She cranes her neck to peer into the plastic crib. The baby starts to cry, and the sweet helplessness of the sound makes MaliвЂ™s eyes fill. Because when in the throes of back-labor, the thought of co-parenting with Nosson was just plain exhausting. Again, maybe itвЂ™s not his fault she needed a C-section, but he definitely didnвЂ™t make it any less inevitable. Nosson outdid himself in the unhelpful department. Just the memory makes her roll her eyes.Д«ut today really takes the cake. Maybe that one wasnвЂ™t his fault, but it was his fault that he curled up on the couch and moaned every single day for two months straight, while she cooked and worked and shopped her way through it. He hadnвЂ™t locked the door before they went grocery shopping, even though heвЂ™d been positive he had and refused to go back to check. He hadnвЂ™t signed on the apartment in time, the realtor said. Because honestly, thatвЂ™s where all the broken, potholed roads lead to. She could check her mezuzahs, or go to an ayin hara lady.

And then, to top it all off, theyвЂ™d been burgled. Of course, that hadnвЂ™t been the official reason, but she knew. Then theyвЂ™d both gotten mono and been out for the count, and Smith & Cohen had fired her. It just follows the not-so-comedy of errors that has been her life since she married Nosson two years earlier.ДЇirst the apartment on the kollel block had fallen through, and theyвЂ™d ended up in that hole of a basement. It figures that Mali Baum nГ©e Sheiner would need a C-section after 21 hours of labor.

The broken roads