Later that evening, everyone left slowly.
One by one.
Hugs.
Goodbyes.
Promises to meet tomorrow.
Eventually, only Sara and Alankrita remained.
The old woman washed dishes while Alankrita sat quietly by the window.
Snow fell gently outside.
Sara sat beside her.
"You know something?"
"What?"
"This house has been quiet for many years."
She looked around at the empty chairs.
"Tonight it sounded young again."
Alankrita smiled.
Sara looked toward her stomach.
"And he already has an entire village waiting for him."
Alankrita rested her hand over the place where he had kicked earlier.
The tiny movement returned.
Another soft kick.
Almost as if agreeing.
Outside, Cambridge slept beneath winter snow.
Inside Sara's little house sat an old bookseller, a journalism student, and a little boy not yet born who had somehow managed to gather an entire community around himself.
Some children enter the world surrounded by family.
Baby Pumpkin had begun gathering his family long before he arrived.
And perhaps...
that was a miracle too.