by Remember Me
even after seven months in the chamber, Edward has never shown the experiment and the child
to his wife, who is now a widow.
Due to the terrible emotional struggle she has before her and the shock that would be
endured if I were to bring this to her attention now, I will not tell Cheryl Penn about the child at
this time. I will have to decide later how everything shall be handled.
I have read through much of the work that Edward performed during the past couple
months and feel confident that I can separate the child from the device without much problem. I
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will film the event as Edward had hoped so that the validity of what has happened need not be
questioned.
I will be injecting several hormones into the blood stream of the child in order to initiate
the procedure...
...The procedure appears to have gone over without any problems. The child began to cry
and breathe on her own after several seconds. I have weighed the infant at 7 lbs. 2 ozs. This is
slightly below average, but by all means a healthy baby.
She is over nineteen inches long and responding to all stimuli. I have placed drops in her
eyes to protect them from extreme light and will now allow her to lie under the UV lamps, as she
shows some signs of jaundice.
The child appears very active. She has very little hair and very beautiful features. She
looks like a child that has just come from a Cesarean section, with no bruises or skull
contraction. She enjoys the sound of her own voice and has been cooing lightly for the past ten
minutes. Her temperature is normal and she has adjusted to her new environment very rapidly...
...I brought the child to my home to decide what course of action to take next. My fear at
this time is that I know very little about the procedures that Edward performed and cannot at this
time defend them. I realize it will take some time to read through all the work Edward has done
and understand it well enough to present it.
I also fear for the condition of Edward’s family, who are now enduring a great loss. I
know the pressure that this would put on them to have the whole procedure brought public. For
these reasons, I have decided to wait for some time before releasing any news of the procedure.
My wife and I have decided at this time to take the child into our family as one of our
own. We will give the child the name Margaret and treat her the same as our other two children.
During the time she is in my care, I will also study her growth and keep a detailed journal about
observations regarding her mental and physical condition. I will attempt to keep as well
documented of notes on her progress as Edward did while she was inside the growth chamber...”
Margaret sat down the book, overwhelmed by what she had just read. Her heart sank as
she realized her whole life was just a lie. Everything she knew was fiction. The astonishment that
filled her thoughts left her in a state of confusion. She sat for some time trying to figure out just
what she could believe anymore.
The sound of a car door slamming shut brought her back from her trance. She peeked out
the window to see her father walking up to the front door. Fear overcame Margaret as she looked
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around at the mess she had made of his office. She fumbled through the mess, stuffing the books
back into the drawer as quickly as she could.
She realized as she threw things back into the drawer that she had removed them in no
particular order and that she couldn’t replace them as she had found them. She did the best she
could, slamming the drawer shut and locking it behind her. She swung around in the swivel chair
and put the key to the drawer back where she had found it.
Margaret walked quietly to the study door and cracked it open to peak outside. Her father
had hung up his coat and walked into the kitchen, out of view from the study. She closed the
door behind her and scurried up to her room.
Margaret reached her room and shut the door behind her. She felt slightly sick to her
stomach and she opened up a window for some fresh air. She sat looking outside for some time
before she opened her closet and pulled out several books, searching for something to prove it all
false.
She set down the first book and searched through it. This was her baby book, which her
mom had prepared for her when she came into the world. She looked over the information on the
first page. Her weight listed in her baby book matched the weight in the journals her father kept
in the drawer. Questions about her true identity developed as she realized it was quite possible
that what the books said were true.
Margaret ran downstairs to where her mother kept the family photo albums in a hall
closet. She pulled out some of the old pictures and shifted through them, searching for pictures of
her sister Helen at a young age.
She found the pictures without any problem. Her mother had always kept the pictures
well organized and the family photo albums up to date. Everything looked in order and she soon
found what she looked for.
Margaret pulled out the picture of her mother holding Helen for the camera. She read the
date on the back of the picture and realized that her father had taken it only two months before
her own birth. She flipped the picture back over and scanned it carefully. Her mother didn’t look
the least bit pregnant.
Margaret’s head ran wild with thoughts of betrayal. She searched for pictures of her
mother pregnant with Helen and soon found a similar picture of her mother holding her older
brother. The date on the picture was three months before Helen’s birth and her mother shown
considerable signs of pregnancy.
Margaret’s father sat in the kitchen eating a sandwich and unaware to Margaret’s
presence. She looked through the books until she found the first few pictures of herself in her
mother’s arms. She realized another interesting coincidence from the pictures. There were no
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pictures of her with her mother in the hospital, yet there were pictures of her mother with both
her brother and sister in the hospital when they were born.
Even the pictures of her and her brother and sister as infants looked nothing alike.
Margaret felt an anger overcoming her as she began to accept that she wasn’t her parent’s own
child.
She put the pictures back in the album and replaced the albums in the closet. Then,
without speaking to her father, she walked out the front door of the house to take a drive. She
started the car up with a roar and headed towards the canyon for some fresh air, Margaret needed
to be alone.
Margaret sat beside the small creek, tossing stones into the water. Since she first
discovered the small watering hole many years earlier, she always considered it her special place.
She sometimes came and sat here for hours at a time watching the area around her.
The small creek usually had just a trickle of water running through it, but with the early
spring thaw had a considerable amount more. It fought to keep the small pebbles which lined
the
bottom brightly polished and the water looked crystal clear.
The creek carved its way through a canyon cut by a glacier many thousands of years
earlier. The canyon walls reached high above the small creek, but the glacier had cut a wide
groove between them. Only the small stream remained to continue eroding the canyon bottom.
The watering hole was a favorite stop for many creatures which walked the small trails
leading through the deep green pines which blanketed the canyon floor. Margaret often waited
here patiently for a glimpse of the wildlife of the area.
Her special spot was a large, flat boulder which the glacier had deposited during its
journey down the canyon. A large pine tree had grown beside the rock and its limbs spread out
above the stone providing a large canopy which Margaret used to hide under.
The creek ran its course about forty feet away, and down a slight incline. If the wind blew
in the right direction to hide her scent, she could sometimes go unnoticed by the animals as they
ventured out from the forest to get a drink from the stream.
Margaret had discovered the spot while on one of her excursions from the family
camping trip one summer afternoon. She spent the majority of her time that trip exploring the
small canyon around the spot. She loved exploring new places. She never felt quite secure unless
she had a good idea of what surrounded her.
Today’s visit didn’t involve any new exploring. She used it for one of its many other uses
on this trip. She couldn’t think of a better place to come and try to sort through her feelings. Here
she could take all the time she needed to straighten things out.
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Margaret’s thoughts had bothered her for some time before her new discovery. The
excitement of moving away from Deer Hollow came with a slight amount of fear and anxiety.
She had many friends here and felt a special comfort in knowing that this was her town.
Wherever she went from here, she became the outsider in somebody else’s world.
Her emotions seemed unstable at this point in her life. She worried about college not
meeting her expectations. She wanted to meet the perfect man at school and earn her diploma.
She wanted to make her parents proud of her.
Everything seemed destroyed now. Her parents weren’t who she had always thought they
were. She resented them for lying to her all these years. As time passed, she felt more anger
towards her parents. She just couldn’t figure out why they would go on living this way for so
many years.
Margaret sipped on the small cola she had picked up from the mini mart on her way out
of town. An ice cold sensation ran through her as she swallowed the soft drink. The added chill
of the mountain air mixed with the inner cold sensation and signaled her that it was time to start
the hike back to her car.
The two mile hike would take her almost an hour and she wanted to get out of the
mountain before it got too dark to see. She knew she still had plenty of time, but wanted to visit
with her best friend Amy for a while.
Amy was the only person she could think of who could help her sort things out right now.
The past hour she had spent alone had done little to relieve the betrayed feeling she carried with
her. She knew that if anyone could help her calm down, Amy was the person.
Margaret smiled as she noticed the young deer venturing away from the confines of the
heavy trees on the other side of the creek from her. It was the only creature she had seen on this
trip. She knew if she waited she would see many more coming down for an evening drink from
the creek.
On most of her trips out here, Margaret brought her camera with her for events such as
this. She always enjoyed photography and loved taking nature shots. She had left her old 35mm
camera back at her house today and thus just enjoyed the animal without the aid of film to
document her sighting.
The deer lifted its nose high in the air, trying to decipher the unusual scent in the air.
Margaret decided to help it out by climbing off the rock and stepping away from the tree in the
animal’s plain sight. The creature immediately locked its eyes on her and dashed back into the
cover of the trees.
Margaret grabbed the empty cup that her soda came in and started down the mountain
towards the bottom of the canyon. She hoped that the walk might help her unwind a bit.
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Margaret imagined how wonderful it would feel to have Jeremy give her a neck rub right now.
She paid little attention to her surroundings as she walked down the trail in deep thought.
Margaret parked her car along the curb outside Amy’s home and shut off the vehicle. She
stepped out of the warm car, feeling the coolness of the mid-spring evening. The air smelled
sweet of blooming flowers and budding trees. The sweater she wore over her T-shirt kept her
body comfortably warm. She always kept an old sweater in her car.
Margaret walked towards the front door of the house, but stopped when she heard the
sounds of laughter coming from the backyard. She could clearly distinguish Amy’s voice and
decided to avoid knocking on the door and bothering anyone. She walked through the gate and
around to the back of the house where Amy played with her dog.
Amy sat alone in the center of the backyard, the dog sat with its head in her lap. Neither
the dog nor Amy had heard her as she walked towards them. Amy caught sight of her friend
before Margaret made it across the yard and the dog jumped up and ran towards her at full speed.
Margaret stopped to catch the dog’s front paws in her hands as he stood up and attempted
to lick her face. The dog knew Margaret quite well and always greeted her this way. She knew
the animal as well as Amy and he always welcomed her to his domain.
The sunset had already occurred and there were only a few minutes before darkness
would blanket the small town. Amy’s backyard appeared well cared for with a rose garden and
several large fruit trees. The trees lost their glorious blooming colors with each minute of fading
light, but it seemed apparent that this year would yield many bushels of fruit from the backyard.
Margaret looked over at her friend and tried to crack a smile. Amy wore her jeans and a
sweatshirt and had her shoulder length dark hair pulled back in a French braid. Margaret had
caught her taking a few moments to relax and enjoy the evening.
“Hey Margaret, what’s going on?” asked Amy as the dog returned to her side and
Margaret sat down on the grass beside her.
“I just needed somebody to talk to right now,” answered Margaret. “Your mother called
here earlier looking for you,” Amy informed her. She could see Margaret shaking as she sat there
and knew that something had upset her. “She said you had missed dinner and they hadn’t heard
from you. They seemed really worried about you.”
“They aren’t my parents,” Margaret proclaimed. “They just took me in to study me. I’m
some sort of research project.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I went searching through my dad’s papers again this afternoon. You know how my dad
h
ad that paper in my file that talked about Edward Penn. Well, we ran into his widow at the mall
last weekend. It turns out that he died almost eighteen years ago.
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The fact that he existed got me thinking that maybe the paper wasn’t just a joke. I decided
to snoop around a little more and see if there was anything more about him in my dad’s files.”
“Did you find something?” asked Amy.
“I found all sorts of books written by the guy. He was a doctor who studied premature
births. My dad and he went to college together years ago. He was obsessed with trying to keep
children alive outside the womb. I was just part of a project they were working on.”
“What kind of project?” asked Amy.
“They removed a child from its mother after two months and kept it alive inside some
device that Penn designed. I’m the child who was kept inside the chamber for the experiment. I
don’t have real parents.”
Amy looked at her friend in disbelief. Margaret could tell that her friend didn’t believe
the story by the expression on her face. She looked down at her feet, trying to figure out how to
prove it to Amy.
“I know it sounds strange,” explained Margaret. “I couldn’t believe it myself, but
everything fits perfectly to the whole project. I looked at pictures of my mother, she was never
pregnant with me. You have to believe me, Amy. My whole life is a lie. I need to find out the
truth. You have to believe I’m telling you the truth.”
“You aren’t kidding, are you?” asked Amy.
“No, Amy. I’ve been hiding out the past few hours trying to figure things out. I hoped to
figure out something small that would prove that it’s impossible, but it all fits perfectly. It’s too
elaborate of an experiment for some little joke my dad thought up. They have all sorts of pictures
of everything. I just don’t understand why they did the work on me, and then why they kept it a
secret from me all these years.”
“Maybe you are your parents’ child and they just removed you from your mother so they
would have someone to do the research on,” Amy suggested.
“No, my mother had no idea about me until my father brought me home after Edward
Penn died.”