She held her stomach as we taxied down the runway, cradling it, supporting it.

Minutes earlier when I stood up looking for a garbage she looked alarmed as if my behavior was threatening. I had the stone of a nectarine in my mouth and it had fallen apart and I wanted to spit it out, so I simply stood up looking for the attention of the stewardess, but when I got up initially the woman next to me had a fearful look in her eyes as though she had just picked out the shape of a grenade or a gun in my pocket. She was certainly wondering what I was doing and what my next actions were to be, after the stewardess presented the garbage bag the woman was relieved and went back to a less heightened sense of awareness.

I wonder if her smell has been enhanced to detect danger as other animals are when they are pregnant. The maternal instincts are obviously apparent, but it amazed me how she protected the fetus inside her from the bumps on the tarmac by cradling her stomach with her arms as though it was cushioning the slightest impact. It was no surprise that she would want to do this, but I had never seen it done before, which made me assume that this was her first pregnancy and she - like many other new Mothers - was very vigilant and cognizant of the being living inside her and nervous in a way a man will never be able to appreciate.