Chapter 15
Another month went by and Ajna was now working full time at the clinic. She had started jogging in order to recover more of her strength and was considering a gym membership. But she was back to doing longer hours and was doubtful that she would have the time. Edward had just returned from a banking conference in Beijing. The branch manager was required to attend and wanted him to be there as the golden child of the Portland branch. He had developed a reputation for accurate financial projections and the people in Beijing were beginning to notice. Otherwise, the conference was uneventful and Edward slept in late on Saturday in an attempt to recover from the long flight back.
He woke up around nine-o-clock and after a hot shower made his way downstairs where Ajna was sitting on the couch watching the news. Edward collapsed down into a sitting position next to her.
”Good morning, sleepy head,” she said. “You slept like the dead.”
Edward tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
“I think the dead probably feel a whole lot better than I do right now,” he responded. “Shit, what day is it?”
“Saturday,” Ajna answered.
She had already made him a cup of coffee and slid it across the coffee table to him.
“Ah…coffee,” he exclaimed.
“Just the way you like it,” Ajna said.
He took a brief sip and worked the kinks out of his neck.
“God, the conference was such a waste of time,” Edward began. “Just a bunch of well-dressed suck-ups looking to score points with Beijing.”
No sooner than he spoke, a light bulb went off in his brain.
“Alright, what is it?” he asked.
“What?” Ajna replied playfully.
“You hardly ever get my coffee in the morning and when you do it’s because you have something up your sleeve,” he said. “So, c’mon. What is it?”
“Well,” Ajna started. “We’ve talked about having kids, right?”
“Yes, on a number of occasions,” Edward answered.
He suddenly stopped short in his words and looked at her with wide eyes.
“Are you?” he asked.
“No, but I wanted us to talk about it first,” Ajna answered. “I wouldn’t just spring something like that on you.”
“Oh, o.k. That’s good,” he said.
“Don’t you want a family?” she asked.
“Yes, absolutely…,” Edward answered. “I just thought that given what happened a few months back we’d be having this conversation a bit further down the road.”
“O.k.,” Ajna started. “The doctor said I should see an OB/GYN before conceiving, right? So, if everything checks out what would you think then?”
“Well, if everything checks out then I would say o.k,” Edward answered.
Ajna was instantly elated and throwing her arms around him began kissing him playfully.
“Don’t thank me just yet,” he said. “You still have to go to the OB/GYN first. So, let’s not go buying baby clothes just yet.”
Ajna made the appointment first thing Monday morning. Fortunately, there had been a cancellation and they were able to schedule her for the following week. When the day came, she found herself sitting in the waiting room of Dr. Ann Franklin. Edward arrived with her and would continue to wait while Ajna was in the exam room. Dr. Franklin had read the records that had been sent to her office from the doctor who had cleared her to return to work. After reviewing the records she thought that given her recent history, a complete physical exam was in order. As part of her exam, a battery of blood tests were ordered. Unbeknownst to Ajna, Dr. Franklin was obligated by the state to submit a sample of her blood as part of the screening process. At least two hundred DNA markers would be examined by gel electrophoresis without Ajan’s knowledge of consent. The results were to be cataloged and placed in her file. All that was left was her psychometric test and that would require an appointment.
After roughly an hour, Edward was called into Dr. Franklin’s office where a second chair had been placed in front of the doctor’s desk. Both Ajna and Edward now sat in front of Dr. Franklin waiting for what they hoped would be good news.
“Well,” Dr. Franklin began. “Everything looks great! It was a good idea to get an exam first. A lot of women don’t show up until they get pregnant, not knowing if things will really work out.”
“So, everything’s o.k.?” Edward asked.
He was now holding Ajna’s hand.
“Yeah,” the doctor continued. “But I do have one question.
“Boy or girl?”
Ajna and Edward glanced at each other in a moment of confusion.
“Um…I don’t understand,” Ajna answered. “I suppose we’d like to….”
She looked over at Edward again.
“Well, we don’t know. I mean, we haven’t exactly talked about whether we’d like to have a boy or a girl,” Edward said. “We always thought nature decided those things.”
The doctor handed them a pamphlet.
“Actually, you can decide which gender your baby will be,” the doctor said. “We have a genetics lab on the third floor that provides a service called ‘predetermined gender engineering’. It’s a technology that got its start in the late twentieth century. Now, it’s been developed to a well-controlled art.”
Ajna and Edward looked at each other again with a bit of confusion.
“Ya’ know,” Edward began. “I think we’re just gonna let nature take its course.”
He looked over at Ajna and she nodded her head in agreement.
“Yeah, I think we’re just gonna do this the old-fashioned way.”
They were just starting to get up from their chairs when Dr. Franklin suddenly remembered one other thing.
“Oh, hey you two,” she said. “Don’t forget to get your screenings done.”
Edward sat back down.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “If you’re gonna be following her care why should either of us get screened?”
Ajna had taken her seat again as well.
”Ed,” she began. “I thought we put this to rest.”
“Actually, that’s a reasonable question,” the doctor replied.
“The state initially wanted to focus on the low-income population. But, it was thought that using that approach might make it look like some kind of eugenics program. So, they incorporated everyone for the sake of fairness and data collecting. Besides, it is mandatory.”
The doctor, like so many others, was only providing the information the state was giving to them. Ajna put a hand on Edward's arm.
“See, they’re also collecting data,” she said. “You’re a banking analyst – you should appreciate that part of it, right?”
She turned back to the doctor with a grin.
“He’s a bit of a conspiracy theorist.”
“Perfectly o.k.,” the doctor responded. “There are always questions with any new program. Would you like me to set up your screening appointments?”
Doctor Franklin was asking only as a courtesy when, in fact, she was legally obligated to notify the state whenever she saw a new patient wanting children.
“Oh, sure,” Ajna answered.
She was excited to get the process going and answered without hesitation.
“Um…hold on a second,” Edward said. “Can’t we just set this up ourselves?”
“Edward,” Ajna said impatiently. “Let the doctor “Well, actually you can,” the doctor said. “But I have direct access to program scheduling and I do this for all my patients.”
The doctor’s words were very diplomatic and even though Edward continued to feel uncomfortable about it, agreed to the scheduling. He was not aware that he didn’t have a choice. The appointment would have been made by the state anyway once they were notified.
They both watched as Dr. Franklin accessed the schedule and confirmed their screening appointments. Ajna was elated. Edward, however, fell oddly quiet. As they rose from their chairs again the doctor passed a business card to them.
“Once you think you’ve conceived, give me a call and we’ll get your prenatal care going. O.k.?”
Ajna smiled broadly.
“We’ll call you right away!” she said.
They left the doctor’s office and got into the car.
“You’re kinda quiet,” Ajna said.
After a few moments, Edward took a breath.
“You know how I feel about whole screening business,” he said. “I feel like we have to get permission to have a family.”
“Well, I think it’s a good idea,” Ajna replied. “And besides, they can’t tell us that we can’t have kids – that’s just ridiculous. And what about all the people who can’t afford healthcare – people who don’t have health benefits? This program may be all they have.”
Edward knew she was right and began asking himself if he was being paranoid about something that was set up for the public good.
“Maybe…just maybe,” he thought. “Maybe the government got it right this time.”
After seeing the government succeeding at failure so many times, he found it hard to believe that the state could do anything right. But, now, he started to feel differently about it. He didn’t really have a problem with the ‘well baby initiative’. In fact, Edward saw it as something that could do a great deal for the underprivileged – the people who needed it the most. On the other hand, there was the screening. He wondered what exactly was involved. How much access would they want? Was it just a bunch of questions or was there more to it? He wouldn’t know until it was his turn and anyway, cooperation with the program was mandated by the state. He also wondered if the suspicions he held might somehow be the result of stress and overwork. So, he gave into the entire idea. It seemed a lot easier than fighting something he had to do anyway.