A Stranger Thing (The Ever-Expanding Universe) Read Online Free PDF Page B

screaming in my arms. Her little head is like a rag doll’s, doing its darnedest to flop around on her neck. I hug her closer. Moms have been breast-feeding for years, right? It’s probably, like, in my genes to know what to do.
    “Here goes nothing,” I declare.
    And so, while Ducky feigns an unnatural interest in the lining of the thermal suit in his hands, I quickly snap open the top four buttons of my shirt with my right hand, balance Olivia with my left, and try my best to work some slick shifting-bra maneuvers. This shit is definitely not in my genes, though, because by the time I’ve exposed enough skin to the baby for her to nosh on, my shirt is practically tied in a knot at my armpit. Worse, Olivia seems completely uninterested.
    “Come on, Livvie, chow time,” I coo. I thought babies were supposed to go gaga for this stuff, but my kid just keeps crying and wiggling in my arms. “Come on ,” I say, trying to swoop her head at a better angle toward the boob, like a reverse “Here comes the airplane.” “You’re hungry . You need to eat.” She wails and flails some more. “Olivia, seriously, we have to dock in a couple minutes and . . . oh .”
    The child has found my boob.
    “She did it!” I tell Ducky, who is now staring at a stain on the ceiling of the train car like it’s a Rorschach test he’s being quizzed on. “She’s totally eating. I’m feeding my baby. I’m like a mom, Ducky, seriously. Can you bel—”
    Olivia undocks and starts screaming again. And no matter how much I nudge her in the right direction, she’s completely uninterested. “What’s going on?” I ask, definitely way past the end of my tether. I can’t calm my baby down, and I can’t feed her either. Total mom fail. “I thought babies were, like, booby fiends .”
    Ducky lets out an enormous sigh. “You’re probably not producing any milk because it’s been several days and you didn’t start feeding right away when she was born,” he says, still staring at thatspot on the ceiling. “The book said that would happen.”
    Ducky’s not looking at me, but I give him my “I’m going to pinch you in a sensitive area” death stare anyway. “Why didn’t you tell me that before I rearranged my whole ensemble?” I ask.
    Ducky just shrugs, picking up my thermal suit and doing a fairly half-assed job of blindly covering my décolletage as Alan appears again in the doorway to summon us.
    “We’re coming, we’re coming,” I say, before the guy even has a chance to chastise us.
    The steady hum of the train rises in pitch a good half tone as we all walk, single file, out the door and down the length of the train to the center docking car. My dad was right, the ride is smooth, but the wailing infant with the crazy octopus limbs is making it difficult for me to keep my balance anyway.
    “Hey, uh, Mister Almiri Guy?” Ducky says as we walk. He’s already forgotten Alan’s name—and the Duck can list from memory every Spider-Man villain in reverse-alphabetical order. “Elvie here needs something for the baby.” And I gotta give the guy props, because despite the fact that he is clearly about to lose his lunch, he’s still trying to make sure that Olivia gets hers. “She’s hungry.”
    “Yes, sir, but what do you suggest I do about it?” Alan answers. And do I detect a little bit of annoyance in his tone? Look who just found a personality.
    “Well, you guys must have been feeding her something for the past couple days,” Ducky answers. “Whatever it was, we need some more of it.”
    “I suggest your friend lets nature run its course,” Alan says in reply.
    “Well, first of all,” Ducky says, going all “Revenge of the Bestie” on the dude’s ass. “I don’t think you understand that expression, like, at all . And secondly . . .” I’m not gonna lie—Ducky’s take-no-crap attitude is kind of impressive right now. Who knew he had it in him? I clutch Olivia’s butt tighter and hustle to keep