Eleven Hours Read Online Free PDF

death, about stinky cars? She couldn’t die, because if she did, her baby would too, and her baby could not die.
    That was impossible.
    The baby is counting on me not to let him die. That’s my job as his mother—to keep him and save him from harm. What kind of mother would I be if I died on him? A bad kind, that’s what kind. Gently, she stroked her belly.
    Didi shuddered when she remembered the fight she had had with Richie yesterday. Poor Rich—he’ll be thinking I didn’t show up because I’m still mad at him. That stupid fight. It was just about this very thing—about harm coming to me and the baby. Rich got so mad he yelled at me that nothing was going to happen to the baby. He was angry at me for bringing bad thoughts into our house.
    Didi herself had felt silly for fearing the worst.
    Yesterday the worst had been some nebulous grief. She feared the baby might have two hearts, two brains, or not enough heart, not enough brain.
    Today—well, she couldn’t confront it.
    Didi’s hands were unsteady. Rubbing her belly gently, she looked out the side window.
    She thought, is God punishing me? I haven’t been penitent. I don’t say my prayers and there are some Sundays I don’t go to church and there are some I go and don’t want to. Who said Christianity was easy? It’s not like drinking water, accepting God into your heart. I’ve been remiss. And so have my children, and so has my husband. We watch TV, we make love, we don’t pray. We fight, we curse. I’ve been feeling cocky and now God is about to show me who’s boss.
    They went through a stop sign. Keep that up, Didi thought, and a nice police officer will soon be stopping you himself. At the next stop sign the man slowed down and pretended to stop. Didi looked at the door handle. The car must have slowed to twenty, maybe ten miles an hour. All she had to do was open the door and fall out. She lifted her trembling hand off her lap and reached for the handle.
    And stopped.
    The baby. When Didi fell out, would she fall on her belly? Would the shock of hitting the ground burst her water, would it snap the umbilical cord? Would it break her baby’s neck or crush its soft head?
    She glanced over at the man. He looked tranquil. Would she be able to crawl away fast enough from him? Or would he stop, slam the car into reverse, and roll over her, killing her and the baby? And then calmly drive away never to be found, never to be seen again.
    Didi knew one thing with absolute certainty: if she died, her baby had no chance. She closed her eyes briefly. Baby Evelyn or baby Adam, anything your mom can do, she will do, God help her.

1:45 P.M.
    Rich called their hospital’s labor and delivery ward to see if a Didi Wood had been admitted and was told no.
    Finally he left the Laredo Grill. What mall had she been in? Was it Collin Creek right across the road, or the Galleria, or Valley View? NorthPark? She could have been calling from anywhere. She had had a doctor’s appointment at eleven, so perhaps she was at Collin Creek, which was the closest to the doctor and to the Laredo Grill. Rich wished he’d gone with her to the doctor’s as he usually did.
    He called the doctor’s office. The receptionist told him Didi had left at eleven-thirty after her routine weekly checkup. Then the doctor came on the phone and told Rich that Didi had dilated another centimeter to about two, normal for this stage in the pregnancy. Rich asked if Didi had mentioned where she might be heading. The doctor replied that Didi had said she might do a little shopping, but hadn’t said where. Rich hung up.
    Instead of going back to work, he drove to the Collin Creek Mall. His Didi was nothing if not a creature of habit, and whenever they went to the mall—any mall—Didi always parked near Dillard’s. He drove up and down the rows of cars, looking for their new white Town & Country—the