Juneau men speak little after a sleepless night. Juneau women do not speak at all. There is malevolence to the silence. Then the birds sounded their welcoming of the day. Perhaps later the birds will change their tunes. The Monarch Raven was not one of these welcoming birds as it remained perched atop the Powers’ house. ‘Never flitting, just there sitting.’ The pregnant women have found safe places to deliver. Tricia and Ann lay in the delivery position. Each young adult has her own bed. Not so for Peyton. His head rested on a pillow in the motel bathroom...unknown territory for the boy. He got up and felt his way to the sink and ran the cold water. He cupped his hand to drink. Outside his barricaded door, Tricia felt her stomach as did Ann. The delivery commenced as each teen grabbed the head of the newborn. The ‘baby’ glided out smoothly as Ann had notified all the women that it would. To make matters easier, the umbilical cord liquefied. The girls looked on to their newborns.
