Page 75 of Counting the Days

He held her hand and tried to lighten the mood. “She’s gonna be okay. Two of my sisters had C-sections; it’s not ideal, but they were totally fine.”

“Yeah, I know, she’s tough, she’s gonna be fine.”

“And we’re still getting on that Ferris wheel, Darby. I’m taking you tomorrow, even if we have to bring the kids with us.”

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it firmly; she realized it was shaking. She had to focus on something other than Ada in peril. She knew sending her friend fearful thoughts was not going to help. She tried to send Ada some positive vibes by recalling joyful memories from their teen years.

Chichi inherited that loud, wild laugh from her mother.

In high school, Ada had the most wonderful habit of laughing so hard she would lose control of her bladder. Rhea and Tiny used to make it their mission to make Ada pee her pants. If Ada’s pants were left dry, they did not consider it an evening well spent. Rhea, Zoe, and Tiny were in Ada’s room, well past their bedtime, playing truth or dare, and Tiny said, “I dare all of us to streak to the stop sign.”

Tiny had become obsessed with the idea of streaking, an activity that seemed to be reserved for boys, but Tiny wanted in. She pointed out the window to the stop sign at the end of the street. Protestive groans rippled through the group.

“Rules are rules,” Tiny said.

They climbed out of Ada’s window and hid in a bush. As they stripped down, they started giggling. By the time they were naked, they were in hysterics, trying to keep their laughter down so they did not wake Ada’s parents.

“Tiny, I can’t do it—the streetlights are too bright,” Rhea said, which sent peals of laughter through the group.

“You have to.”

“I’m never gonna forgive you for this. If someone sees us, I’ll sue you,” Zoe said.

“Guys, I think I’m having a heart attack,” Ada said through hyperventilating breaths.

This made them all hunch over, laughing while tears spilled.

“Please, Tiny? Any other dare—I’ll do it,” Rhea begged.

“Nope, this is happening. Suck it. The fuck. Up.”

They held hands, counted down from three, and ran out into the street. Their hysterics made it challenging to run. At least one of them had to keep slowing the group down for laughter, but they did not drop hands, and Tiny forced them to continue.

“Guys, wait—I have to stop—” Ada said.

“No! We’reso close!”

“I’m peeing! I’m peeing!” Ada screamed as pee ran down her legs.

This unhinged the group. They roared with laughter; even Ada was guffawing.

“I have to go back!” Ada said, leaving a trail of urine behind her.

“No! Keep going.”

They touched the stop sign and sprinted back to Ada’s house.

When they got back to their hiding place, the laughter was finally dying down, and Ada said, “Well…at least I didn’t pee my pants.”

Rhea smiled at this memory and imagined sending it telepathically to Ada, along with a cascade of love.

When Rhea and Danny arrived at the Achebe-Miller house, the exhausted nanny looked at them as if they were allied forces come to liberate her. Chichi ran to Rhea and demanded a joke. Rhea and Danny had looked up several kids’ jokes on the way over and repeated them, to Chichi’s delight. Ekele watched his nanny grab her purse and speed-walk to the door.

“Where’s Mommy?” he asked.

Rhea tried to explain that his mommy would be home soon but was not able to get three words out before Ekele started wailing. His nanny left a nanny-shaped hole in the wall as she fled from the property and ran to her car. Rhea picked Ekele up, which made him scream harder.

She tried to soothe him; she gently bounced him until he yelled, “Stop bouncing me!”