Jo has been pregnant with Pupule’s baby for nine months now. Her belly is ripe and full and she is more beautiful than ever. She is planning a home birth in a tub of warm water. The midwife is there for the delivery. People sing, chant, smoke, and talk in the living room while Jo labors out in the garage which she has turned into a boudoir of sorts.
She has decorated the barren studs and cement floor by hanging Indian bedspreads, strings of small brass bells, and Christmas lights. Carpet remnants cover the floor in a colorful mosaic. A large king sized water bed sits in the middle of the room, a couch, side chair, and coffee table off to one side. A blue lava lamp flows steadily, incense wafts through the house at various locations, and the soft rhythmic strains of a sitar play on a tape cassette. The whole effect seemed like something out of Kashmir.
Jo is sitting in a large children’s swimming pool into which heated pots of water are stirred at regular intervals. Puli dutifully carries pots of water from the kitchen each time they are needed. At the moment of the birth he is there at Jo’s side encouraging her, coaching her… he loves her with devotion.
A beautiful chubby golden haired boy is born. Jo is fine. No problems at all. She nurses the newborn as her young daughter looks on wantonly. Jo laughs and cuddles her daughter close offering her other breast to comfort little Lala. The baby boy is named for a constellation in a naming ritual where bits and pieces of nature are offered as gifts; like a blue rock or a sugar pine cone or an abalone shell, someone sings a song, someone else beats a drum and chants.
Afterwards they all happily gather for a celebratory meal. Puli has cooked the entire meal himself. He has cleaned up the house, vacuumed, set the table… everything. The menu features brown rice veggie pilaf, salad picked fresh from the garden with vinaigrette, organic corn on the cob from the Co-op, wine, beer, and marijuana for toasting… and the piece d’resistance…?
He presents it on a beautiful white creamic platter usually reserved for Thanksgiving since it has turkeys and grapes embossed on it. He has arranged some fresh marijuana leaves in a wreath around the roast: Placenta a la Rosemary and Tarragon. Cheers!
(First published 7/7/11)
