UltraSound.

Her face was a full moon awash in the autumn night. She sat swaying uneasily forwards and then backwards in an old rocking chair; the curtains were flung open so that she could watch the miasma of streetlamps and hooded figures that darted down the street. The old, wise trees cast long shadows across cold cement and suburban houses. They were lit from the inside, like giant fireflies.

Autumn nights were always so gloomy: They smelled like decay preserved with frost. I didn't like to watch long evenings, but I did enjoy watching her watch them. She would sit in her rocking chair watching leaves in cast iron darkness, and I would sit on the loveseat and watch her examine orange lines of limelight. I'd come to know her features well this way.

Hair like the finest ebony silk and eyes that bore you down with intense green flames. A frail, brittle nose, but cheekbones of the most high and elegant variety. Her hands were of the same stately posture, and always resting upon her round and overlarge belly.

She sighed and I wanted to sigh with her; she made the most beautiful faces when she sighed. I stood and went to kneel before her, resting my own workmen's hands on the precious cargo in front of me. I felt a little kick and then another. Not hard--indignant, impatient ones.

"He's kicking," I said, grinning.

"She's a fighter." She replied, tossing back my smile in her own crooked way.

I pressed my lips to her belly and wished I could kiss a baby instead.

"How do you know it's a girl?" She asked how I knew it was a boy.

"Maybe we should have an ultrasound done." I suggested.

She squinted, her eyes following another leaf randomly but inevitably falling into darkness.

"That would ruin the surprise." She said.

- - -

I know this is sort of confusing and makes no sense, but I love the way it turned out. Gotta work more on my dialogue though; it feels a little choppy here.