It Lives Again Read Free Page A

were very strange to me. Remember, Gene? I told you that, didn’t I? They were very strange . . . quiet. And usually the waiting room is very busy, full of women. I tried to make some kind of dumb joke to the nurses, such as how come the doctor lost all his patients, was he charging too much, or something. And all they said was that all the appointments were canceled that afternoon. ‘Oh,’ I said. I was all set to leave. But there he was, Dr. Fairchild, waiting for me. Didn’t I tell you?”
    “No, you didn’t mention it,” said Eugene.
    Jody got up. Full of her story, she paced back and forth across the room, letting it all out.
    “Well, maybe I didn’t mention it then. It wasn’t important then. It just made me feel kind of funny. There he was, Dr. Fairchild, all alone in his office, behind the desk. He never even got up to greet me. Nothing, no examination, nothing. And then, when it was time to leave, he just sat there, as if he didn’t have a friend in the world. I figured something happened to him, that he was having a bad day. But then when I got back out in the waiting room, it was the same thing. Then I figured, either something was drastically wrong, or I was imagining things.”
    “What kind of things?” Eugene asked, still not believing a word of this.
    “Like the way the nurses talked to me, as I said, uptight, and you know they usually go out of their way to be friendly.”
    Now Eugene got up and went to his wife. “Honey, come on now, this is all nonsense and you know it.”
    “Now wait a second, Mr. Scott,” said Frank. “Please listen.”
    “No, you wait a second, Mr. Davis,” Eugene interrupted. “You come in here with this cock-and-bull story about blood samples, then my wife says she went to the doctor’s and nobody talked to her. So from that I’m supposed to believe—what?” Eugene stopped. He looked at Frank Davis, who had now moved to the window, peering out as if he were looking for something. “What do you want me to believe, Mr. Davis?”
    Taking another quick look out the window, Davis turned to him and with all sincerity explained, “I’ll tell you what I want you to believe . . . what you must believe. Your name has been forwarded to the authorities. There are certain people assigned to this program. They have been notified that there’s a reasonable expectation that you will give birth to . . .”
    “Don’t say it,” said Eugene.
    Jody gasped. Her hands came up, covering her face. “Oh, my God! Oh, no, please!”
    Eugene held her close, supporting her, and brought her back to the couch. “Sit down,” he pleaded.
    “Oh, Gene,” she sobbed. “Gene, he’s telling the truth. I know he’s telling the truth! Oh, God, no!”
    Eugene was furious. “You miserable bastard!” he roared at Davis, trying to get up. “Look what you’ve done to her!”
    “Gene, no,” Jody screamed, holding on to him, “You’ve got to listen to him, Gene, please!”
    Frank moved a step or two closer, his heart going out to this beautiful young woman, but at the same time kept his distance from the maddened Eugene Scott. “I went through this myself,” said Frank. “I know exactly how you feel. I was the first. If it is one of these children, it’ll come early, unexpectedly. They’re prepared for that. The team arrived the day before yesterday.”
    “What team?” Eugene snapped.
    “Specialists,” Frank answered, gazing toward the window. “They have specialists trained, ready for this sort of thing.”
    Eugene followed Frank Davis’s gaze. “Are you trying to tell me that people—specialists, as you call them—have come down here for the specific purpose of killing our baby?”
    “If it’s like mine when it’s born,” Frank answered, “. . . yes.”
    “Davis, you’re out of your goddamn mind!” said Eugene, getting to his feet.
    Davis ignored this remark. He moved back again, toward the window. “I don’t have much time,” he said. At the window, he again