Page 42 of Possessed Silverfox
I think back to what I said about Devil’s Night and what Iphigenia repeats about Beatrix like a chorus member in a Greek tragedy:
Beatrix always wanted a baby.
“I’m just gonna grab another machine, one moment!” Emily squeaks. She shoves the cart forward, and the machine teeters before crashing onto the ground. The screen shatters. A piece of glass narrowly misses my thigh.
“What the fuck?!” Joseph yells.
“Okay, now that’s never happened before. I, uh, let me grab the janitor, and we can get you set up in a new room! Be careful with the glass! Shit!” Emily looks down, a shard of glass is poking out of the side of her shoe, and I can see a red stain blooming.
“Good thing we’re at a doctor’s office,” she jokes.
It doesn’t land.
I get dressed, first shaking out my sweater and hoping that no shards are stuck in the sleeves, then pulling on my jeans. I grab my shoes and slip them on, shifting my weight to the balls of my feet to step as carefully as possible.
Emily finds the janitor, and he starts sweeping up the shards as she gets her foot checked out.
We’re escorted to exam room 4, and another nurse comes in. She’s older. Her scrubs have cartoon mummies on them.
“I heard we were having some technical difficulties! It’s okay,” she quips.
“Your machine almost toppled onto my pregnant girlfriend. I wouldn’t exactly classify that as ‘okay,’ more like a health code violation,” Joseph grumbles.
The tech’s smile falls. “Well, now we know those carts need to be replaced. She turns to me. “Okay, sweetheart, I’m going to need you to lie back and pop your feet up in those stirrups.”
Her endless cheeriness calms me as I lay back down, and a stranger inserts a massive medical instrument inside me for the second time in ninety minutes.
The ultrasound machine hums to life and stops loading.
“Ope, one moment!” The tech quips, with the wand still inside of me.
“This is ridiculous. If this keeps up, we’ll find an OB in Seattle!” Joseph grunts.
For a second time, the machine screeches before shutting down entirely.
“Well, that’s strange!” The tech removes the wand and walks over to the machine. She fiddles with some knobs in the back and unplugs it from the wall before plugging it back in.
Finally, the machine hums to life again.
“We’ve been having all sorts of technology snafus!” She exclaims as she coats the wand with a fresh glob of lube, “It’s almost Halloween. You know what they say: the veil is thin! Maybe it’s a ghost.” The tech laughs before she realizes who she’s talking to, and she coughs nervously. “I didn’t mean …” she stammers.
“It’s fine. It’s an old building. The outlets are probably faulty, with all our summer storms,” Joseph replies curtly.
“No, I mean, I apologize. I wasn’t thinking.”
Joseph glowers. “You’re right. You weren’t thinking at all. You’re a medical professional! You, of all people, should believe in science rather than the collective delusion of a tiny island!” Joseph barks.
The tech’s face pales. “Well, on that note. If you’ll do me a huge favor and lay back,” she instructs.
Joseph takes his place at my side and grabs my hand once more. I know he can get ornery sometimes, but I’m grateful he’s here, and I don’t have to do this alone.
“Oh. Oh wow.”
“What?” Joseph and I ask in unison, craning our heads to get a better view of the screen.
“Well, it looks like you're having twins!” The ultrasound tech announces.
Joseph grips my hand and stumbles backward in shock.