Just then, Karyn's phone rang. It was Jon. "Karyn," said Jon, who sounded out of breath and nervous. "Its time."
"Time for what?" asked Karyn, confused. They didn't have anything scheduled to go on today.
"For the baby, Karyn," said Jon, still nervous. "I'm going into labor, Karyn. My water just broke and my parents are taking me to the hospital. You said that you wanted to be there when I gave birth, remember?"
Karyn was shocked. She hadn't considered that, when wishing Jon to be pregnant, the stone would choose to put him at the point when he started to give birth. Everyone else would remember Jon having been pregnant for the past nine months and would have gotten to experience it with him. But Karyn wouldn't and she felt somewhat hurt that the stone would leave her out of that experience.
"Karyn, are you still there?" asked Jon.
Karyn came out of her revierie. "Yes," she said. "How soon can you pick me up?" She at least wanted to be there when her best friend gave birth.
"Grab your stuff and we'll pick you up at your front door," said Jon. There was a sharp intake of breath, after which Jon said. "And I don't mean to rush, but the contractions are getting closer."
"I'll hurry down," said Karyn, hanging up the phone. As she ran downstairs, she wondered why the stone had to pick this moment. She had no time to prepare for her best friend giving birth, much less enjoy helping him out with his pregnancy. There had been so much she wanted to do with Jon: picking out names, buying maternity clothes. Now she wasn't going to get to share that with him. Karyn met Jon's family outside her house and got in the car. Jon was wearing a powder blue maternity dress and had both his hands on his very pregnant stomach.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Jon's mom said. "No one expected him to be delivering early."
"Its all right," said Karyn, gently placing one hand on Jon's belly, causing him to smile and blush. "I want to be there for my best friend." And she ment it too.
