Abe finishes getting the stretcher unfurled and set up. As they lift the woman onto it she arches, sobbing with pain. “Try to push in a rhythm, will you?” Xavier says. “Don’t you know anything about how to do this?”

“Fuck you!” the woman cries, trying again to hit him. “Goddamned molesters! I didn’t even know—ahh!—didn’t know I was pregnant until two months ago.”

“Great. Here, Abe, hold her shoulders up for her. Push, woman, push!”

“No!” But push she does, an awful straining effort, the veins and tendons in her neck standing out like pencils under the skin. Abe finds that he’s a little freaked, here; paramedics are supposed to run into this situation all the time, but it’s a first for him, and the way that she’s writhing under his hands is disconcerting indeed. He isn’t so sure he doesn’t prefer them a little more comatose.

They’re about to pick up the stretcher when the contractions begin again, and Xavier stops to check her out once more. “Oops, top of its head is showing here, I don’t think we’ve got time anymore. Push, woman.”

“Can’t—”

“Yes, you can, here when I press on your belly. Legs up, hands down here. A big push, hold it, let off. Rest for a bit. Now again.”

“X, have you done this before?” Abe asks.

“Sure.”

“Are you going to do an, an episiotomy?”

“Are you kidding? This kid’s doing it himself.”

“Great!” the woman cries in a break between pushes. “Just what I want to hear! What kind of medic are you?”

“Army. Here, pay attention to what you’re doing.”

“As if I’ve—got any choice!”

The woman gasps, bears down again. She’s gasping for more air. Abe had no idea they had to work so hard at it. He jumps up and gets a grayed towel from the bathroom, wipes off her face. Her belly heaves again, she squeaks, teeth clamped, eyes squeezed shut so hard the lids are white in a bright red face. “Breathe in, push on the exhale,” Xavier says softly. “Okay, push. Push.”

“Fuck off.”

Suddenly Abe notices that the light has dimmed; there’s a big crowd of neighbors in the doorway! The woman notices them and curses between gasps. “Hey, get out of here!” Abe says. “Unless you’re a doctor or a midwife, go wait outside! And close the door!” He gets up and chases them off, having trouble with the smallest kids, who are fast. Mostly kids and teenagers, looking in round-eyed with curiosity.