Out There (13 page)

The two of them burst out laughing.

“So your mother looks at me and says, ‘I'll have you know it was actually that I have such superior intelligence to you that I couldn't stay awake to hear your idle chatter any longer'.”

They kept laughing and their faces were beginning to turn red.

“And after that we became best friends,” Mother said, laughing.

“The funniest part is that even our daughters became best friends,” said Jennifer, smiling at me.

Suddenly I was filled with a warm sense of love for my best friend who must have been sitting in a little faux glass room, worrying herself out of her mind. Soon I missed her dreadfully even though all that stood between us was a glass wall.

“That's a great story. It actually sounds like something Katelyn and I would say to each other.”

“How time flies, we must have been in our mid-twenties then,” Jennifer recalled.

“And our doctor was a man! Look how much has changed.” I thought about what that must have been like, to have men around everywhere, for you not to recognise every face in your city. Anonymity. For me, even if I didn't know someone, I still had the sense that I had seen them before and that they were a fellow member of my community.

Jennifer and Mother continued to chat like teenage girls for the next few hours. I sat there and picked at my nails, hair, jeans – anything to distract me. Then the doctor came over.

“Hello, I'm Doctor Karen.”

“Oh, hi Karen,” Mother said, and stood to shake her hand. “So how did it go?”

We all stared at her, waiting.

“The surgery was very successful and Katelyn was a great sport. She's in her room resting now if you wish to see her.”

“Yes please,” I said immediately.

“Right this way.”

We all followed her as she led us down another white walled hallway, up a flight of glass stairs, and over to a series of rooms, each with a glass door. She stopped at one and said, “Here she is.”

I peered in through the glass and saw that Katelyn was turned to face the other way. Her blonde curls covered her face and I saw her tiny fragile body rise and fall as she breathed.

“Can we go in?” I asked the doctor.

“You can but be gentle with her.”

I slowly opened the door and crept inside. Mother and Jennifer stood in the doorway as I tiptoed over to the side of the bed and looked at her rosy-cheeked face. Her eyelids were closed and she was deep in dreamland. She looked so peaceful I couldn't wake her. So I leant in and stroked her hair then I crept back out of the room to join the others.

“She's asleep,” I announced.

“Oh good, she needs the rest,” Mother said, closing the door carefully behind me.

“So is that it? What now?” Jennifer turned to the doctor.

“Well, now we wait. Katelyn will be having a lot of rest in the next few weeks and we will give her regular tests and check-ups to see how she's doing. Then in a week or two we will be able to tell whether the surgery was successful or not.”

“I thought you said it was successful?”

“The first part was, but now we have to see if she does indeed become pregnant, or not.”

“Why wouldn't she?”

“Sometimes it doesn't work exactly as planned but we have practised this many times and I can assure you that Katelyn will be fine.”

“You're sure?”

“Yes I'm sure – was it Jennifer?”

“Yes, Jennifer.”

“Don't worry Jenny, Katelyn is doing great. Better, even.” Mother held Jennifer by the shoulders. “You have nothing to worry about. In fact, we should celebrate!”

“Is it OK to leave her?”

“Yes, there are many members of staff here to watch over her,” Doctor Karen assured Jennifer. “She is our only patient so far.”

Mother laughed lightly and said, “Come Jenny, let's go out for lunch. Ava, would you like to join us?”

I turned to her and replied, “Oh no Mother, I think I'll wait for Katelyn to wake up.”

“Are you sure?”

“You should go, she won't wake up for hours,” the doctor added.

“No really, I'm fine here.”

“If you insist. I'll see you at home, sweetheart.”

“OK, have fun.”

“We will.” Mother linked her arm through Jennifer's and they strolled out of the fake glass door.

So I looked around for a seat and planted myself there. And I waited.

School started again right before Katelyn's surgery, so I was back to my usual schedule. Things were picking up with graduation just around the corner. They started to introduce new classes for those that were eligible for the Repopulation Phase. That meant that everyone born on July 1
^st
on the last of the X Years, the year before Year 1, and after, learnt all about raising children and being responsible role models.

The funny part was that there were girls in my year born only a few weeks before me that didn't apply. So their lives would follow the traditional pattern of getting a profession, a house and an income. But my life, and Katelyn's, would include two children.

While we had lessons about motherhood and what to teach our children, the other girls learnt about adulthood and how to contribute to society in a different way. Every time I spoke to someone in one of those classes they would always say how much they wanted to be like me.

The fifty-some of us that applied were like the golden ones, untouchable. I thought that the others were upset at first that they didn't get to have children and that's why they wouldn't speak to us often. But I later found out that they had been told in their classes that they had to take extra care around us because they didn't want anything to happen to a single one of us. Adults would be walking on eggshells around us, as if one word would make us lose confidence in ourselves and we wouldn't be able to carry children any more.

It wasn't like no one spoke to us, I still talked to some of the other girls in my year but I guessed that it was lucky that all five of us made the cut.

Another thing that was different when school started was that everyone would always ask me about Katelyn – my teachers, friends, acquaintances and even strangers.

I was buying a new coat for the winter approaching when the saleswoman came over. “Are you Ava Hart?” she asked.

“Uh yes, that's me,” I replied. I was stunned.

“How is Katelyn Rose doing?”

“She's doing good, resting.”

“Have you seen her?”

“Yes, I go every day after school.”

“Do you think she would mind visits from people she doesn't know too well? I don't want to make her uncomfortable.”

“I think she would love it, actually.”

“Oh that's wonderful. Well, tell her I say congratulations anyway.”

And then she was gone. It was the strangest thing; overnight I had become known around the community. People recognised my face from when Mother won the Election but it was nothing like Katelyn's pregnancy.

Mother's regular broadcasts did add to the matter. I would often be at school or at home when her voice would come on declaring that Katelyn Rose had made it through surgery, or Katelyn Rose had taken a nap, or Katelyn Rose had eaten a salad, or Katelyn Rose had sneezed. And then she went on to tell the entire community to drop by and say hello. I was sitting in my motherhood class at school when I heard her say over the school intercom:

“Good morning Emiscyra, Donna Hart here. Today is the third day after Katelyn Rose underwent surgery. She is doing well and would really appreciate visits from anyone who wants to say hello. You can drop by any time, or if that's too much of a trip you can ask her best friend and my daughter, Ava Hart, for updates. She looks just like me in case you don't know which one she is.”

Everyone in the classroom turned to look at me and I felt the awkward feeling of discomfort. They all stared at me before bursting into a rapid fire of questions about Katelyn. Even the teacher stopped the class to make her enquiries. The constant attention started pretty much after that announcement.

True to my word though, I did visit Katelyn after school every day. They hadn't yet confirmed that her pregnancy was positive but she was treated like it was.

“Hey Katelyn, how're you doing today?” I waltzed through the door and parked myself in the chair next to her bed.

“I'm good, Ava bear. I was playing with the controls earlier, look what I can make the view do.”

She picked up a thin remote and pressed a few buttons; the window transformed from bodies of water to deserts to mountain peaks.

“The world was once so beautiful,” she sighed, staring at the frosty ice cavern.

“Yeah, and then men ruined it,” I remarked, picking up the remote. “Here, let me try.”

I pressed the button and the scene changed to a flock of trees, all green and tall. They were leaning towards the light, with their branches swaying lightly.

“Remind you of something?” she asked.

I turned to her and said, “When you said we might not be able to go back for a while, I didn't realise you meant not for nine months.”

“I'm sorry Ava, you can go if you want.”

“Without you? Never.”

She reached over and switched the screen back to the regular window. “Hey, maybe we can take Katelyn junior with us next time.”

“I think she would like that.”

“Excuse me?” a voice called from the door. We both looked up as the doctor walked in. “Morning Karen,” said Katelyn with a smile.

“Morning Katelyn, how are you feeling today?”

“I'm good. Ava and I were just testing out the window.”

“They are great, aren't they?”

“Yes they are.”

“So, I came to give you an update on your situation,” said Doctor Karen as she walked over to the bedside.

“Am I OK?”

I reached over and held Katelyn's hand.

“I wanted to let you know that you are indeed pregnant with a healthy baby girl. Congratulations.”

“I am?”

“Yes, you are,” replied the doctor; it looked like tears were forming in her eyes.

Katelyn turned to me and exclaimed, “Ava, I'm having a baby!”

“Congratulations Kay!” I reached over and hugged her.

“Ava, it's happening!”

“I know, you're almost there.”

“This is amazing!”

“This is beyond amazing!”

“I'm going to be a mother!”

“I know!”

We screamed with joy and rolled on the bed laughing.

“Careful, you might squish it.”

“Katelyn, I don't think I can squish it.”

“You never know, babies are very small and fragile.”

“You're having a baby!”

“I know!”

I continued to visit her after school, and every day she was just glowing. Warm and friendly and sweet. I saw that she was beginning to understand the responsibility she had and how much she was doing for the community. Her room was always full of flowers and balloons.

One afternoon I walked in just as a bunch of ladies walked out, wishing Katelyn luck as they left.

“Who was that?” I asked.

“Those were the women from the theatre, they came and did a little skit for me personally. How sweet is that?”

“You're so lucky! What was it?” I sat next to her.

She scooted over slightly and said, “They did a skit about motherhood and it was really touching. It was about a daughter learning from her mother. Apparently the motherhood skits are very popular now.”

“I heard.”

“They said they're creating a Motherhood Monday which will feature skits about me. How strange is that?”

“I will definitely be seeing those. I think they should cast an Ava Hart as well, seeing as I am the most important figure in your life story.”

“That's true, there is no story without Ava Hart.”

“We should be called the dynamic duo. I can see it now:
Come see celebrities Katelyn Rose and Ava Hart describe their exciting adventures through motherhood!
It's going to be a smash hit.”