Powerless (Book 1): Powerless Read Free

the hospital and went on to the school where she taught English.
    At three thirty in the afternoon she finished up correcting the children’s homework, putting away their projects at school and went to the hospital to have her scan. M eeting Philip in the reception he brought Josephine down the long corridor of maternity wards where they met the obstetrician . Dr. Cruz was a colleague of Philip’s and looked after Josephine during her first pregnancy. As the doctor performed the scan Josephine’s eyes were fixated on the screen as she held Philip’s hand. Dr. Cruz made the image of the foetus clear on the screen and turned to Josephine, “Do you want to know the sex?”
    Josephine hesitated. “No, I want it to be a surprise.”
    Turning to Philip she could see a huge smile on his face and she exclaimed. “Aw no fair, you can tell! Can’t you?”
    Philip simply chuckled, brushed his hand through her hair, kissed her on the head and told her, “We’ll just have to wait and see.” Getting their keepsake picture, they then left.
    Philip drove, as his wife was tired, driving the same way home that he had done every day for the past five years. Some raindrops were still hitting the windscreen from an earlier downpour. Philip hit the wipers to clear any residual drops, muttering to himself, “I need to replace these wipers,” as they weren’t clearing the windscreen on the first wipe but rather taking at least three to clear his view. Josephine wasn’t paying too much attention as they drove down the streets that felt like home, past the playground where they would walk Tom, their first child, in his pram.
    She could vaguely recognize the sound of Philip’s voice in the background, happily talking, but her mind was miles away. She was picturing her little girl or boy in her arms, sitting against the stomach that it now lay inside. She imagined pushing him or her down this road; chasing behind them as they learnt to walk; watching them carefully as her two children played together in the playground. In a matter of minutes she had visualized the first decade of her unborn child’s life. She thought about the friends they would make, the games they would play; the attitude they would have. Would it be a sunny happy child? A melancholy child, always fretting?
    “So I sold the house and we’re moving to Hawaii…” Philip looked across at Josephine, knowing exactly what she was thinking about and enjoying teasing her anyway.
    “Hang on, what?!” she exclaimed, suddenly pulled out of her thoughts.
    “You’re miles away again. What is it this time? Dreaming of the unnatural musical ability he is bound to have?” he winked at her and briefly placed his hand on her leg, squeezing.
    “Ha-ha, I’m sorry Philip. It’s just… all the possibilities!” the twinkle in her eye that had appeared on that day all those months ago when she first told Philip that she was pregnant had only become brighter and stronger. She was a wonderful mother to Tom and he couldn’t wait to see her with both children in her arms.
    Pulling onto the highway they went to collect Tom from the childminder’s. As they drove along the short stretch of road there was a large lorry carrying bulk metal in front of them.
    Being a cautious man, he kept his distance as they drove. Looking ahead, Philip saw a small removal van, the kind used to move apartment furniture, join the highway and merge alongside the lorry. Approaching their exit , the removal van veered suddenly and violently in front of the lorry, as if to avoid something on the road. The warm smile that hadn’t left Philip’s face since they’d seen the scan vanished, replaced by intense concentration.
    The van caused the lorry to jack-knife and it tipped onto its side. The horrendous noise of metal on metal and screeching tires was enough to send Josephine into a panicked hysteria, torn between clutching onto the door beside her and wrapping her arms around her unborn baby, but Philip