Static filled the theatre screen and the princess movie vanished, replaced by something clearly not meant for kids. A documentary about pregnancy played on the screen and Mason blinked in confusion. Without a cartoon playing the kids absolutely exploded into a bunch of screaming and shouting, starting to run around and play on their seated even Janette wasn’t spared. She shrieked and yelled while Mason stared at her and watched in horror as she got even younger.
Baby fat bloomed on her body, a diaper appeared on her rump, and she bounded up and down her words becoming less and less until she wasn’t even speaking any.
The theatre got quieter too, hundreds of little kids voices dropping to ninety, then eighty, then fifty, and so on and so forth. Mason glanced around her and took note of all the moms. They weren’t tired looking from children screaming anymore, they were instead bulging with pregnancy as the kids vanished and every woman’s stomach expanded.
“No! Not that!” Mason shouted before Janette got so young some magic decided she wasn’t fit to be outside the womb. There was an erupting feeling in Mason’s abdomen and she looked down to see her belly bloated outwards with about seven months of pregnancy, the seat next to her was empty and the theatre was quiet, filled to the brim with pregnant women who were all peacefully watching a pregnancy documentary unaware that just a few minutes earlier their incoming babies had been running around and shrieking.
“As you approach your due date things become harder,” the documentary explained. “Madison here is due in three months and is planning to take maturity leave, she’ll be leaving the workforce soon because her job is too physical...”
“Madison?” Mason blinked before forgetting the name Mason altogether. She could only remember the name Madison and it made her bite her lip. What was going on? Why had an evening out with Janette ended up with her being a pregnant thirty year old woman due in three months. Worse still she was planning to hand her job off to a coworker because it was starting to get to physical. She hated that, she hated how weak the pregnancy was making her.
She blinked certain she was upset about something else. No it was her job, she was a hardworking women and having to step down from her career and take time off bugged her. Her parents had ensured she’d have a work ethic worthy of the workforce when she was a kid. She never called in sick or skipped out, she was punctual and filled with effort.
“Madison’s body needs to be strong for when the baby comes,” the documentary droned.
“My body needs to be strong for when the baby comes,” Madison repeated before shaking her head. “Yeah! I need all the energy I can spare, if I keep working I’ll be too tired to keep in shape and make sure I’m fit enough for birth!”
“Madison knows that at this time she has to start thinking more about her incoming baby than herself,” the documentary continued.
Madison smiled and rubbed her swollen baby bump at that statement and thought about her baby. She liked the name Janette, it seemed fitting. She’d been uncertain at first but now she felt like she’d do anything in the world for her baby. She smiled contently and continued to watch the film with dozens of other pregnant women around her feeling the same way.