Day 4
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During the 10 minutes, you’re going to write down as many changes as you can think of.
Start by listing (at least) five physical things that could change for Esme. These are real world changes - she could decide to have an Americano instead of a latte, her mother might decide to visit, she could be made redundant.
Then list (at least) five metaphysical or emotional things that could change for Esme. These are subtle world changes - she could realise it's time to let go of an old insecurity, that she believes in God after all, that she hates her boyfriend.
If you still have time in your ten minute slot, see if you can come up with more changes for other people.
Willa - physical changes
Thicker thighs - clothes don’t fit leading to a shame spiral
Sore breasts - reappraise what they actually mean, what they’re for - it’s not about getting served first at the bar, they’re for serving someone else
Ravenously hungry - growing a human, shedding cares about how she is perceived by the faceless public
Mild nausea - irritation that Dave doesn’t particularly care
Swelling belly - the change is astonishingly quick
Willa - emotional changes
daydreaming - unable to focus on a task, poleaxed by the sheer delight of growing a human. It’s a miracle. A miracle that even a sheep can do, but a miracle none the less.
sheer delight - lots of stroking her tummy
sudden bursts of irrational fear - what if she drops the baby onto the cutlery basket in the dishwasher and it is full of knives?
Delighted by the sudden kindness of strangers - living in a city you get used to polite disengagement most of the time, now people make time to make life easier (contrast this with the later change of when everything is awful and everyone stops fucking helping. It is easier to get onto a bus with a bulging belly than with a buggy and she will have had less sleep - though at this point she will find it hard to believe that.)
Sudden concerns about how Dave is handling the whole thing. How important is travel now anyway?