Marybeth came down the hallway of the trailer, cigarette in one hand, a beer in the other. She positioned herself in front of Jason and slid up and onto the washing machine. She leaned back and spread her legs slightly to accommodate the incidental new life growing in her lanky, restless body. After a sip of room temp Budweiser and a slow contemplative drag off a Marlboro, "I need to get out of here. I don't care where. Anywhere but here."

Marybeth turned from Jason and blushed at her confidence in someone she hardly knew. She glanced out the window at some imagined noise in the driveway, satisfied it was nothing, she turned her attention back to Jason. Forgetting her problems for a moment she used the flat of her foot to playfully impale him against the opposite wall. She giggled, then remembered her serious mood, "You have to promise to take me if you leave. Billy went over to his ex's house again yesterday. I know he is thinking about going back to her."

She brushed her hand absentmindedly over her belly. Awkward, both from the alcohol and new, unaccustomed bulk she leaned forward sternly, "You have to promise me. And mean it!" Softening, "Please." She took another shaky drag off the nearly-spent cigarette. Looking away, tears welled up in her tired eyes.