Chapter 141 : Countings clear nothing else is exact

I waited tapping my foot nervously up against the side of the sink and fiddling with my hands. The seconds had apparently turned into hours and as I glanced at my watch again I shouted at it for being as slow as it was, telling me only another 15 seconds had passed. I moaned and got to my feet pacing up and down the gang way in the bathroom grumbling as I went about time, and why the earth had to rotate so slowly.

 "You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet Mi moo.” Arabella said from her perch on the side of the bath. She seemed far to calm for the situation, maybe it would be different if she were in my shoes, if she was the one waiting to see if her world was about to be turned upside down.

 “Does it look like I care?”  I said pacing harder counting the steps it took me to get from one end of the bathroom to the other and then working it out how many I had taken all together. I liked counting. Counting made me calm. Counting and sums where always set, the answers always the same. Even in a world that might end at any time if you did the sum 6 x 6 in the seconds before you died the answer would still be 36.  No one could argue about whether it was right or wrong, there were no various factors to consider, There was no passion needed.

 “You can look now.”  Arabella said disturbing me as I tried to work out what 19 x 9 was in my head.

“Look at what?” I snapped as I pinched down hard on the back of my hand, my own personal brand of punishment for not working out the answer to the question fast enough. I should have been cleaver, better, lighter and brilliant.

 “Umm, your pregnancy test.” Arabella said pointing to the side of the room where the stick balanced precariously on the edge of the sink waiting for me; waiting to destroy.

 I walked over slowly to the sink counting exactly how many paces it took and leant out a shaking hand to pick up the pregnancy test, I suddenly wasn’t in that much of a hurry to find out what was written but I knew I had no choice, so With one final big steadying breath I slowly turned the test around so I could see the display on the front.