he held her , patting her back , remembering one time when his aunt betty had gotten a crying fit over some bread that did n't rise - she was big with his little cousin laddie then , seven months or so - and stu could remember her wiping her eyes with the corner of a dishtowel and telling him to never mind , any pregnant woman was just two doors down from the mental ward because the juices their glands put out were always scrambled up into a stew .