This would be the first time Patsy ever flew on an airplane, so she didn't think anything when her stomach started feeling queasy even before the bus got to the airport. She was so excited about leaving New Orleans for good that she wasn't about to let a little stomach ache bother her. Lately her stomach was always feeling queasy anyway, so she ate a lot of Moon Pies to settle it. Now she was on the bus eating her second Moon Pie and thinking how lucky she was to have a sister in San Francisco. Johnny, her three-year-old who was named after Johnny Cash, and Loretta who was two and named after Loretta Lynn, were both safe with Mama. And Patsy didn't care if she never saw that good for nothing Rainey again, who was always pinching her arms and breasts and stomach and calling her Fatsy Patsy. He only came around about two or three times a month anyway.

'Patsy baby,'� he'd say, 'I think I'm gonna marry you just as soon as I get a real job. I can't be raising no family working construction.'�

He'd grab her breast and say real sweetly, 'So let's get down, Fatsy Patsy. Let's practice for our wedding day.'�

Once Patsy said, 'I ain't dropping nothing for you, Rainey Walker. You gonna be working construction the rest of your life, and you already give me two kids to feed and I gotta live on food stamps.'� She smoothed her blouse. 'So you ain't getting nothing from me unless you marry me now.'�

Then he clamped down his fist on her breast so hard he made her cry, and he said, 'I don't know if those is my kids or not, and you ain't got no business telling me when to marry you. So get in there.'� He was so strong he just pushed her in the bedroom and did whatever he wanted to, pinching and squeezing her all over like she couldn't feel anything.

And all the time Patsy was thinking about California, where Prissy--who Mama named Priscilla like Elvis's wife, because if she was a boy she was gonna be named Elvis--went with her husband Bobby as soon as he got out of high school. They'd been there ever since, living in luxury in the sunshine where it never rains. So yesterday when Patsy got her welfare check she thought how that check was enough for a ticket to California, and she decided to call Prissy then and there. She left the kids with Mama, who lived in the same building as Patsy, and went down to the drugstore and called Prissy collect from the pay phone. Patsy didn't have a phone and she didn't want to use Mama's because she might hear what Patsy had to say and try to put a stop to it.

'Prissy,'� she almost cried, 'you gotta say yes so I can get out of New Orleans. Can I come stay with you till I get me a place in San Francisco?'�

'Patsy, I don't know,'� she said. 'You got two kids, and we only got one bedroom.'�

'I'll leave the kids with Mama, Prissy. I got it all figured out already. They can stay there till I get a job and an apartment in San Francisco. I'll take a job doing anything I can get, so I won't have to stay with you long. I'll have me a place in no time!'�

'I have to see what Bobby says,'� said Prissy. 'We do have a sofa-bed. But I'll see what Bobby says, and you call me tomorrow.'�

Patsy didn't get in touch with her until eight o'clock the next night, because it was six o'clock in California.

'Okay,'� said Prissy. 'But no kids.'�

'Okay! Okay!'� squealed Patsy, bouncing excitedly. 'I won't get the kids until I get my own place, I promise. I'll call you when I get my ticket.'�

She was saving that welfare check since yesterday, and the first thing she did was cash it at the grocery. Then she went up to her apartment and packed up everything and changed her clothes into her best outfit. She brought everything to Mama's, and said, 'Mama, I'm going to California to stay with Prissy and get me a job and an apartment, but you gotta keep the kids. Here's their stuff, and here's all my food stamps and some money for diapers.'�

Mama sat at the table with her mouth hanging open and looking at the box with all the kids' stuff in it and at the old zipper bag which Patsy didn't even set down. 'You can't leave these babies,'� she finally said. 'It might take you forever to get a place in California.'�

'Don't worry Mama,'� Patsy said, 'it ain't gonna be forever. You just wait. They got a lot of good jobs out there, and it won't take me no time. And if I get a big enough apartment, like a three-bedroom, maybe you can come too when the kids do.'�

Johnny was sitting on a phone book at the table and eating cereal, not paying any attention to them. Patsy hugged him and kissed him good-bye without setting down her zipper bag.

'I don't know how you can do this,'� Mama was saying.

'I got to get out of this place, Mama. This'll be the best thing that ever happened.'� Patsy hugged her and kissed her cheek. 'Rainey ain't ever gonna marry me, and I'd be a fool to marry him if he did. And you know I can't find a job in New Orleans. Let me kiss Loretta 'cause I got a plane to catch.'�

Patsy was about worn out when she finally got to the airport at about midnight. Then she had to walk about ten miles in that building just to buy a ticket. Her feet felt like they were swollen, and her stomach was cramping up real badly now. But she didn't let any of that stop her. When she got her ticket, she called Prissy just like she said she would.

Prissy liked to have a fit. 'Four o'clock in the morning!'� she said. 'I didn't think you was coming already!'� Patsy could hear Bobby cussing in the background.

'Well I gotta come now, I already got my ticket,'� Patsy said.

Prissy said she'd pick her up at the airport, so Patsy was set. She had to wait about an hour for her plane, but she figured it'd take her about that long to walk to the gate anyway. When she was walking she saw this cute girl with this cute figure holding hands with this cute guy, and she thought about how once she was in California she'd get on a good diet. That old zipper bag was getting heavy and her stomach was feeling worse now, like it was all tied up in a knot. She tried going to the bathroom, but it didn't help. Then she bought a pack of Rolaids, but that didn't help either. Finally she got to the gate where they said the plane would be, and when she sat down to wait for it she was afraid she'd never be able to get up again, she was so tired and sore. But she kept thinking about the trolley cars and about Rice-a-Roni, then before she knew it this lady in a uniform was shaking her and saying, 'Are you waiting for Flight 202, Miss? It's boarding now.'�

She got herself up and went on the plane, and when she saw how long and skinny that plane was she felt like she was going to throw up. But she hurried and found her seat, though she had a hard time squeezing in it. Later the lady came by and said no one was going to sit there so she could pick up that arm to give herself more room.

When the plane started rolling she wasn't too nervous, but when it went to take off, going so fast she thought the back of her seat would break, she closed her eyes and bit her fist. She thought for sure she was too heavy for the plane and it wouldn't be able to take off with her in it, or it would take off and lean to one side or something and crash. It was really loud and everything was shaking and vibrating. Then right when it took off it occurred to her that this was the way she was going to die, because Patsy Kline died in a plane crash and after all Patsy was named after her. When the plane started to lean to one side she screamed, still not opening her eyes till the lady tapped her on the shoulder. 'Miss,'� she said, 'there's nothing to be afraid of. We're safely airborne, so you can relax now. Are you feeling all right?'�

'No,'� was all she could say.

'Can I get you anything--water or aspirin maybe?'�

Patsy took out her pack of Rolaids and shook her head. She chewed a Rolaids, hoping it would help her stomach cramps this time. She must have done too much walking and running around all night, she thought. She was really hurting and really sleepy.

She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep. She started dreaming about Johnny and Loretta. She dreamed they were sitting right behind her on the plane, only she didn't know it. When the plane landed she got off and ran up to Prissy, but Prissy held out her arm and stopped her from hugging her.

'No kids,'� said Prissy, and Patsy thought, 'I don't have no kids here.'�

Then all of a sudden she saw Johnny and Loretta holding hands right beside her. 'I didn't know they came,'� she told Prissy. 'They followed me!'�

'You have to go back,'� Prissy said. Then she turned around and walked away.

So Patsy just stood there not knowing what to do when she felt something warm and wet between her legs, and that's when she woke up. Her seat and dress were soaking wet. She couldn't believe she wet herself. But she was wet, and she thought it must have something to do with the plane. When the lady passed by she thought about asking her about the bathroom, but she was too embarrassed to let her see what she'd done.

Then she had to go again. She couldn't wait. There was no lady in sight, so she stood up and walked to the back of the plane, thinking it might be like a bus. And there it was--she wasn't so stupid as people think.

When she got on the toilet she couldn't understand the feeling. It was like she had to pee, but at first nothing came out. She pushed real hard and finally heard this big splash and then a lot of gushing sounds. What in tarnation? she thought. Anyway, she felt much better now. But when she got up to see what caused all the commotion, she almost had a heart attack. There was a baby in the toilet!

She knew it was hers, too, because it looked just like Rainey. When she picked it up out of there, it squirmed and was so slippery she almost dropped it. The cord was still on it, so without even thinking she sat back down on the toilet and tied it in a knot. After that she washed it off in the sink and saw it was a boy. She was thinking of who to name it after when the plane felt like it hit a bump. Then she remembered where she was.

The baby would ruin everything. Prissy and Bobby wouldn't let her stay with them, and she'd have to go back to New Orleans. Even if they did let her stay with them, she wouldn't be able to get a job with a baby to take care of. Johnny and Loretta would never see California, and Mama wouldn't either.

She looked at the baby, who she'd decided to call Willie, after Boxcar Willie. How could he ever live after being born in a toilet? He hadn't made a sound since he was born, and he was looking mighty white, like a dead person, and hardly breathing. She started to cry softly. 'My baby's dead. My Willie's dead. He came out of nowhere and didn't stay long. Poor Willie. My baby didn't have a chance.'�

She decided not to tell the lady or anybody about it. She figured there was no sense in making a fuss about something that was nobody's business but hers. Willie was her baby, even though he was born in the toilet and died, and she'd get rid of him so no one would ever know any different. There was a silver door in the wall for trash, and she kissed little Willie and pushed him through it and let him go forever.

After cleaning up the bathroom and cleaning herself up, she went back to her seat. It wasn't long before she knew everything would work out for the best. Her stomach felt a lot better, and she couldn't wait to land in California to start her new life.

* * *

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- A woman who gave birth in an airplane restroom and stuffed the infant in a wastebasket won't go to jail until December because she is expecting another baby soon, officials said. Patsy Troxler of New Orleans was to begin a six-month jail term Oct. 14, but a San Mateo County Superior Court judge decided Friday that her sentence should begin after the birth of her fourth child, due in mid-October.

Troxler, 25, pleaded no contest in May to a charge of felony child endangerment in a plea bargain. She could have been sentenced to six years in prison if she had been tried and convicted.

Troxler gave birth in the restroom of a United Airlines flight between New Orleans and San Francisco. The baby was found, still alive, in the wastebasket shortly after the airplane landed in San Francisco International Airport on July 13 of last year.

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