byThis better not induce labor, thought Laura as she bent down to lift the Laughing Buddha. It’d lived in the dusty corner of her living room for a decade. Being the final gift from her mother, it had a special place in her heart. But now that the Buddha’s jutting stomach was cracked because the statue fell last night, she had to replace it. Laura carried it to the storeroom. On pushing the door open, a cloud of dust attacked her. She wrinkled her nose, barely balancing the statue with one hand. “When was the last time I cleaned this mess?” She shuffled old things that had no use for her, but possessed sentimental value, and made a place for the Laughing Buddha. She shut the door on his smiling face, leaving him alone in the darkness and in dust and cobwebs. It disheartened her. She promis
