When Mindy Became Melinda – A "Birth Story" – Oh, Miss Havisham – A Trip to Fort Greene – A Line for Huaraches – An Ex with Some New Accoutrement – A Much-Desired Encounter! -

The only email Nicole received on Friday night was from Melinda.

Subject: here's our girl!

Winnie Charlotte Saville
Born Friday, June 12 at 3:40 a.m.
7 lbs 9 oz
19 1/4 inches

Melinda, Nicole's best friend from high school, had once been known as Mindy. She and Nicole used to smoke cloves after field hockey practice and shared crushes on the one guy in their grade who wore a Primus t-shirt to class. Mindy had been so distraught over the death of River Phoenix that the 15-year-old had gotten a tattoo in his likeness on her lower back. It had turned out poorly, since the only tattoo artist who had neglected to card her wasn't very talented. In her grown-up life, she had covered up the tattoo with a slightly more tasteful chrysanthemum and only answered to Melinda. She had gotten married a couple of years ago (Brooklyn Botanic Garden; $800 Lhuillier bridesmaid dresses; ice cream sundae bar; changed her last name) to a British guy, a notable food stylist. They owned a brownstone on Sterling Avenue.

Early on in her pregnancy, after Netflixing The Business of Being Born, Melinda had decided she absolutely had to have a home birth, which Nicole thought was slightly out of character, considering she had taken a Percocet before she would even let the tattoo needle touch her skin.

The bulk of this email described what Mindy called her "birth story," which seemed to involve a pool, multiple massages, and fond memories of the risotto her doula had served post-birth. "I gave birth to the little angel without any pain medication and no tearing. I have never felt so proud of anything I've done in my life, and now I have Winnie to remind me of that every day."

Nicole sent Darshan a text: "Another home birth. I have to go buy a onesie at the flea tomorrow. Will you come with me?"

Darshan texted back fast. "Of course. Did Elias call????"

"I feel like Miss Havisham," she typed.

Elias hadn't called. There had been texts back and forth for a day after Darshan's party, regarding daydreaming and missing each other, but then finally it had been his turn to respond and he hadn't.

At least, Nicole thought, at the Fort Greene flea market she would be guaranteed to run into a couple guys she had made out with. Within fifteen minutes of entering the flea, she spotted Jared and Eva standing in line for huaraches. Jared asked how Toussaint was doing (she had to admit, the acupuncture was really helping the dog's stress level) and then Nicole excused herself to go find her friend.

Darshan was simultaneously eating a tofu hot dog topped with kim chee and nori and trying on Guatemalan sandals. "Should I buy these to wear on my shamanic meditation retreat?"

"Yeah, they'll be perfect," she said. Out of the corner of her eye, Nicole spotted Caleb, another former boyfriend, who had dumped her five years ago so he could move to Tacoma and study glassblowing. He was wearing a wedding ring-and a baby in a sling. Nicole was so depressed by everyone's reproductive activity that she made Darshan hide with her at a poster vendor so she didn't have to deal.

Nicole held up a vintage anatomical drawing of the female reproductive system. "If I buy this and hang it in my bedroom, is it good karma for my love life, or bad?"

"Babe, I think you're interpreting karma wrong. Here in the west, we tend to-"

"Come on! I just want to know if this poster will freak guys out. Oh shit," she gasped. "Darsh, look." There was Elias. He was standing at the plant booth, holding up a piece of driftwood and asking if it was for sale. He was alone.

Darsh kissed her goodbye. "I have to go pack for Kripalu." And she pushed Nicole in Elias's direction.

Nicole took a hit from her inhaler and walked up behind Elias, who appeared to be talking about how he once bonded with driftwood after taking mushrooms on the Oregon coast. "And then," he told a bored-looking girl, "I saw the soul in the wood, you know?"

"Elias, hey."

"Hey, you. What'd you buy?" He nodded toward a paper bag.

"A onesie with a Union Jack on it. A friend had a home birth." She wrinkled her nose. "Because it's not like I'm pregnant." She laughed, rolled her eyes, and cleared her throat.

"I'm probably gonna get out of here." Elias yawned and stretched his arms over his head. She could see two inches of his stomach.

Nicole took a deep breath. "So there's this movie at BAM in an hour? The Saragossa Manuscript?" When she was anxious, she reverted to the valley girl speech patterns of her youth.

"Jerry Garcia's favorite movie." He smiled. "I've never seen it."

Nicole battled for more air, and asked: "You wanna go?"



Behind? Here are Parts 1 Through 4.

Marisa Meltzer lives in Brooklyn. Her next book, "Girl Power," will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in February.