Insubstantially Me

Chapter 11

"I thought I wasn't going to be allowed to eat," I said sarcastically after I was escorted back to my room and found a new tray of food waiting on the table.

"I'm feeling benevolent at the moment," Wescott answered from behind me. "And you played your part very well tonight."

I sat down and rolled my eyes. As if I'd had a choice on how else to behave.

"Everyone was quite impressed with you." He took the seat opposite me.

"No one even talked to me," I said, uncovering the tray and starting on the macaroni and cheese. I wasn't counting the one sicko who groped me. Other than him, no one even approached me. Not that I was complaining.

"That doesn't matter," he said. "They found out plenty about you and were quite impressed. And of course, being able to see you was key. Most were quite eager to donate more money and get started right away."

I looked up at him, wondering how they found out so much about me. There had been a lot of people and I know Wescott didn't have time to talk to all of them in depth. There hadn't been any kind of announcement or anything. And I wasn't thrilled that what I'd hoped to avoid - having more money thrown at Wescott - was actually accomplished through my compliance. But I suppose it might have happened either way.

"They were able to look at your file," he said, answering my thoughts.

"My file?"

"It contains basically everything about you. Your development as a child, your grades, your accomplishments. Anything they might want to know about the potential child I would be able to give them."

That irritated me. I'd never been terribly private with those things before, but I didn't like how much I'd been on display tonight.

"But you had some questions, I believe." Wescott changed the subject.

I nodded and stabbed forcefully at my food.

"I think you were wondering why I didn't arrange for you to be let go after a while, correct?"

I popped my fork in my mouth and watched him, waiting.

"I've actually answered this for you already," he said. "You just haven't connected what I said to what it actually means for you."

I tried to remember what he said that might give me a clue as to what his plans for me might be, but I couldn't think of anything. He'd said a lot of things I hadn't been interested in paying attention to. Whenever I asked him an actual question, he had always been pretty vague.

"I told you that I intend to test absolutely everything about you," he said. "My clients want to know exactly what to expect. They want to know everything - development, personality, intellect, health. Anything that might be abnormal or improved. They want to know what it would mean in the future, obtaining a child in this way."

I just waited, uneasy for whatever he was getting at.

"Fertility, Abi," he finally said.

And there it was. The reason he would need me indefinitely. He wanted my child.

I swallowed the food in my mouth that now tasted of cardboard, and stared at the table in horror and shock. I hadn't really decided if I wanted children before. It never seemed practical since I didn't have anyone to have them with. But once I'd been brought here, I completely ruled it out, even as a possibility.

Wescott waited quietly as I tried to wrap my mind around what this all meant. I tried several times to formulate an intelligent question to ask, but I couldn't even think of where to start.