CHAPTER THREE
"Daddy?"
The young girl tried hard to keep up to her father, her legs were too short and his too long. He held her hand without saying a word.
"Daddy, why don't you say something?"
This had continued ever since they left the house and he told Catherine that he was taking Margo to see where he worked, but his real purpose was for Margo to see Jarod not as a dark haired, dark eyed boy but a brown haired, lighter eyed, possibly green hazel or at least a light brown that Jarod's.
Margo's world consisted of her parent's house, her parent's lodge at the lake, and the Centre. She went to school there, although she thought they drove her to the private school with the Nuns. She hated the Nuns. Something inside her, an insidious evil took hold of the child's heart. She was already too interested in boys, wanting to play doctor. The Nuns (the Centre employed Nuns) knew it was not that someone had abused her. It was like something sensual was already in the mind of this child. If they were back in the time of the Witch Hunt, they would say she was possessed, but this was the twentieth century.
They went down an elevator and got off at a door where a rather pleasant man smiled at her. "So this is Miss Parker."
"Say hello to the Doctor," said her father.
"I'm not sick."
"But you know that other pupils in your class got sick. We want to see whether you caught anything. Do you know about quarantine?"
Margo spelled out the word. "Qu-ar-an-tine. When you have the measles, they put you in bed at home so no one else can get sick. Of course, I know about it, doctor!" Her voice seemed so adult then.
"Just take off her dress and we'll look at your heart. Nurse"
Mr. Parker watched as the nurse took out a hypodermic. It contained a spray that the skin absorbed on contact. The Centre had experimented with it before, trying it out on Jarod. Of course, they gave the antidote to him immediately after the test.
Miss Parker did not feel a thing.
To make her believe this was a regular examination, the doctor used a rubber hammer to test her reflexes, shone a light into her eyes, gave her a blood test, and had the nurse look to see if anyone had hurt the little girl down below. The nurse pressed the hypodermic needle against Miss Parker's skin. She did not feel a thing.
"Well Miss Parker," he said after it was all over, "You're all right now."
"Is it going to work?" asked Mr. Parker.
"Trust me," said the doctor, "I have a video of the imposter,"
"You mean the one we got to imitate Jarod."
"Right Mr. Parker. Just put your daughter in that chair, close to the screen. Oh and put the picture of Jarod on first."
Miss Parker watched as the picture of Jarod morphed into the picture of the other boy and listened to the deep hypnotic voice. "You will meet him. This is who you will see."
"So what's going on?" asked Mr. Parker.
"The doctor is enforcing the hypnotic suggestion. Thanks to the new program that this Jarod thought up of and which we used, we are able to show what the substitute will look like at various stages of childhood. However, once he reaches adulthood, the hypno-drug will wear off."
Mr. Parker was pleased. He knew that during the times until Jarod grew up, his daughter would not see a boy with dark hair and dark eyes, but one with brown hair, an innocent face, and lighter eyes. However he was unsure of the voice. "Doctor."
"He's not finished yet," said the nurse.
"The voice patterns. How's he going to manage that?"
"Those tapes contained identical phrases spoken by Jarod and your substitute. We have made an effort for every contingency, allowed for the growth of age, and the appropriate phrases of someone growing here without outside influence."
Miss Parker did not notice anything. All she knew was the doctor talking to her, and she was in a boat rowing with her mother. Then she was back in the Centre, walking along and seeing a boy working at a desk. He seemed to be fading as in a dream and then she woke up. "I must've fallen asleep," she said.
"Yes you must have," said her father "Come along Angel."
Miss Parker smiled. "Yes Daddy."
"The doctor says you won't get the bad disease anymore."
"I won't?"
"No." He waved back and smiled at the doctor.
The doctor just nodded and waited until Mr. Parker and his daughter had left. He then called in the next patient. "Hello, I' know this is short notice, but with that epidemic, we don't want to take any chances."
"I know Doctor." The man had almost a permanent smile, he seldom frowned and he had a Belgium accent.
"Now your name is — "
When he came to America, his name was Deverte, but he decided to make it more English. He wanted to fit in. "Sydney Green."