Chick or Child?

A little blue strip on the home pregnancy test indicated that Gisele Claughton would not be with child. Her black diamond skin seemed to glisten with perspiration. Her locks looked like strands of DNA. With the idea of allowing her body to be taut and limber from years as a ballerina and gymnast, she wondered what it would be like to have a bulbous belly. She slumped against the sink in her bathroom. The heated floors kept her backside warm on this December day. With her head towards the ceiling, a single tear fell from her eye. By brushing it away, she cast off any sense of not trying and to keep on until she could have a baby.

She woke up the next morning to the news. In Dover, Delaware, twenty-five-year-old Magdalena Sofia Consuela Cortez just gave birth to her one hundred and sixth child. Her brown skin looked radiant as she introduced her next offspring. She just needed to think and out popped a full grown human being at the age of about eighteen. She had one thousand and four grandchildren, two thousand and eighty-six great-grandchildren and even more greats to follow.

Gisele took in the news without resentment. Her mindset stayed on becoming a parent. Her whole goal was to be a mommy like Magdalena. Her hopes seemed slim, however. What she didn’t count on seemed to be the difficulty in bringing a lifeform into existence. By switching off the television, she switched off the noise, the pain.

From her home in Newark, Delaware, she drove her six figure vehicle into her workplace as the chief operating officer of Diamante Bank in Wilmington, Delaware.

“Do you still have a problem with the system where the money is allocated for digital transfers? We’re trying to make this whole thing tax-free, remember?” She asked Senior Vice President Colleek Summers.

“I understand that, Gisele, but they’re going to hit us hard….” he started. An earbud remained in her ear. Her husband, Hansen Claughton, a cryptocurrency trader who stayed at home, called her.

“I’m not trying to shock you but I see two blue lines! You’re pregnant!”

“No, that must not be so. I checked it this last night and I….”

“I checked again for you. I see two lines. You’re preggo, my love,” Claughton reassured. Tears sprouted from Gisele’s eyes like wellsprings issuing forth water.

“What is it?” Summers asked. He came from around the desk. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes. Yes, of course. I’m going to be a mommy!”

Summers hugged Gisele. The warm but still professional embrace allowed the two of them to be aware of each other without violating any code of conduct.

“I’m going to tell Xavier that I’m going to leave work early today,” Gisele mentioned.

“Go! Go! This can wait,” Summers reminded.

“Merry Christmas, Colleek!” Gisele shouted.

“Merry Christmas!”

She went into CEO Xavier Kingsman’s office.

“Good morning, Gisele. How’s the project going?”

“It’s had some bumps but ultimately it's going rather smoothly,” she answered. “I just wanted to let you know I’m going home to be with Hansen, now. I’m going to be a mom!”

Kingsman weighed what just heard.

“You’re telling me that my second in command, the woman who graduated in the top five in her class at New Sweden University and rose from a sales clerk to this lofty position at this bank is now going to go home just because she found out she’s going to become someone’s mother?”

Gisele didn’t look ashen or forlorn or anything. She raised her chin and said, “Yes.”

“Well, you better get going. Congratulations to you and Hansen. I want the kid to have my name as their middle name, boy or girl!”

“I can’t make promises, but thanks for the suggestion! Merry Christmas!”

When she arrived back at her home, she embraced Claughton.

“We did it, baby! We’re having a baby!” she exclaimed.

“You had to wait a little longer for that strip to appear. Now, all we have to do is set up an appointment at the doctors,” Claughton explained.

“I got that, honey….” Gisele tossed back.

“Of course. Of course,” he replied.

About two weeks from the news, Gisele received test after test to see the health of the growth on her body.

“Your levels seem normal. There could be some slight variations. Otherwise, prepare for a healthy delivery when the day comes,” Dr. Sarah Alexander mentioned.

“What does that mean? Is there something wrong?” Gisele lowered her tone.

“No, there’s no worry. Just a different approach to giving birth. You’re going to see. I mean if you don’t want to know….”

“I don’t want to know. When the time comes, I don’t want to know the gender or anything.”

Gisele felt no pain as she looked at Claughton as she lay in her hospital bed. She didn't even have to push. The obstetrician looked on without surprise. She retrieved fifteen turkey eggs one by one like she received them from a chute down a conveyor belt.

Gisele sighed. “I’m going to do it the old-fashioned way. I’m going to incubate like any mother hen. This is the middle of May but these chicks will be forever known as our own Christmas chicks.”

Claughton smiled. “This is the greatest news I’ve ever experienced.”

“And this is the greatest joy I’ve known,” Gisele said.

So, she did as she promised. She raised fifteen turkeys by incubation and continued to raise them all into the fullness thereof. It only took about twenty-two weeks. When the farmer came to their door. Gisele through it open.

“I’m Janet Gainesborough. We talked about you and your turkeys.”

“You’re not taking my babies. I don’t care what amount of money you offer!”

The woman stood astounded. “Ma’am, I’m here to take these turkeys to their next phase of being. They must be slaughtered for hunger of the world.”

“To hell with all that! These children will not be sacrificed for the world.”

“I understand but I want you to….”

“You want nothing. Please, return to your vehicle and go.”

Janet shrugged. “You’re one great mom.”

Gisele just returned to her house and locked the door. The turkeys gobbled with glee.