"Birth control! Birth control! I'm so damn sick of birth control!"

"Now Virginia calm down. It's just not ...."

"Calm down! What do you mean calm down! I want a baby!"

"Now Jinny ya know we've been all through this before. It's not a good time at work and we can't afford..."

"Can't afford? Roger tell me you didn't just say that! Colleen and Sean just had their fourth and we..."

"The O'Malleys! Always with the O'Malleys! Did ya ever wonder how 2 red-haired, green-eyed people could produce 2 blue-eyed blond and 2 brown-eyed brunette children? No wonder Sean's been hitting the whiskey so hard."

"O never mind that he's Senior Management and you are the Executive Wash Room boy!"

"You really know how to hurt a guy, don't ya. So he makes more money than I do, does that make him a better man? Is he a better father to those children when he's out with his manager buddies on golf weekends away in South Carolina or on skiing junkets with suppliers. And what about Colleen?"

"What about Colleen?"

"O she's real mother of the year material working 60 hours a week. If it weren't for Consuelo those kids would starve!"

"So a woman who wants to have a career can't be a good mother? Is that what you are saying?"

Roger glanced painfully down at his old worn jeans and noted the prominent rip near his knee. It never bothered him before though now it seemed to mock him in loud tones 'til his head throbbed in ringing insult. "I know Virginia a woman can be both a good mother and have a career it's just very tough to do both."

"Is there any way you can get a promotion?"

Roger mulled it over. "Well it'll mean going on the road but I heard of a new territory opening up near Springfield and the boss said it could be a good opportunity."

"Good opportunity! Well go for it! I am sick and tired of this birth control!"

"Well I'll think it over but ya know there are 7 other fellas that interested in the new route and..."

"Roger Blythe are you a man or a mouse? Did I really marry a shell of a man so weak he couldn't get up the nerve to seek a promotion?"

"Now ya know it's not that! It's just that my uncle was a salesman with a route that size and was always on the road 'til late one night he fell asleep at the wheel and flipped his van 5 times 'til it rested on the railroad tracks and the 2:20am train to Peoria met him head on. There wasn't even enough of him left for a proper funeral. I just don't..."

"Don't what? Want to have a child with me? Is that what you are saying?"

"Be reasonable! You know it ain't that! I do love you and want what's best for you. I just don't know if this is the right time."

"Roger there are boys fighting and dying in Iraq every day and do you think their wives and girlfriends have to do a credit check or financial audit to have a child to remember them by? No! Absolutely not! They have children under difficult circumstances and they live with the risk every day!"

"But we're not in Irag! This is Elk Grove Village for Gawd's sake! The war is over 3000 miles away and I don't see the connection."

"You wouldn't! I'm telling you that I'm sick and tired of this birth control and all you can say is that you'll work too hard and that you're afraid that you'll fall asleep at the wheel late some night and kill yourself!"

"All right! All right! Good God almighty all right! We'll sort something out! I can't take this anymore!"

"Neither can I! If you don't think of something quick I'm leaving you for a real man who can give me a baby!"

The door slammed close as Roger careened towards his beat up '84 Buick sedan with the hubcap missing on the back right wheel and the front left quarter panel was dented as reminder a of a mishap suffered on a similar evening not long ago. He was going where he always went when he had to think. The one place he knew he could find some piece of mind. He was heading to the cemetery. He loved the stillness of the place and the way the moonbeams danced off the marble headstones and etched silver memorials to long forgotten souls. "There has to be way," he shouted internally. "What can I do to please her? I knew she was tough when I married her but this is nuts! Children, children, children! It's always about wanting children! Why can't I live for me? Don't I matter?"

He felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead as he wandered back to his ride. Tomorrow was coming fast and he wasn't done with today.

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