Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Pink Lady Apple Yeggs and my friend, and brother-in-law, Deviled Yeggs suggested that I record each project that I set up in the hopes of reforming the people who continue to work for Lily the Pink Enterprises.  If for no other reason, it would show how God is at work.

But this Mommie Club thing has been brewing in my mind for some time.  A couple of years ago, when the folks from Washington state were packed in like sardines on the third floor, we had an expectant mother’s club.  Callie Johnson Yeggs, Anna Hill, Pauline Niblick, and my Stepmom, Maeve, but she hates being called that.  Anna has moved to Washington state and Maeve is so dedicated to her job at the mission that she might rarely show up.  Since then, however, we have gotten adopted children and families with small children.  And a few ladies are expecting or expected to be expecting soon.

The idea has been bouncing around in my brain for some time that there are some women who have no idea what to expect and others that have been down that road before.  I had Boaz until he was on solid food, even that long was risky with Baldwyn in charge.  But my point is that now having three little ones is a new experience for me.  And Gwen has four.  She does not breast feed the youngest, Catalina, who is starting some solid foods, but for a president of a company, she has her hands full.  It is great that we have a wonderful nursery and Gwen and I have understanding husbands.  GrandPa, PawPaw, and Grannie Fannie do a lot.

But these other young mothers are just starting out.  We need to establish a network even if we do not have a club.  But the last that I noticed, we have at least two birthdays in each month of the year, with those children elementary school age or younger.  So, we could have a birthday party meeting as a club.  Then, I was thinking we could set up support groups that could meet when needed and I could give everyone the contact information for the entire club, with how old their children are and their stated skill sets.  If a Mommie needs help, they will know who to call.

I had Callie start us in prayer, since she was the head of the last club.

She then gave me a surprise.  She opened the door and a few ladies entered.  Callie said that they had recently learned that they were pregnant.  The first was Zuzka Yeggs, but then the shockers were Jochebed and Ellie Quinn Casey.  Jochebed assured me that the nursery was in good hands.  Grannie Fannie had enlisted some of the husbands.  She said that she had no sign of being pregnant until she realized her milk production while wet nursing was slowing down.  She would not know how far along she was until she saw the doctor.  But the Dr. Ellie announcement was a shocker.  While at the hotel in Galveston after the hurricane had hit, Michael had asked if he was going to have any siblings.  Dr. Ellie explained that they wanted the three of them to get to know each other better before they started.  Then Michael said, “We’ll have nine months.”  And Dr. Ellie thinks she got pregnant that night.  That may cause yet another shake up in the Turtle team.

Then Callie introduced the Undersheriff of Stout County.  That was all she said.  I was a little confused.

Tuesday reached the podium in full uniform.  “Hi, everyone, don’t worry.  I am not here to arrest anyone.  I guess Callie had a little fun by just giving part of my title.  It’s part of a reorganization of the sheriff’s office.  I am Undersheriff of Detectives, Tuesday Wednesday.  It pays about the same as a lieutenant here in Tracy, but I have all the detectives, deputy rank, reporting to me.  I do not have Organized Crime though.  They are under a different undersheriff.  Since Rextown is rather small, the county sheriff is the law throughout Stout County.  A little about me.  I got a paralegal degree years ago, and I started as a typist in the sheriff’s office.  I started doing some investigations with Detective Wolfe.  But I did not become a detective until I married Jim Wednesday.  I am Latvian, from the Latvian community here in Tracy.  My name at birth was Velga Kalnins.  My mother lives with Jim and me.  When we got married, we were not thinking about having children, and I arranged to have three orphans.  I investigated the murder of their mother, and I fell in love with the children.  I changed my name to Tuesday since Jim wanted a wife named Tuesday Wednesday, but in doing that, Jim owed me.  The adoptions were my price.  And three and a half years ago, we had a little boy, Holiday.  Our crew is named Thursday (who will be seven next month, and in second grade), Friday, Saturday, and Holiday Wednesday.  Friday and Saturday are far from identical twins, and they will be six in December, starting first grade.  They occasionally visit the nursery here when my mother is not feeling up to it.  But I have a bit of news that gives me an experience that I never wanted.  Nearly six months ago, I had a miscarriage.  It was to be a little girl.  With Saturday and me being the only girls in the family, we thought we were evening the tables a bit.  But I have another announcement, I am again expecting.  So, if anyone wants to talk about not getting promoted until you contemplate quitting, I have been there.  After the miscarriage, I just wanted to be a Mommie.  But after an extended medical and emotional break for me six months ago, Det. Wolfe retired, and they reorganized the entire sheriff’s department partly to entice me to return.  I only accepted the offer under one condition, that I take it slow near the due date and double their normal maternity leave.  And I got it.  They worked out a deal to borrow my husband from Tracy.  And I hope you never have to do what I did last month.  When a teacher at the elementary school claimed that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were not really related, I had to produce the birth records.  It seems that Thursday got a little upset by the teacher’s comments.  The mother of my adopted children was a prostitute.  Each child had a different father.  Since Friday and Saturday are twins, the phenomenon is called heteropaternal superfecundation.  The three children look nothing like each other.  So, I had to prove they were related by blood and related by adoption and I was not the birth mother.  This was degrading, but they are my children.  I am their Mommie.  Since I got the call at work, that Thursday had ‘fought’ with his teacher, I arrived in what I am wearing now, and the teacher backed off and was willing to listen.  So, I have experience fighting for my child’s honor, having a miscarriage, and even having Easter and Jemima save the lives of my children from gang violence.  I will be joining the expectant mother subgroup and the experienced mother subgroup.  Thank you for your time.”

I went over and gave Tuesday a big hug.  She was one of the reasons I wanted this club.  Tuesday and Jim went through the miscarriage alone.  And it took a lot of soul searching for her to try again and to go back to work.  We needed that display of strength.

Then I took the podium.  “Ladies, if you do not mind, I will lead this club.  I can set up a relational database to easily group mothers with their interests.  I want to thank Tuesday for her introductory remarks.  It illustrates the wide variety of things mothers face.  I want each of you to know that you do not have to do so alone, even if all we can do is to give you a hug.  But other than just having a social gathering, I want each of you to come to the podium and give your name, the names of your children and their birth month.  I am sure we have each month of the year covered.  We can meet once each month, if you are available to come, just to have a little birthday party.  I expect the support groups for one reason or another will spring up naturally.  If you start one on your own, let me know.  I may have other mothers who want to join.  I will kick off the introductions.  I don’t think I need to give birth months for my adult children, but I am Pink Lady Apple Yeggs.  My children are: Boaz Yeggs, Otto Yeggs, Poached Yeggs, and my pseudo daughter Pink Pearl Apple.  Then I have Kanok, b. October of ‘22, Joon, b. January of ‘23, and Pink Sparkle, b. June of ‘24.”

They all went in turn:

Sally Dalton.  I have three children: Emmett is sixteen and a sophomore at Vitamin Flintheart, Arabella is thirteen and in the eighth grade at Moon Maid Middle School, and Sarah, b. November ’13, in fifth grade.
Trinity Naomi Tesla Yeggs.  I have four children: Easter is technically a senior at T.R.U.S.T.  Sophie is a sophomore and Blaise is a junior both at Vitamin Flintheart, and Gloria Grace, our Gigi, b. June of ’23.
Gwen Quinn.  I have four adopted children, all with the last name of Yeggs: Valin, b. September of ’21, Thanh, b. February of ’23, Asha, b. April of ’23, and Catalina, b. September of ‘23.
Greta Grunge. I have three children: Grace, b. February of ’18, in first grade, Gretchen, b. July of ’20, and Grayson, b. August of ‘22
Callie Johnson Yeggs.  I have one daughter, Scarlett Ibis Yeggs, b. October of ‘22
Maeve Collins Yeggs.  I have twins: Jayne Olivia Yeggs and Judah Oswald Yeggs, b. March of ’23.
Pauline Niblick.  I have one daughter, Baffy, for Baffing Spoon, Niblick, b. January of ’23, and I am expecting, maybe in January.
Mary Jo Lynn. I have one son, Frank Lynn, b. July of ’23 during hurricane Frank.  Thank you Turtle team.
Catherine ver Waarloosd.  I have three children: Reuben, b. June of ’21, Samantha, b. August of ’22, and Levi, b. April of ’24.
Menzie Menzies MacDougall.  I have two children: Lauren, November of ’21 and Samuel, my Sammie, February of ’23.
Stasya Kaiser.  Expecting soon.
Jemima Yeggs. Expecting early January.
Joseline Cash Johnson. Expecting early March.
Sally Mae Driver. Expecting in April.
Dr. Elvira Quinn Casey. I have one adopted son, Michael Rowe Casey, who is thirteen and in eighth grade at Moon Maid Middle School.  And I am expecting in May. I hope Stinker can be back on the team by then.

Zuzka and Jochebed had yet to see a doctor.  They had just done the stick test, but Jochebed thought she might be further along.

Of those trying to get pregnant, we are left with Penny Williams.  Last I heard, they were making progress.  And Mary Sheltie Jones, Cassie Beech Yeggs, Missy Campbell MacDougall, and Amy G. Dala were married within the past year or so, but they are holding off.  Then again, Dr. Ellie had been holding off.  Tommie Tat Tutor-Tarrant Kutz just got married.  Polly Pulice, Minnie Others, and Rota (Zuzka’s Latvian friend) have not set wedding dates.

Credits

In a way, I wrote this post to encourage similar Mommies Clubs.  The church where I attend has some biblically based mother support groups.  But another reason was that I kept having all these families introduced into the Tracy universe and I had to keep track of it.  My first-ever pregnancy in the series was Tuesday Wednesday and I forgot that I had made the pregnancy announcement.  Tuesday could either have had a 15-month pregnancy or it was a false alarm of some kind and then she really got pregnant six months after the announcement.

But in a way, this is a celebration of the work that Pink Lady is doing at Lily the Pink.  The campus was a brothel just a few short years ago.  Pink Lady, upon their emancipation from the sex trade, was now seeing families being formed – not all of them former prostitutes, but enough.