I’m back at H&C. Started last Wednesday and found Lara just about to pop, so swollen in her strained t-shirt I could see her inside-out belly-button pushing against the fabric.

Poor Dierdre is gone, replaced by Kay, a blond, stocky fellow in his twenties whose half-grown beard and barely concealed chest-hair remind me of a coconut. Apparently he had, until recently, a full beard and dreadlocks going halfway down his back. Al that remains of that is the impression of hairiness and a fondness for jewelry, especially a silver-colored bracelet on one wrist. I like him. He’s smart and literate. The prospect of sharing an office with a man seems to have unhinged Yolanda, who flirts so outrageously with him I’m reminded of a cat I once had who would pick fights with other cats by yowling and twisting its body until it was practically standing on its head.

That may be part of why there’s a rising tension between the comroom and the office manager, Portia, who sweeps past it occasionally with her lips compressed, her eyes on the open door with the look of someone on the watch for misbehavior. It’s possible Lara and Yolanda have a little too much in common, both being young and fond of men, fashion magazines, and gossip.

Lara’s last day before she left for maternity leave had a last-day-of-school feel to it. She left cheering and practically skipping out the door.