Claudia's baby cousin is finally here!

I was halfway through the American Medical Journal when I heard a commotion near the nurse's desk. Then I thought I heard Peaches. Moaning.

I ran out to see two nurses wheeling Peaches, on a rolling bed, toward a pair of white, swinging doors. Russ was jogging alongside.

"Dr. Zuckerman to delivery please," a voice blared over a loudspeaker. "Stat."

From behind us, a doctor walked briskly out of the maternity area. He ducked behind the nurses's desk, put on a shower cap and a green space suit, and went into the delivery room.

I squeezed Janine's hand. I felt as if I'd swallowed a beach ball.

"Come," Dad said. "Let's sit down."

He put his arm around Mom's shoulder, and we all walked back into the waiting room.

"How long will it be?" I asked.

"Soon," Mom said. "Very soon."

I was a train wreck. I couldn't sit. I couldn't read.

Soon? Soon felt like a thousand years.

I thought Russ would never come. I thought he'd forgotten about us. I imagined us sitting there, neglected, gathering dust, until Little Mimi was ready for grade school.

And then, just when I thought I would pass out from the tension, Russ ran into the room. His eyes were glazed, his smile so bright we could have seen him in the dark.

"Claudia, Janine," he announced, "you have a new cousin."

Claudia and the World's Cutest Baby
Published by Scholastic Inc. 1996
ISBN: 0590228811