up with Ted and Nicole’s kid!”
“You never know.” Allison replied. We shouldn’t push that on him though.
The two couples left the hospital through different exits, without ever crossing paths.
Such was the anonymity of life now.