On Call. Always.

"What does it feel like to be a mother?"

Quiet, and then Joni says, "You know those doors where you go in and you can't come out?"

"What doors can you go in and not come out?" Renie asks.

"They're in mousetraps."

"Being a mother feels like being in a mousetrap?"  Renie asks, laughing.

"A human one," Joni says.  "You're trapped because you're always on call."

~ elizabeth berg