Something in the Water

I watch longingly as my friends shuffle out of my room. Sara stops at the window to wave to me, but Sam presses her along. I told Ben to lead them to the cafeteria, mostly because Sam is always hungry. He didn't really have a choice, though. The doctor asked to speak to my dad and I alone.

When the doors slide closed behind Ben, I start to feel split in half. He only gets in a quick smile before Dr. Stevens closes the wall over the glass.

I toy with the string holding my pants loosely around my waist. My heart starts racing, and I'm sure both of them can hear it. I know she's going to tell me what it is that makes me a freak.

"So, Emma," She starts. "Tests show that your blood is clean and your hormone levels are equal, which is good." She tucks a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "We've discovered that you have built an immunity to the water, and it's very strong."

"How did this happen?" Dad asks, his face straight and his eyes glazing over.

"It must be genetic. We don't know for sure." She checks my expression, sensing my father's stubborn ways beginning to surface.

"It can't be genetic." Dad says flatly. "My wife and I would have passed it down to her if it was, and we aren't -"

"It could have been a recessive trait for years, and finally showed up in Emma. Or it might just be a genetic mutation - again, we aren't completely sure. It takes a while to determine what exactly is the case."

Dad shakes his head to himself, dismissing her. I can't believe he's so rude. "When you said the immunity is strong, what did you mean?" I wonder, determined to dominate this conversation.

Dr. Stevens seems glad to explain herself to me - maybe more relieved. "Ben's test results are normal, like yours, but he doesn't show any signs of being immune. In taking a closer look at you, we've found that your immunity is so strong that it must have learned how to break Ben's immunity, even if it was just that one moment in which it happened."

Dad and I both need half a second to absorb the information. "Are you sure it isn't the other way around?" Dad questions. "Maybe Ben broke Emma's immunity, because that would make more sense - you know, in the mechanical aspect of it?"

Dr. Stevens shrugs her delicate shoulders. "Emma's eggs have almost completely fought off the birth control. Each one of them is nearly fertile."

"So you're saying my daughter is as fertile as if she'd been detoxified?" Dad challenges.

"Her body has completely detoxed all by itself. The water won't change anything about that." She tells us.

"I'll never be sterile again?" I ask quietly, fearing what's really running through my head. Every time I sleep with Ben, I'll take the risk of getting pregnant again?

"You were never sterile in the first place." Dr. Stevens shifts her body weight, and her facial expression changes. She becomes serious, and I'm not sure that I like it. "That's what we need to talk about."

. . . . . . . .

BEN:

"Sam, I think the soup is supposed to be for the sick people." Sara mentions when Sam comes back from the buffet with his third bowl of chicken noodle soup.

"I don't see any sick people around here." He scans the cafeteria, and he's sort of right. The only people that actually come here are visitors.

"They probably take the food from here to the patients in their rooms. Don't you think, Ben?" She doesn't really care, because she's playing with the dead ends of her dark blonde hair.

I don't really care, either. I'm having trouble focusing on being calm, because I'm freaking out on the inside. Sam and Sara think that the doctor wanted to talk to Emma about whatever weird stomach bug she supposedly has. It's hard enough to keep the truth from them, and not knowing what the doctor really has to say is killing me.

"Why are they making you wear that?" Sara asks, eyeing my white hospital attire.

"You look like an astronaut." Sam adds.

"Thanks." I mutter. It reminds me of how much I want to take it off.

"How much longer will Emma be?" Sam asks, slurping his soup. "I'm ready to go home."

Sara drops her hair and slaps his arm. He squeals like a schoolgirl and sends his abnormally long arms flailing around. He knocks the ice cream out of a boy's hands as he walks by our table.

"Come on, Sam." I sigh, leaning over to pick up the boy's cracked cone for him. He looks only six years old, and his bottom lip sticks out with his tears.

"Oops." Sam says.

The boy runs a few tables down to his mother. She holds him close, unsure of why he's so upset.

"Go apologize." I tell him.

"It was just ice cream." Sam says, though I can tell he's guilty.

"Go!" Sara kicks him this time. "Buy him a new cone."

"Life sucks. The kid has to learn that sometime, doesn't he?" Sam says.

The woman is looking at us now. I nudge Sam under the table. "Go get him a new cone."

"Do I have to?" He whines. "He'll forget all about it in two minutes."

The boy points to our table. I grunt and kick my chair out from under me, trying not to look so annoyed as I approach the woman.

She isn't sure whether she wants to smile, frown, or hit me. "Hello." She says.

"Hey. I'm really sorry about the ice cream. My friend's an idiot." I look at the boy, cowering in his mother's chest. "Can I buy him a new one?"

The woman considers it for herself. "He probably won't eat it. It isn't your fault, he's just very tired. But thank you, anyway." She smiles now, pleased by my offer.

I smile back, and keep it there when the boy peeks at me. "Sorry, buddy." I say. He just hides again.

"May I ask," The woman asks as I'm walking away. "Is your name Ben?"

I glance at the table, decide that Sara can handle Sam for a few minutes, and turn back to the woman. "Yeah," I say cautiously.

"Sorry to intrude, but I heard about you and Emma. How is she?"

I don't know how to react. How does she know us? I just met her five minutes ago. "Uh..."

"People talk, and news spreads quickly around here." She informs me. "I did a study about the water in college. Is she doing okay?"

I just blink. "Yeah, she's okay."

"Mommy, can we go see Grandpa now?" The boy whispers not so quietly.

The woman smiles extra big now. "Yes, we can. I wish you both the best, Ben." She manages to say before she's dragged away by her six year old.

I start back to our table and sit down, realizing that our secret isn't so much of a secret anymore.

"He didn't want another cone?" Sara asks me.

I shake my head, but it's delayed.

"Ben was trying to pick up an older woman, weren't you?" Sam teases.

Sara's eyes are locked behind me. "There she is."

I spin around and see Emma just entering the cafeteria, wringing her fingers like she does when she's nervous. My stomach knots up when I notice she's speaking with the woman and the boy. The woman rubs her shoulder and continues on at the command of the kid.

Emma's just as pale as the boy when he dropped his ice cream. She forces a smile at us and motions for me to come to her.

I don't hesitate, stumbling on the leg of the chair when I get up. "Hey, Em." I guide her chin into a kiss. She's frozen under my lips. "Everything okay?"

She takes a deep breath, staring into space. "No." She finally says.

I sigh, scratching the back of my head. "I know."

I see her eyes start to blur. "It's all my fault."

I curl her head under my chin and hold her close. "No, it's not. This wouldn't have happened without me."

She unintentionally wipes her nose on my astronaut clothes, but it doesn't bother me. "It would have happened with anyone."

I hold her shoulders away from me. "What do you mean?"

She sort of laughs. "I'm a freak, and now everybody knows it."

"Not everybody." I assure her. "Just that woman and her son. I bet he doesn't even know."

"She's the third person to say something to me, Ben." Emma looks down at the ground to discourage more tears. "And people are staring at me when I walk by."

"They're too curious for their own good." I tell her. "Don't worry about them."

She shakes her head. "I'm not."

I check quickly back with Sara and Sam. "Then what's the matter?"

She holds her stomach with the motherly instincts that are already surfacing. "This baby will be our first and last."

I wrinkle my forehead, trying to see past her words.

She sighs heavily and broken. "After this baby, they won't let me have any more."