After she turned in her information, she sat quietly next to Brian. There were two other men in the waiting room and neither of them seemed comfortable. One of them, an African American man in his forties, kept picking up magazines, glancing at them, and putting them back down. Another man, Caucasian, maybe thirty, glanced at his watch, then the floor.

A few minutes later a door opened. A woman called Melissa’s name and she stood.

“I’ll see you when you come out,” Brian said.

She glanced at him, then followed the woman through a door and down the hallway to a room where she undressed and put on a hospital gown. It seemed just like other appointments she’d been to at the doctor’s office, but she knew this was going to be different. She felt it in her stomach.

The nurse handed her a paper cup with a blue pill inside. “You’ll need to take this.”

Melissa didn’t ask what it was for, just took it and wadded up the cup and tossed it in the trash. Beside the wastebasket sat a silver tray with tools that glistened in the fluorescent light. Some looked like scissors on one end, but on the other they had odd shapes with teeth that would fit into a gear of some sort. She studied the tray and wondered if those were for her. She glanced around the room and noticed that everything seemed like silver metal. The cabinet, a table, and a round silver stool on wheels made the room feel hard and cold. Other than that, the room had white walls with nothing on them.

She sat on the exam table, her feet not touching the floor, and crossed her arms, suddenly feeling a chill. Then she heard footsteps. The doctor knocked lightly, then came inside, and as soon as she saw his face, she knew she’d remember it the rest of her life. He nodded to her and turned and washed his hands in the sink, soaping up to his elbows and rinsing off like she’d seen on TV shows. He dried his hands with paper towels and tossed them in the trash.

He avoided her eyes as he slid on a pair of blue surgical gloves. Then he sat on the silver stool and scooted across the room as if he’d done that a thousand times before and could navigate the room with his eyes closed.

He tapped the stirrups and motioned for her to put her feet in them, still avoiding eye contact.

Melissa obeyed and leaned back, laying her head on the table as the doctor turned toward the tray of instruments. Her heart raced faster, and she could feel her pulse throbbing in her neck.

Thoughts began racing through her mind, and the words she had just heard outside echoed in her head.

“Your baby has ten fingers and ten toes.”