The Ice Child by Elizabeth Cooke

Author:Elizabeth Cooke
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504006927
Publisher: Open Road Media

Twenty-one

It was early on Tuesday morning that Jo saw her doctor.

She had been there only the day before, at Eve’s insistence, for a blood sample to be taken from Sam.

“I’m not worrying about this,” Eve had told her then, “and neither should you. It’s a precaution, that’s all.”

All last night, bathing her son and putting him to bed, Jo had repeated this information to herself, even after the receptionist had telephoned late in the afternoon to tell her that an appointment was fixed for eight forty-five the following morning. Eve is not worried. It was the last thing she thought of before finally falling asleep. There is nothing to worry about.

“Has the blood test come back?” she had asked the receptionist over the phone. “Is that why I have to come in?”

There had been a rustling of paper. “I think so” was the reply.

“What was the result?”

“I think that the doctor would like to discuss that with you.”

She drove into the parking lot now, narrowly missing another car that was trying to reverse out. The driver scowled at her; she barely noticed him. Behind her Sam was fretting. He had already thrown his toys—kept in a hanging affair on the back of the driver’s seat—onto the floor of the car.

“We’re here,” she told him. She got out of the car, and retrieved his Beanie Baby, and gave it to him while unlocking him from his baby seat. She hoisted him onto her shoulder. “Be good now,” she whispered. “Show Dr. Jowett what a good boy you can be.”

They were waiting for her when she got in. Looking over her shoulder at the patients waiting, she realized that she had been given an appointment before regular doctor’s hours. The little gnawing ache in the pit of her stomach grew suddenly.

Dr. Jowett stood up as she came into his office. He came around the side of his desk. “Hello, Sam,” he said.

Sam hid his face in Jo’s shoulder. “He’s in a bad mood,” Jo said. “I wouldn’t get out of the driver’s seat in traffic to get Beanie back from the floor.”

Jowett smiled. He indicated the chair to one side of the desk. Jo sat down, with Sam cradled in her lap.

“How has Sam been?” Jowett asked.

“Fine,” Jo said. It was a reflex action, a defense. Against what, she didn’t know. “Well,” she relented, “not exactly fine. All the usual baby things.”

Jowett glanced at his notes. “We had a chest infection a couple of months ago,” he said. “An ear infection …”

“The usual baby things,” she repeated. “I mean, it was winter. A lot of kids had that cold that wouldn’t go away.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “And his mouth ulcers …”

“He hasn’t had one for ages. It was when I weaned him. He was allergic.”

“Did you find out what to?”

“Very milky stuff,” she replied. “Some yogurt … cream desserts …”

“Right,” he said.

“He was a bit sick.”

“Right,” he repeated.

She stared at his profiled face. Quite suddenly she saw a pulse beating in Jowett’s throat, at the side.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.