FYI – This week’s writing prompt was the word “Labor”
Labor Intensive
Clara was nine months pregnant, laboring away on what would be her last day in the laboratory. Labor Day was approaching fast. That was the day she was scheduled to go to Stony Brook Hospital, where her doctor would induce labor. Clara was willing to wait until she could give birth naturally. But, not to belabor the point, her doctor wouldn’t let her. It was taking too long, and the baby’s health was at risk.
So here Clara was, doing a laboratory experiment on a labor-saving device that would eliminate a number of jobs at the Department of Labor. If it worked, the device would reduce the manual labor needed to fill out and sort paperwork. So she labored on.
Working in her lab was hard, as a protest was happening outside her building. This labor movement was focused on the loss of jobs that would be created if Clara’s tests on the device were successful. According to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics dated 8/26/22, “From 2019 to 2021, 3.6 million workers were displaced from jobs they held for at least 3 years.”
Clara was torn between doing her job and empathy for the workers outside. If she had her way, the fruits of her labor would not only prove that the device worked but would also maintain, if not increase, the number of laborers hired due to the increase in productivity.
It was at this point that her labor pains began. Clara had had false labor before, so she didn’t pay much attention to it this time. She started to pay attention when her water broke.
No matter what you’re working on, you go to the hospital when you go into labor. She texted her husband with the code, “911 for real this time.”
He ordered a cab to pick her up, and then he rushed to the hospital. He got there just as the attendants were wheeling her out of the labor room and into the delivery room.
Clara was given an epidural as the pre-birthing was getting labor intensive.
With her husband at her side, their labor of love was born. They named him César after Clara’s grandfather César Chávez, one of the most inspirational labor leaders of the 20th century,
Since she was not there to finish her lab work. The project was set aside for someone else to labor away with at some future time.
