And Gabriel Said to Mary ...
Mary had been on a strict regimen of medications for months now. She was feeling better than she ever had, but today was the day they were going in vitro. To say she and Joe were feeling anxious would have been a gross understatement. There had been so many samples taken (from both her and Joe) and every form of instrument used that she was ready to get it over with at this point. But that didn't eliminate any of the anxiety she was feeling. Would it work? Would this just be another in a string of disappointments? If it did work, would she be a good mother? Her head was spinning.
"Everything will work out, darling. Ben knows what he's doing," Joe said, trying to console her.
"They do seem confident enough, even with all the differences in the procedures that we were told about. I'm surprised none of this has been published in a major journal if everything they've told us is true."
"Cowboy said the announcements were coming soon, and their research was no longer experimental. I think he knows I'd kick his butt if we were being used as guinea pigs."
"Joe, there's something I haven't told you."
Joe braced himself for a shock. "You waited until now to tell me?"
"Well, it's because I'm not completely sure, not even now." Mary looked Joe straight in the eyes.
"I don't know if it's the medicines from the clinic or if it just happened naturally, but I think I can hear again."
Joe quickly pulled the vehicle over. "What!"
"I'm not sure. It started with a periodic crackle, you know, like you would hear when you would turn the dial of an old radio?"
"When did this start?"
"About a month ago, and then it smoothed out and, faintly at first, I began hearing. I would cover my right ear and, I thought, is this for real? But the last few nights I made a point of lying on my pillow with the right side of my head down." Mary put her arms around Joe's neck. "And your snoring kept me awake! I actually thought it sounded beautiful!"
"I wonder if this is a side effect of the treatments you were on. Should we tell the doctor?"
"I wouldn't think there would be a reason not to."
As Mary and Joe walked excitedly up to the front of the clinic, a man was adding a plaque to the side of the door. It read:
Bethlehem Fertility Clinic
Dr. Benjamin Gabriel
Dr. Michael Celeste
"Michael must be one smart kid," Mary said. "It's hard for me to believe he's older than sixteen!"
"He'd have to be smart to be associated with Cowboy. Ben just doesn't have a tolerance for errors."
As they walked into the clinic, Dr. Gabriel was behind the reception desk, looking at some charts. A big smile came across his face when he saw them. "Howdy, guys! Are you ready for the big day?"
"We're as ready as we'll ever be, Ben. Are you feeling all right today? Steady hand and all?" Joe answered, trying to be humorous, even though the anticipation of the events was driving both him and Mary crazy.
"Well, come into my office first for a chat, if you two don't mind."
As they sat down across the desk from the doctor, Michael came in. Then Dr. Gabriel started the conversation. "Well, today's the big day! All tests look positive, and we're ready to proceed.
"Definitely ready, Doctor, "Mary responded as optimistically as she could.
"Good," Dr. Gabriel continued. "Now I know we talked about post insertion procedures some, but I want to go into some more detail, if you don't mind."
