Expecting

Jane bled as she walked across the carpet, leaving red prints of her big toe as her trail. When she got to the dinner table, she fell into a chair and rattled the table. A candlestick fell over, and Mark came out of their room.

“What is this? Jane, are you bleeding?”

“Yeah, I am,” she said, putting the pliers in her hand down on the table top.

“Well, what happened?”

“My toenail came off,” she said, pointing to her right foot.

“Jesus, could you be a little more careful at least? What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know,” he mumbled. “Well, why didn’t you put a band-aid on it yet?” His hands pleaded in exasperation.

“I can’t. We don’t have any.”

“You could’ve gone and bought some.”

“And bleed on the driveway, and in the car, and in the store?” Her lips started to tremble with her voice. She tossed her hair back from her eyes while her toe continued to drip. Mark took a deep breath.

“I don’t have time to clean this up right now. Why would you just walk across the house with a bloody foot?”

“I didn’t realize there would be a mess.”

“Well, what did you expect?” He saw the puddle beneath her growing. “Don’t move.” Mark went to the kitchen and grabbed some napkins, then handed them to Jane. “Wrap it up with that for now, maybe it’ll help it stop.” She put a napkin to her toe. It turned red, and stung her uncovered skin. She winced. “I’m sorry. You could have asked me, though. Here, I’ll get you something to soak it in.” He filled a plastic bowl with water and handed it to her. “I’ll go out and pick up some bandages, ok? Anything else you need?”

“Lunch would be nice.”

“OK, I’ll pick up a burger for you. Now, sit down and soak that toe, and don’t walk around anymore until I get back.” Jane closed her eyes expecting a kiss. Mark put on his jacket and shut the front door behind him, so she dipped her big toe into the water. The blood disbursed, turning the water faintly red. She could still see the exposed flesh.