Shock

"How do you feel, Miss Meissner?" Paul asked.

Joa

"Yes," Paul replied in a ma

"I suppose not," Joa

Paul gently pulled up the joh

"No sign of any bleeding,' Myron said, "and the gas has been absorbed."

Paul nodded. He pulled the joh

"Dr. Saunders," Joa

Paul stopped and turned back.

"How many eggs did you get?"

"I can't remember exactly,' Paul said. "Five or six."

"Is that good?"

"It's perfectly adequate," Paul said. A faint smile graced his heretofore grim expression. Then he left.

"He's not much of a conversationalist," Joa

"He's a busy man," Myron said. He pulled the sheet back to expose her legs. "Why don't you stand up and see how that feels. I think you're about ready to have that IV taken out."

"Does Dr. Saunders do all the egg retrievals?" Joa

"He and Dr. Donaldson do them together."

"Do you think his coming in here means my roommate's procedure is done?"

"'That would be my guess," Myron said. "How do you feel? Any dizziness at all?"

Joa

"Then let's get that IV out and get you on your way."

Fifteen minutes later Joa

As Joa

"How did it go for you?" Deborah demanded in a whisper.

"It wasn't bad at all," Joa

"Milk of amnesia?" Deborah questioned. "What the hell is that?"

"It's what the anesthesiologist called the medicine he gave me," Joa

"Not even a little queasiness?"

"Nothing. And I woke up the same way I went to sleep: really suddenly." Joa

"Truly a piece of cake," Deborah said. "No worse than a routine pap smear."

"No pain?"

"A little, I suppose, when the local anesthetic went in, but that was it. The worst part was the humiliation of being looked into."

"How many eggs did they get?"

"I haven't the slightest idea," Deborah admitted. "I assume only one. That's how many we women put out each month without hormonal hyperstimulation."

"They got five or six from me."

"Well, aren't we impressed," Deborah said in a playfully sarcastic tone. "How do you know?"

"I asked," Joa

"Was this Dr. Saunders a rather short guy with unusual eyes?"

"He's the one. I think he's also kinda strange as well as quiet. What was weird was that he seemed to act mad when he found out I was already awake."

"Get out of here!" Deborah blurted.

"I'm serious."

"The reason I'm surprised is that he acted mad with me, too."

"No kidding!" Joa

"All too well," Deborah said. "And you think he was irritated because you were awake?"

"Yes," Joa

"That's absurd," Deborah said.

"The nurse excused his behavior by saying he was a busy man."

"He was equally inappropriate with me. Like everybody else he'd started in about wanting to use general anesthesia, and how much better it would be. But I just said no way. So he got mad. And you know what: It dawned on me why they had me suffer not eating or drinking since midnight. They thought they were going to talk me into it."

"You didn't have it, did you?"

"Hell no!" Deborah said. "I told them I was ready to get up and walk out, and I came close. If it hadn't been for Dr. Donaldson, who smoothed things over, I think I would have. But anyway, it all worked out."

"Let's get out of here," Joa

"I'm with you," Deborah responded. She opened the louvered changing room door, winked at Joa

Joa

The crash of the neighboring louvered door closing snapped Joa

"Almost ready," Joa

"I hurried," Joa

"Sure you did," Deborah said as she got to her feet. "You should try short hair like mine. You'll save yourself a lot of grief; it's ten times easier."

"Never," Joa

The two women called out a thank you to Cynthia, and she waved in acknowledgment. The women sitting on the couch and the chairs looked up, several smiled, but all had returned to their reading before Joa