"Some day huh?"
"No kidding."
Earlier that day Babsie had found a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test. She immediately asked Lori and Natalie about it, but it didn't belong to either of them. And she hadn't used it, so that left... the kids.
Babsie and Isaac didn't like that idea at all. They confronted the kids (well, not the youngest of course... the ones who wouldn't even get the idea of having sex into their little heads) and asked them about it. Duke had admitted to it as being used by his girlfriend Mindy. They pulled him aside, and Babsie rang up Mrs Thompson - Mindy's mother - about it.
"That Mrs Thompson is a piece of work," Isaac commented. "Imagine insisting that fourteen-year-olds get married. Fourteen!"
"Actually, I think Mindy is fifteen."
"Whatever. Close enough."
Babsie smiled.
"I mean, I agree with her to a point. It is said in the Bible that if you have sex with someone then you're married in the eyes of God. Nonetheless, there's... if you're going to get married, you need to be able to stick at it, y'know?"
"Of course. So what you're saying is that Duke and Mindy have made a mistake, and while they should really get married, if they're not ready to make that commitment, then their marriage will probably end in shambles, and maybe divorce - which God frowns down on too."
"So we come back to the point where they shouldn't have been having sex in the first place," Babsie said, managing a small laugh.
"Mmm, I think that it'll be fine for them to stay unmarried for awhile until they're ready - especially with the baby and all."
"Well, those things aren't always right."
"True."
"I mean, they've told me that I wasn't at least twice and it turned out that I was. But I get what you're saying. One thing at a time," she paused. "You know, maybe we should meet with them and ask them is they want to get married. Maybe they do."
Isaac patted her shoulder as she gulped.
"Oh Ike, it's one thing with Xavier. He's sixteen, he has a great job and everything. But Duke? He's fourteen! And we find out that he's being having sex and... oh man... do you think any of the other kids have been doing it too?"
"The only thing we can do is ask. And we should probably make it even clearer where we stand on it."
"And Matt's in the psych hospital after trying to kill himself," Babsie went on, not seeming to hear what Isaac said. "I knew I'd be a bad mother. I knew it."
"Nonsense! You are a great mother. It's just that the kids are teenagers now. And all teenagers are prone to try new things and experiment and stuff. They're just trying to find their place in the world, you know."
"New things. Experiment," Babsie repeated bitterly. "Are those just code words for sex, drugs, vandalism -"
"Babsie! Of course not!" then Isaac sighed. "You know that Teen Bar idea you came up with?"
"Yes."
"You know that's intended to keep them out of trouble. To stop them from doing things they shouldn't," a small smile crossed his face. "We could have one of those condom dispenser things and next to it have all these graphic descriptions of sexually transmitted diseases."
Babsie looked at him and then laughed.
"I think we've been around each other way too long. That sounds like something I'd think up."
"Probably."