Dodd sat up in bed, yawning. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, then turned and looked over at the bedroom phone. The cable company offices wouldn’t be open yet, but he could leave them a message. He swung his legs off the bed, moving over so that he could reach the handset. He pushed the button for mail, watched the screen light up. He opted to use the transcription feature even though it was slower; as he spoke words appeared.
TO: Cherokee Cable Co. DATE: 6/3/42
FROM: Dodd Corely SUBJECT: Disconnection This is regarding account
#2834737-838-83873726459-28374627B
Yesterday I had ordered a physical disconnection of your Travels service from my apartment, and was promised it would be completed that day. It was not completed, and I was not informed of the reason for delay. Today I expect the disconnection, and I expect that you will have reimbursed my account for yesterday and today’s connection time to Travels.
Dodd Corely
He sent the mail off with a angry jab of his right index finger, then stood up and walked out to the front room.
Sheila was asleep on the couch. She looked like hell, and she smelled. It was like she hadn’t taken a bath in a couple of days.
“I’m getting worried about you,” he said to her. She snored quietly in reply. He bend over the video components and turned off the power.
While he showered and shaved the kitchen fixed him breakfast.
He ate while he was drying, and when he was finished he walked naked down the hall to the bedroom where he put on his work clothes. On his way out of the apartment he gave Sheila a kiss on the forehead. She didn’t stir.
Half way to the subway terminal someone came out of the bushes and ran toward him. Army-trained reflexes took over, and he turned and prepared to lash out. The figure stopped short, smiling at him. It was Savina. “Hi,” she said brightly.
Dodd let his fists drop. “What in the hell are you doing?”
“You shouldn’t be so tense. It’s only me.”
“Why aren’t you in school?”
“I’m on my way to school.”
“Aren’t you going to be late?”
“No. It’s early for me.”
“What are you doing out here?”
“Don’t you want to see me?”
“What?”
“You’re acting like you don’t want to talk to me.”
“Of course I want to talk to you. I’m just surprised, that’s all.” He looked at her suspiciously. “Talk to me about what?”
“We haven’t talked in a long time.”
“We talked just the other day, over at your dad’s house.”
“We said hello to each other, then you found out about the Second Coming.”
“Is that what you want to talk about?”
“Yes.”
“Well we don’t have much time. I’m on my way to work.”
“I know.”
“You’ll be coming over to dinner tomorrow night with your parents.”
“I know. But that would be with my parents.”
“Oh, I see.”
“So, what do you think about the Second Coming?”
Dodd smiled at her. “I don’t know.”
“You think it’s real?”
“I don’t know what to think. I think it’s … I don’t know.
I’m afraid of it.”
“You do think it’s real!”
“I think that if it’s real, it’s not going to be what the Church is telling us. I think we’re all in a lot of trouble if Jesus comes back.”
“You’ve been reading old bibles.”
“Yes, I have. They’re translations from documents dating back to the days of Christ. The United Church Bible was written maybe eighteen or nineteen years ago. You tell me which one is authentic.”
“The Church claims that the new Bible is from even earlier translations.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“How come?”
“Because they’ve been translating from old manuscripts for a thousand years, and none have ever differed as radically as the United Church’s. They’ve mixed in Mormon philosophy, Eastern philosophy, popular philosophy, and quantum physics. It is not a translation of something two-thousand years old. No way.”
“Then why does the Second Coming frighten you?”
“Because the Pope received a revelation. I don’t like it, but he’s the closest thing there is to a Catholic pope now days. I don’t necessarily believe in his revelation as much as the fact that this does sound like the end times in the old bibles.”
“According to the old bibles, we’ve been in the end times since Jesus died.”
“I know.”
“So why worry?”
“Are you sure this is what you snuck out here at dawn to talk to me about?”
“No, not really.”
“I knew it. There’s something wrong. What’s wrong?”
“Well, I have a friend who’s in a lot of trouble.”
“A friend?”
“Yeah, her name’s Lamissa.”
“Okay.”
“Lamissa has a boyfriend who she has been … sexually active with. They both have access to the pill, but he said he was on it so she, well …”
“I have the feeling you’re about to tell me she’s pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“How old is she?”
“Seventeen.”
“How old will she be by the time the baby arrives.”
“She’ll still be seventeen.”
“Lamissa will have to get an abortion.”
“Yeah, but they’ll sterilize her.”
“Yes, they will.”
“She doesn’t want that.”
“It’s the law.”
“She doesn’t care.”
Dodd stopped walking, turned to face her squarely. His face was grim. “This friend of yours, ‘Lamissa,’ she wouldn’t happen to be you, would she?”
“No!”
“Are you sure?”
“Lamissa’s my best friend. She and I go to school together.”
Dodd sighed. They resumed walking. “I understand the predicament your friend is in,” he said, “but I can’t see any way out of it. She’s trapped by stupid outdated laws that are set in granite. There is no legal way out of her situation.”
“I’ve got to help her out, Dodd.”
“Tell her that being sterilized is not the end of the world.
She can still have a clone baby.”
“Where is she going to get forty-million dollars?”
“Four-million.”
“Might as well be forty-million!”
“When she’s eighteen she can marry someone who’s rich. Are you sure we’re not talking about you?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“I told you, her name’s Lamissa.”
“Okay. You’re a big girl now, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay.”
“What if it is me, Dodd?”
“Then we have a serious and complicated problem.” Dodd was beginning to feel uncomfortable about their conversation. This was his friend’s daughter, after all. She was his friend, too, but that only made it more complicated. He hoped to God that she wasn’t pregnant. Abortion and sterilization were such horrible wastes, and he couldn’t bring himself to let it happen to such a sweet young girl who had a whole lifetime ahead of her.
“It’s me,” she told him.
Dodd sighed, and put his hands over his face.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m too upset about this to think straight. I couldn’t just blurt it out, I didn’t know how you’d react.”
“I was hoping you really had a friend named Lamissa.” He wiped at his eyes, which had teared up.
“So do I, and I wish it was her that was pregnant, not me.”
“Yeah, I bet.” They reached the subway terminal, and Dodd stopped and faced her. “Your parents don’t know yet, right?”
“You bet they don’t!”
“Okay.”
“You’re not going to tell them, are you?”
“No.” Dodd shook his head. “That’s your responsibility.”
“Thank you.”
“Just don’t let them find out that I knew before they did, and didn’t tell them. It would ruin the friendship between your father and me. I mean, I’ve never kept a secret from him in all the time we’ve known each other.”
“I know.”
“As far as your problem goes, I don’t know what to do. But I’ll think about it, okay? How far along are you?”
“A couple weeks.”
“Well, as far as we know you could lose it naturally. I would wait a while before telling your folks.”
“Yeah.” Her voice was sad.
“I’ll start making some phone calls to see if there’s any loopholes as far as sterilization. I may be able to find a doctor who’d perform an old-fashioned abortion and lose the records.”
“You think so?”
“I’ve heard of them. I don’t know how safe it is. I’ve got to talk to some friends who would know.”
“I knew I could count on you.” Tears were leaking, running down her cheeks. “I love you,” she said, and hugged him.
He hugged her back, feeling sad. “I’ll help if I can,” he said in a hoarse voice as they were hugging.
“Thank you,” she whispered back.
They parted, her tears on his shirt.
Dodd trudged down the steps into the terminal, pushed his way through the crowd towards the loading ramp. He stood in line at the gates, feeling upset, waiting for his chance to insert his moneycard and have the price of fare deducted from his account.
He’d known Savina since she was a baby, she was the closest thing he had to having his own child. It hurt him that she was in so much trouble, and he felt guilty that he was helping her without consulting his best friend, her father. Maybe I should tell him, he thought.