‘Why do they always paint hospitals this color?’ Mark thinks to himself. ‘I wonder if they have a special consultant that comes in and instructs the specific color code the building needs on its walls.’ He looks up and down the hallway and acknowledges that all the colors are consistent. ‘Maybe they thought —’
“Are you ready Mr. Miller?” a short lady with dark hair interrupts his thoughts.
“Ye… yes ma’am.” Mark quickly unfolds his arms and jerks away from the wall he was leaning on. “How is she doing?” he asks, while patting both of his pants pockets to make sure whatever is in there, are still there.
“Your wife is doing great. You can go see her now.”
The lady came out of the open door and pointed Mark towards the entryway. Her dark eyes watch him as he passes her. She smiles softly and nods.
“Thank you.” Mark gently says while walking into the room.
“The doctor will be in shortly, once everything is prepared.” The nurse looks at Mark with a calm look while closing the door behind her as she exits.
“Hi… honey!” Mark whispers softly to the blonde woman sitting up-right in bed who’s dressed in a hospital gown. He notices that the color of the gown is almost the same exact color as the walls. “How are you feeling?”
The person sitting on the bed is an attractive woman with light green eyes. But one can clearly see a growing shadowy complexion under those eyes. Her golden fuzzy hair pulled behind her ears while she looked down, staring at her hands. Sarah didn’t reply back, but she is alert. Her attention seems to be somewhere else and her perplexed expression can be seen by Mark.
“Am I supposed to be happy or sad?” She says with a slight tremble in her voice. Still looking down, Sarah’s eyes started to water up.
“You know the answer to that… Now, there are a whole lot of people waiting out there to see our baby boy and you! So please… be ok. For our family. For me?”
“Whoever said having a child is godsend is a fool!” Sarah looks up. Her face turns from sadness to anger and a single tear streams down her right cheek. Now focusing her gaze at Mark.
Mark pulls himself closer to her, grabbing one of her hands with both of his and kisses her forehead. He pauses and sighs a little, then reaches into his right pocket.
“I got you a present.” He pulls out a blue stone from the box he was carrying. It has a thin chain attached. “This is the baby’s birth stone, I thought you’d like to wear this on his birthday.”
Looking uninterested, Sarah looks down in front of herself again. Mark slowly puts the shiny necklace around her neck and kisses her forehead once more. Just then, there is a knock at the door. A man dressed in a lab coat peeks his head into the room and introduces himself. Mark noticed the same color on the lab coat, again.
“Hi folks, I am Dr. Marcus Oliver. How’s everyone this evening?” His voice carries throughout the room.
The same dark haired nurse from earlier, enters the room behind the doctor. This time with a bundle in her arms, carrying a baby wrapped tightly in hospital blankets. Behind her, follows another woman in stale expression, under a set of dark circular glasses. Her pale skin and short straight hair down both sides. She reminded Mark of his high school principal; No nonsense type.
“Good, we are good. Look honey, it’s our baby boy!” Mark responds excitedly looking back at Sarah on the bed. She didn’t look up and a short silent pause fills the room. Reacting quickly to avoid the awkwardness, Mark extends his arms and says, “Here, let me hold him for a bit.” With a soft smile, the nurse walks over and gently places the bundle into Mark’s arms and brushes her finger on the baby’s cheeks before retreating back behind the doctor.
The baby is sound asleep inside the blanket swaddle. Mark softly swings his body side to side in a rocking motion, whilst looking down at the baby’s rosy cheeks who lays peacefully in his arms.
“So all the results came back great. The baby is healthy and the mommy as well. It looks like y’all will be able to leave in the next day or two.” The doctor says while putting his hands together and rubbing them slowly in front of his chest. One can tell he’s a little nervous at what he’s about to say. “Now, there is the matter of the Humanity —”
“I know what the HCP is.” Sarah interrupts with a snark tone. Still not looking up, but her visible scowl can be observed by everyone in the room.
“Right… right… Now, I have my colleague, Ms. Stephenson here to explain to y’all the whole procedure…”
Before the doctor can finish, the short hair woman steps forward, looking stern as before, starts to talk directly to Mark.
“As Dr. Oliver said, I’m Karen Stephenson, and I am an associate of the United Nations Global Initiatives assigned to this hospital. I am obligated by Federal Laws to explain to you both today about the Humanity Conservation Policy mandated by the UN Counsels in accordance with the United States Government and the other 194 countries. If you have any comments and/or questions, please refrain from making them until I have finished reciting the entire statement to you. Do you understand?” Her eyes quickly move over to Sarah and stares coldly down at her just as she finishes her last sentence. “I will also take your silence as compliance.”
Ms Stephenson takes a pause before reciting from memory:
“In accordance with Global Population Control, the Government of the United States of America has adapted the Humanity Conservation Policy into law commonly known as the ‘PROXE Act’. This Act gives power to the country of origin of any child born as its citizen to replace another citizen of the same gender from its extended family with the same last name and lineage. If all extended family members currently living have already been paired or no extended family exists, an immediate family member shall take its place once the child has reached the age of 10. The deadline of selecting a proxy is set within 72 hours from the child’s birth with a termination date set at its one year anniversary. If, within this time frame, any extended family member who wasn’t paired, dies by any cause, he or she can be used to substitute as your child’s proxy and the original pairing therefore relinquished from your child’s records."
There was silence in the room. Ms Stephenson glances over to Sarah and then Mark. “Do you both understand the brief statement of the process I just presented to you?” she asked seriously. “I will need both parents’ verbal confirmations at this time.”
“Yes … !” Mark replies with a slight stutter in his voice. Then places his hand on Sarah’s shoulder. Thicker streams of tear are now visible on both of Sarah’s cheeks. Then she starts to sob uncontrollably. After a few moments, and wiping her face with her shirt sleeves, Sarah confirms.
“Good. A more detailed PA-102 form will be provided to you by the staff, if not already. Please take some time to look it over as I will also need the proxy’s signature on that form and biometrics before you all depart.” Ms Stephenson gives a quick nod towards the doctor and starts walking towards the door.
Dr. Oliver flashes an awkward smile at the couple and places his hands into his coat pockets. “Well, you folks have a nice evening and please let the staff know if you have any questions or need anything else at all. And congratulations again.” He follows Ms. Stephenson out the door with haste.
“Do you guys want to spend some more time with the little one? We can try nursing him. Or I can take him for now while you guys rest a bit after all of this.” The gentle nurse asks kindly, seemingly trying to be accommodating.
“I think we are gonna take some time to be alone a bit to discuss things as a family. But I would like to keep him with us for now if that’s ok.” Mark says while glancing over at Sarah still sobbing quietly on the bed.
Sensing her presence is no longer needed, the nurse replies, “No problem at all. Just buzz when y’all are ready for me.”
“Thank you so much Anabel. We really appreciate you” Mark smiles.
He watches her leave the room, then moves closer to Sarah and picks up a small blanket, that was draped over the bed. With only one hand, Mark gently places the blanket in front of Sarah’s chest, then places the baby over that blanket so Sarah would be forced to extend her arms in order to hold the still sleeping baby.
“… I don’t know how to choose!” Sarah whispers to Mark and looks up at him.
“It’s already been decided for us through both of our families, Sarah. We just have to go tell them now.” Mark says. He reaches into his left pocket and pulls out an identical-looking box he had given to her earlier and dumps the contents into one of his hands. It’s the same blue stone, but this one is attached to a black leather necklace rope.
“Are you going to do that right now?” Sarah perked up looking very alert now. “Give them more time!”
“They have been waiting for a long time out there. They should all get to know by now. They would like see our son.” Mark kisses Sarah on the forehead one last time. “I love you and everything will be ok.” He grabs the call button device adjacent to Sarah and places it next to her body on the bed. Then he walks towards the door. “I will be right back. I promise.”
As Mark closes the door behind him, he can still picture Sarah sobbing. He stands outside the room, looking down at the necklace in his hand, thinking and feeling unsure of the already made choice. ‘Should I wait? Or should I go?’ Mark thinks to himself. ‘Am I just prolonging the inevitable? Or am I shortening the time we have with each other?’ He slowly paces towards a series of double doors down the long hallway, using his free hand to guide himself along the wall, not noticing about the color anymore.