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His mind shifted back six months to Emerson Hospital when, on another case, he had dropped in to visit Terry after her second miscarriage. Even after three days she was still reeling from loss. She had been only five weeks from term. Her obstetrician, Larry Rosenblum, a friend from medical school, filled him in on the details she would never know. Nor the grim fortune that she had lost it. The fetus was grossly deformedunlike anything in Larry's medical experience. He had described it as looking like some kind of throwback creature, with deformed hands and feet and a strip of hair down its back. But what threw them was the facea prognathous, snouty structure, its mouth was full of teeth. It was as if Terry and Calvin's genetic material were inexplicably scrambled with that of a lesser species. Somebody had made a stupid crack about Rosemary's Baby. They told the parents nothing and chalked it up to one more medical anomaly . . . "Call me when the water profile is back." |
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They got up to go. "How do we let him know we know?" Calvin asked. |
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Mitch put his hands on their shoulders as they started toward the door. "More than anybody else in the world, he trusts his mom and dad will be right there, that they will not make fun of him or think he's a freak. You tell him that you caught a glimpse of him in the shower or while he was sleep. But you also tell him that we all want to make him okay again and we will. He's got to believe that, or he'll resist treatment, that's vital. The key thing is trust." |
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"Probably best to wait until I call. I'll also want to see him again Monday." |
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"I don't look forward to that," Terry said. |
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"Except it will be a relief for him to know you both know." |
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Mitch wrote out a prescription for lithium to stabilize Matty's moods and L-dopa, which, among other effects, would reverse the hirsutism. Then he walked them through the waiting room to the outside. Several women sat with children. They looked up and smiled, then looked away quickly when they saw Terry's face. |
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