CHAPTER 59 – THE APPOINTMENT
"Twin brother?"
"Twin brother," Jack, who was holding his son, repeated when Elizabeth looked at him questioningly after he had de-escalated the situation by explaining why Elizabeth confusingly thought the pediatrician was the transporter's chief medical officer.
The doctor stood a few feet away looking a bit put-out by the incident. In his analytical mind, the odds of identical twins -which was one in two hundred and fifty births- was not so astronomical that Ms. Elizabeth Thatcher Thornton couldn't have figured out the situation. He ignored the fact that he himself hadn't deduced the reason for her confusion.
"How did you know?" a surprised Elizabeth asked Jack.
"I saw a photograph on the wall of the two of them, and the nurse confirmed they were both doctors when I asked her."
Darn, why didn't I notice the photograph. It's that law enforcement in him. He always notices details and asks the right questions.
"Now that we've deduced who everyone is, I suggest you let me exam my patient," the doctor said with a touch of haughtiness.
"He's in fine shape," the doctor announced fifteen minutes later. Aaron Daniel, wearing just a diaper, lay on the examining table playing with the doctor's stethoscope that his tiny infant hand had refused to un-clench. "I see no problem with him going to Coal Valley provided his lab works come backs fine, and he passes his other tests, and of course, we need to get a GFRT and -."
"A what?" Elizabeth interrupted.
"GFRT. G Force Reaction Test. I don't think they've ever had someone this young go to a deep space colony." The doctor's voice trailed off as his hands gently pressed on the head of the littlest Thornton.
"I got an age waiver for him because they needed me, and I wouldn't go without my wife and family. We've both been before, so it wasn't a problem to get an exception to policy," Jack explained while he wondered with a GFRT entailed.
"After the GFRT, we'll requisition a protective apparatus."
"A what?" Jack and Elizabeth gave each other blank stares as they spoke at the same time before looking back at the doctor.
"Getting it may be a bit difficult," the doctor muttered more to himself than to anyone else in the room. His eyes scanned over Aaron's small but plump body. "But I'm sure we can manage something."
"I don't understand," Elizabeth replied. "What's a G Force reaction test? What apparatus? Why will it be difficult to get?
"G -forces can cause intense pressure on a body. You've been to space so you must know what I'm talking about."
Elizabeth nodded and the doctor continued talking.
"Babies skulls are not yet fully formed when they're born. Things are still pliable. The anterior fontanelle won't close until between nine months and eighteen months. Therefore, we don't want an increase pressure on your son's skull. Or he'd be squished." The doctor illustrated by moving his hands together as if crushing an overripe melon.
Elizabeth cringed. "Don't do that!"
"I was just illustrating for you the danger of not wearing the proper helmet."
"Well stop it!" Jack ordered as he gathered his son from the examining table.
The unfazed doctor continued with his discussion. "We'll also need a body suit so his spine and chest aren't brutally slammed into each other at the transporter's acceleration."
Elizabeth jumped when the doctor loudly slapped his hands together for emphasis.
She threw the man an angry look but then remembered that she'd be dealing with him for the next two years.
"His body will not slam together," Jack said firmly with his own menacing glare at the doctor.
"This helmet and suit? Will they work? Are you sure?" Elizabeth anxiously contemplated her precious son's perfect body which suddenly seemed very tiny and fragile to her.
"Yes. They've been used on chimpanzees."
"My son is not a chimpanzee," she retorted.
The doctor raised his eyebrows at her. "You're allowed to name your son after a nut that's eaten by squirrels but I'm not allowed to compare him to a primate?"
The machinery whirled around the baby's head for sixty seconds as it measured every centimeter and slight indentation before moving onto the rest of his body. It's beeping and humming were evidence that it was sending the infant's measurements into the modeling computer.
"We're done," the technician announced. "He's a cutie. He seems fascinated by the equipment. The apparatus should be ready by tomorrow. It's a pretty quick process and will be molded to fit exactly to what he needs based on his weight and the size of his organs and bones."
"And he needs this apparatus thing?"
"You ever had a mammogram?"
"Of course," Elizabeth responded. I hate those darn things.
"Well, imagine putting your son between the plates of one of those machines and –"
"Never mind!" Elizabeth interrupted.
Jack gave Elizabeth an odd look and then turned to the technician. "And it'll work? It will protect him?"
The technician shrugged nonchalantly. "It's worked on chimps."
"Mr. and Mrs. Thornton?"
The couple swirled their heads from the technician to the doorway where a man with a laptop was expectedly looking at them.
"Yes?"
"Dr. Fletcher will see you now. Fifth floor. Room 503."
The three Thorntons had no idea why one of them needed to see Dr. Fletcher or even what kind of doctor he or she was.
Elizabeth looked over the list in her hand while Jack tried to keep baby Aaron from eating his appointment slip. They hurried down the hall which was mostly deserted at the late afternoon hour. The man with the laptop who had delivered the message had then taken off before they had a chance to ask specifics.
"Dr. Fletcher. Psychiatry?" Jack questioned as he read the nameplate on the door when they came to a stop in front of room 503.
"Do we need psych exams again? Darn. They'll ask me stupid questions about my worst nightmare and my biggest fears," Elizabeth whined.
"Yeah, I guess we need them again. We just had them two years ago. I thought they'd still be good for this flight. What are you going to say your worst nightmare is?"
"Not being married to you. Same for biggest fear. You?"
"Same. Not being married to you. Good, we'll pass the psych no problem."
"I know. But they still make me uneasy."
"Like I'm going to fail because I said something stupid," Jack agreed. "Last time I said one of the ink blots looked like two people making out and the evaluator gave me an odd look. I think it was supposed to be a tree."
"Wait," Elizabeth said suddenly. She held out her hand to stop him from entering the office. "Shouldn't we say something about Aaron? That our biggest fear is losing him?"
"Yeah, you're right. Sometimes, I forget about him," Jack casually admitted.
When he saw the look on Elizabeth's face, he quickly clarified. "In a good way, I mean. Like he's so easy, it's hard to worry about him. He's just a really easy baby. . .. . Hey, you forgot about him too," he accused her.
"Just for a second! And only because I'm used to the idea of losing you as being my biggest fear," she said defensively.
"Don't worry, Acorn. We honestly love you," Jack kissed his son on the head.
"We can tell the psychiatrist about him being an easy baby, but let's leave out how we just forgot about him," Elizabeth instructed.
"Got it," Jack said as the door opened and they walked into the soothing waiting room with its lavender scented infuser and piped-in sounds of a gentle rain. "I'm starving. Let's get this over with and get home to dinner."
"Aaron?! Aaron's the one that needs a psych eval?!"
"He's Aaron Daniel Thornton? Male. Six months. Scheduled for the flight in two days?" the receptionist read from her computer screen and then turned the screen to face Elizabeth. "Is this his Earth Citizen number?"
"Yes, but he's just a baby. What do you mean he needs a psych eval? It must be a mistake."
"Everyone going to deep space for an extended time needs a pysch eval before they're cleared for flight. You two's are still good, but he needs one. You do want to take him with you, don't you?"
"Of course, we want to take him with us."
"Then what's the problem?"
"He's a baby!"
"I gathered that from his drooling," the woman replied. She reached over and took a tissue from her desk and handed it to Elizabeth to wipe the baby's chin.
"This is absurd. You can't do a psych eval on a baby," Jack protested.
"Are you worried he won't pass?"
Jack scrounged his face in disbelief at the woman's question. "How could he pass or not pass? He's a baby!"
"Has he had anything traumatic in his life which could have affected him?"
"He's six months old!" Jack exclaimed. "What could possibly happen traumatically? He sleeps, he eats, he plays, he gets his diaper changed."
"Hmm," the woman pondered. "Not exactly what our usual patients do, but I suppose it might be age appropriate."
"Of course, IT'S AGE APPROPRIATE. HE'S SIX MONTHS OLD!"
"Then I wouldn't be too worried about him passing. Unless you think that he has some depression? Maybe anxiety? Phobias? Obsessive compulsions that interfere with routine daily activities? All those things can become more intense on a deep space trip. Especially claustrophobia."
He is obsessed with my breasts, Elizabeth pondered.
"This is ridiculous," Jack muttered.
"Are you a psychiatrist?"
Jack glared at the receptionist as she moved around her desk and approached him.
"A psychologist?"
"We're neither," Elizabeth grumbled.
"Then he'll need to be tested by Dr. Fletcher. You two can have a seat in the small waiting room," the smiling woman nodded to the right, and then reached out her arms towards Aaron. "He'll be fine."
"He can't even speak," Jack argued.
"Is he mute?" the woman asked with concern and then continued with mild annoyance. "Because we'll have to call in a sign language interpreter if that's the case. It's protocol. Someone should have put that in his record. I wish people would do their jobs right. It's kind of late in the day. I'll have to check if we have a deaf-mute interpreter on the on-call roster."
"He's not deaf!"
"Oh. I thought that's why you were yelling. Okay, just a sign language interpreter for mutes."
"He's not mute!" Jack looked at her incredulously. "He's a baby! He babbles! That's what babies do! They babble!"
"He's started to say Mama . . . I think," Elizabeth piped up. Good Gosh, I thought he was going to be an early speaker. I never thought he might be mute!
The woman with the name-tag smiled and continued to expectedly hold out her arms, but Jack made no motion to give her his son.
"We close in an hour and if you don't get the evaluation done today, he won't make the manifest. It's up to you."
"How can you possibly test a baby for a psych exam?" Jack asked as he reluctantly transferred his son.
Surprisingly, Aaron wasn't the least bit upset by leaving his father and going to a stranger. In fact, he quickly became mesmerized by a large beaded necklace the woman was wearing.
"We have our ways," the woman replied as she moved away with the littlest Thornton.
Up Next: Chapter 60
Dear Readers: Thanks for waiting patiently for this chapter. Sorry it took so long.