Chippers vs Anti-Chippers

The Waiting Room

The day of the chipping had finally come. Timmy wrapped tightly inside his fluffiest blanket, looked at me confused from the comfort of my arms. His arms stretched out to touch my nose. I smiled at him and he giggled back, saliva spreading all over his lips. The cutest little boy.

I was completely lost in his little world of wonder when the other parents came into the waiting room and took a seat. The nurse entered the room and looked at me. She was wearing pink scrubs and a white t-shirt underneath them. Someone said something and she turned around. I spectated curiously as she turned back to me. "Just one more minute.", she said holing up her finger. I nodded. With this little wonder on my arm, I could probably wait all day and I would not even mind. 

"How old is he?", I was surprised. Looking up I recognized the man that was speaking to me. His eyes were warm, his face marked with wrinkles and scars. "3 weeks", I replied shortly and looked back to my little Timmy. He had closed his eyes, pulling my chest closer to him with his little arms. I kept him pressed against my chest so he could sleep.

The man nodded. When I finally directed my eyes back to him, my focus was no longer divided. I started noticing things. His entire family was inside the office, meaning that one or both of them were most likely unemployed. It would be a different thing if their kid was in a bad condition, but he did not appear to be. Their clothes were clean, but not tidy. The boy, about 7 years old, was playing with a Nokia 3310 meaning they were likely some kind of fanatics or poor or both. Why else would somebody deprive their children of the joy of an iPad? The father was wearing a golden watch, but it was not a smartwatch. Fanatics then.

I inadvertently sneered at the father and he returned my arrogance with an equally smug smile.

The mother took the son closer but I had already seen it. His wrists were spotless. "No chip?", I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"The risks outweighed the benefits.", the father responded. My mouth was wide open in disbelief.

"Who are you to decide that?", I raised my voice. He shrugged. "This is SERIOUS!", I tried to keep my voice low enough to not wake Timmy. How could he just shrug like that? 

"Do you not care about anyone other than yourself?", I asked while barely hiding the utter disgust I felt for them.

The man crossed his legs, giving me a passive-aggressive smile and staying silent.

After a very unpleasant wait, the nurse finally called me into the doctor's bureau. I stared at the family while I walked out and the mother clutched onto her child as if my eyes were viruses that she could have protected her kid from with the help of a simple chip. Had they ever gotten a single vaccine done on their kid? There was no chip to prove it.

"Do you know that kid outside doesn't have a chip?", I asked as I sat down in front of the doctor's desk. His blue eyes were piercing me. Everyone could tell that he was not the type to be easily swayed, but he nodded, sharing my concern.

The nurse said something on her way out: "Child protective services are aware of the situation, but since both of the parents are anti-chippers, the court has ruled that they can keep their child so long as his vaccines are documented on paper"

"On paper?", I laughed. "Did we learn nothing from 2020?"

The doctor smiled sympathetically. "Once the child is emancipated, I am sure he will make wiser choices than his parents."

I looked down to watch little Timmy sleeping ever peacefully. 

"I am so glad we can get this done today.", I said, finally starting to let go of the waiting room fiasco. 

The man sitting on the other side of the desk took out a small plastic basket. He laid down three different chips before me: one in red, one in gold, and one in silver. "Those are everyone's favorite. We have other colors too of course."

I leaned forward to closer inspect the colors. "He can of course change it when he is older, we will just transfer the data to another chip. It is a very small procedure, and it is not expensive at all."

I nodded. "I know, I know...", I kept looking back and forth between my son and the chips. Finally, I picked out the golden chip. "Good choice.", the doctor got off his chair, his white coat waving as he turned to the bottle of disinfectant hanging from the wall behind him. He picked up the chip, still packaged, that he had just shown me and told me to hand my baby to the nurse when she arrived. "It will just take a few minutes. We will do everything in the room on the other side of that glass door. Transparency is important after all."

I agreed, transparency is very important. 

After dressing in surgical gowns and applying local anesthesia onto little Timmy's wrist, the doctor inserted the chip very swiftly and effortlessly into his hand. Finally, my baby was part of the system. 

Not more than a few minutes later the pediatrician personally handed my baby back to me. Timmy was crying a little bit, not from pain, but from confusion. I rocked him a little bit and he hugged me. His wrist was concealed with an airtight band-aid for now. 

The man in the white coat waited patiently until he went over the safety measures and precautions that would be necessary for the following days after the procedure. Tears of gratitude and joy fell out of my eyes as I sat and silently nodded.

"You know, my ex-wife, she was actually one of those Anti-Chippers.", I said once I was ready to leave. 

"Oh really? What happened?", the doctor curiously inquired.

"I sued her and I got full custody. Luckily, the court saw Reason." 

"It is good to know there are people like you in the world.", he got up and offered me a handshake.

"Likewise.", I said as I gratefully embraced his hand.