Cloned

Another disturbing thought crossed Jackie’s mind, one she tried not to think about, but had to know the answer for her own peace of mind.  “What if the baby is born deformed, what happens then?” she asked, only to see the whiteness of his knuckles as his hands tightened on the steering wheel.

“I’ll do everything in my means to see that the child will be well taken care of. . .possibly set up a trust fund.”

For the longest time Jackie sat silently staring off into space as the go-cart rambled down the dirt road. They were going to be responsible for bringing a child into this world, not by natural reproduction but by using the cell tissues taken from her dead son’s body by Marshall Pearson. If it were conceived in her womb and born deformed, she’d have no choice but to love and keep the child. Why should this child be different? Why?

After long deliberation she said, “We can’t!”

A surprised Paul turned to look at her.  “I’ve lost you.  What are you talking about?  We can’t . . what?”

“We just can’t say no, we don’t want you, because you’re not perfect. The child didn’t ask to be born; we’ll be responsible. You, me, Dr. Pearson, Dr. Rinehart and all the other people working on this project and playing God. We can’t take the easy way out by shipping the child off to an institution and picking up the tab to clear our consciences because it doesn’t meet our standards physically. Don’t you see, Paul, whether the child is perfect or deformed it’s defenseless and without rights? We have no choice but to accept the consequences for our actions and raise it as our own. There’s a moral issue here.  Otherwise, we won’t be able to live with ourselves. Come what may, we have to be prepared to accept the child as our own.”

He pulled up on the side of the road and turned in his seat to look at her, a warm smile played upon his lips. “Jackie. . .I don’t think I could love you more than at this moment. I don’t mind telling you, that the thought of the child being born deformed and having to be institutionalized weighed heavy on my mind. I wanted to spare you the burden of having to raise the child and, at the same time, hated myself for making such a decision. I should have known, that you and your fair sense of justice would never allow that to happen to a child.  You’re so right, my love. Come what may, as parents should, we’ll face it together.”

***

“It seems to me,” Laura smiled, “if you’re going to cook one hardboiled egg, you can just as easily cook two.”

“That wasn’t our agreement, Laura, and you damn well know it!”

“Maybe it wasn’t---but it is now,” she smiled.

For the first time in his life Marshall Pearson appeared to be at a loss for words. “You’re a hard ass, driving bitch, Laura, for pulling a stunt like this,” he finally said.

“So I’ve been told.”

All things considered, Marshall thought the evening had ended quite amicably.  It was clear that in order to succeed they needed each other. What upset him most was the fact that Laura had outsmarted him. She was right. It was just as easy to cook two, three, or four, hardboiled eggs as it was one. Why hadn’t he thought of it?  If there was anyone that should be cloned it should be me, he thought. There was still time to move on it. The only problem he could foresee was in finding another surrogate mother.