a/n: Wow, ok now for the next chapter! Thank you everyone for reviewing on the last chapter, because of you guys this story has now officially been taken off death row. Please continue with your reviews for this chapter as you sit back and read the newest chapter of this story.
D: I do not own any Giver copyrights.
I shifted nervously as I swung off my bicycle and parked it carefully in front of the low building. Never before had I visited the Birthing center, not even in during the days of volunteer hours. All of those days had been spent at the Recreation center or at some other equally easy job actually, not once had I stepped foot in this cushy place, I never had a reason too. It had been far from the reaches of my imagination to think that I would end up here. Though now that I looked back on my childhood, it did make sense . I was never an active child.
The doors slid open smoothly, revealing an older woman from within the interior of the center. She blinked at my sudden appearance before slowly smiling an unsure smile in my direction. I noticed a waste bin in her arms and realized that she was probably on her way to dispose it around back.
"I apologize for disturbing you," I told her politely, "But is this the Birthing Center?" I knew very well that it was; I only asked to postpone my actual entering of the building for a few seconds more. I did not feel quite ready yet.
"I accept your apology," She said brightly, seamlessly going through the accepted reply before continuing on into the real conversation. "It is, are you the new apprentice Birthmother?"
Not wanting to sound rude by being hesitant, I chose to nod my head rather than speak.
"You're Inger then?" She stated in a relaxed voice, completely ignoring my slight wince at my full name. "I can tell you what to do, but you'll need to wait in the lobby first," She said sweetly as she gestured toward the entrance and then back at her bin, "I'll get you when I'm finished."
As it always seemed easier to be told what to do rather than figure it out for yourself, I followed her advice and slipped through the wide sliding doors. Instantly I was plunged into a huge rush of people all going in separate directions at once. Many mingled looks of surprise were tossed my way as I chanted out apologies and fought my way to the back wall, knocking over several people on my way. Flopping myself into one of the many chairs situated between the doorways, I finally allowed myself a good look at the room I now found myself in, as I had been unable to get one in the initial chaos.
The first noticeable thing was probably the assistants' counter near the center, as that was where most of the activity really was situated; besides the movements of the rushing crowd itself. I marveled for a second at how much these assistants could get done in such a short period of time. As I watched one of them he seemed to cater to three Birthmothers, a nurse, a volunteer, and ten other staff members. Inwardly I wondered if I could take his job, it seemed much more interesting than my own; but then again, considering this assistant was a he, I doubted we would be able to trade.
After that first observation on my part, I started to notice that there were quite a bit of adjoining hallways and rooms currently connected to this bigger one. And though all of the smaller rooms' doors were wide open, the bustling with people coming in an out made it hard for me to tell what was in most of them. The only one that was truly clear for me was the side room closest to where I sat. This specific one held 5 or 6 girls giggling together in a group, closely chaperoned by a large male nurse. At first I found myself interested in the conversation,as it seemed strange to me, like the girls were giggling louder every time the nurse grew nearer to them. One of them saw me looking and waved warmly, this is when I noticed that there was a rather rounded belly extending from her form.
Instantly I wanted to shy away from her, a sick feeling creeping into my stomach. This was someone who would become useless after three years of luxury, only good for ten times as many years of manual labor. It made me sick to think that I was to become like her.
"Would you like to get started now?" The woman from before asked as she suddenly appeared at my elbow, causing me to jump. "Oh," she saw my reaction and gave me an apologetic smile, "I apologize for startling you, Inger."
"I accept your apology," I quoted automatically in response before continuing on with the first question to come to mind, "Are you the Director of Birthing?" I asked suddenly, the comment purely out of the fact that I had yet to meet the one who held that position. Though since this woman had had the menial task of waste duty, it was doubtful that it was her's.
"No," she told me with a little after tone of regret, mirroring what I had expected. "I'm only a Birthing Nurse," she amended, giving me a look that looked suspiciously like pity, "My job is too assist the Birthmothers in whatever they need, all their comforts are because of me."
"I'm to be one of the Birthmothers," I piped in automatically, though I could instantly tell that this was not news to her. She nodded politely and gave me a reassuring smile. It was fairly hard to tell whether I liked this lady or not really, her action seemed very contradicting.
"The Director actually is in a meeting right now, If you would like to talk to him," She said, this time motioning me into a smaller room besides the one I had been peering into earlier. "You can stay in my office while you wait for him though," She gave me a knowing wink before sweeping out of the room, "No need to be out in the open like that."
For the first time I could ever remember in my existence, I decided that I really didn't like this woman. The way she talked to me, you would think I was of a lower intellect than most. Did she really think that because of my profession, I was now stupider than the rest of society? She had also spoken as if I should be ashamed of it, something that I myself had been wondering only a few minutes ago. Now however, I wanted no more than to rush out of this plain office and shout my new profession to the crowd waiting outside.
However, in fear of being rude, I restrained myself from this action.
"Would you be Inger?" A deep voice suddenly inquired, followed by a tall man appearing in the doorway. Like the girls I had glimpsed earlier, he too seemed odd, like he did not care whether he offended you or not. Was that an unsaid rule of this place, I wondered with a small feeling of dread, where you allowed to be rude? That in itself seemed horrifying, being rude was one of the worst offenses of this community as a whole, why would there be a place allowed to break it?
He seemed to be waiting for something, so I nodded slowly, only just remembering that he had previously asked after my identity.
"I am Gerald," He informed me briskly, taking the seat that must usually belong to the woman I had talked to earlier. "I am the director of Birthing, I was told you would start today." He gave me another look that was much ruder than any he had given earlier.
"You look tough Inger, know that you'll need it."