The Incubus

Chapter 1, Scene 14

The reception area at the gynaecologist's consulting room was small, yet had a certain warm feel to it. Justin found the silence extremely uncomfortable and almost overwhelming. Shifting one's weight on the wooden chairs made a creaking sound to which everyone present looked up. Justin didn't feel at home enough to read one of the magazines on the table in the middle of the room, so he played a game on his cell phone instead.

'Rebecca Greene?' A voice came from the small passage way.

Rebecca put down the magazine she was reading and Justin quit his game and switched off his cell. They followed the doctor down the passage and were guided into her office.

'Please,' the doctor said. 'Have a seat.' Justin and Rebecca sat down while the doctor took her place behind the huge desk. 'I'm Doctor Taylor,' she said. 'Doctor Jacobs sent me your urine and blood samples.'

Rebecca nodded.

'Congratulations,' she said.

Both Justin and Rebecca murmured their thanks.

Doctor Taylor then asked a few routine questions and worked out the baby's expected due date. Taking the information from the form that Rebecca filled out, she calculated the baby to arrive shortly before Christmas. She then asked Rebecca to change into a robe, after which she led the couple to a smaller adjacent room with a reclining hospital bed inside.

The first thing Justin saw when he entered the room was the bed. Then he noticed the strange equipment next to the bed that consisted mainly of a strange looking monitor and keyboard, and finally he noticed the massive painting against the side wall. The painting was an elegant one of a pregnant woman. Inside the woman's womb the viewer could see the baby, upside down and fully formed. Ready to be born.

Rebecca lay down on the bed and drew a blanket over her legs.

Justin could sense that she was just as nervous as he was. Doctor Taylor produced a long white plastic tube that reminded Justin of an electric toothbrush.

Doctor Taylor lubricated the tube and her hand disappeared underneath the thin blanket. A few seconds later, something moved on the screen. 'That's the Amniotic sac,' she explained as she pointed to a black spot on the screen.

'Where's the baby?' Justin asked.

'The foetus won't be visible at this stage,' she said. 'We gauge the age by measuring the sac itself.' She clicked on one end of the black spot and again on the other end. She then pressed a button, and the machine responded with a beep and a printout of the spot. After a few seconds, she pressed the button again, and another photo appeared.

'All right, you can get dressed now,' she told Rebecca and then allowed the couple a moment alone before meeting them at her desk again. 'So far everything appears to be fine,' she said and handed them one of the printouts. She stapled the other printout to her notes, which she kept in a file.

'How old is the baby?' Rebecca asked shyly.

'Five weeks, and one day,' the doctor said. I'm giving you a repeat prescription for vitamins that I would like you to take once, daily. I would also like you to go into the hospital after confirming your next appointment with my secretary, and have the Pathologist test your blood for cholesterol, iron, blood type, and immunity against Rubella.'

Rebecca flinched. She didn't like the idea of being prodded with needles again, but her joy about the pregnancy overshadowed her fear of needles.

Doctor Taylor wrote a letter that Rebecca had to deliver to the Pathology department. 'To minimize morning sickness,' she said, 'you could eat dry fruit or biscuits before you get out of bed, and break your meals into smaller portions spread out during the course of the day.'

Justin made mental notes as Doctor Taylor made more suggestions. They then left the office and made another appointment at the reception desk. After fifteen minutes at the Pathology department, the dumbstruck couple headed for their car; their lives, for better or worse, irrevocably changed in the course of a single hour.