Brett Barney - Remember Me.txt

by Remember Me

  Ray could tell by the smeared make-up on her face that Cheryl had shed many tears

  already. His heart felt pity for her and he wanted to look strong so that he wouldn’t upset her.

  However, the sight of her before him made the lump in his throat harden and he had to fight to

  keep his composure.

  “I know that,” she answered. “I love my husband very much and I can’t believe he’s

  gone. When they came to the door and told me the news, I just about lost it, but I made my

  husband a promise. I promised him if anything ever happened to him, that you would be the first

  person I contacted.”

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  © 1995 Brett Barney Literary Page 109

  “That must have seemed like an odd request,” uttered Ray.

  “Not at all,” Cheryl explained. “My husband had two real loves in this world. I like to

  think that the first was his family. He cared deeply for it and fought to preserve it. I’ve never

  known a man so dedicated as Edward.

  “His other love was his research. Edward never told me much about his research. He

  even designed his laboratory so that none of the kids or I could ever get inside. It never bothered

  me that he did this.

  “I knew about some of the things he involved himself with. He didn’t keep the work from

  us because he didn’t want to share it with us, he wanted to protect us from it. I’m glad that he did

  this. I wouldn’t want my children exposed to the sight of unborn children.”

  “I understand why your husband did this,” spoke Ray, amazed at the stability and

  emotional strength of the shaken woman. She had changed into a dark navy dress before the

  visitors arrived at the house and she acted rather strong. Her strength helped Ray hold back his

  tears as well.

  “Anyway,” she continued. “Edward has been working heavily in his laboratory lately. He

  had just run out for a quick lunch when he got in the accident. I know that he was extremely

  excited about the work he was doing. He said he would be finished in a few more days.

  “My husband poured his life into his work, and you are the only person who knows

  anything about it. I don’t want that work destroyed. I don’t know what he was up to down there,

  but I’m turning everything over to you. I know you’ll do the right thing with it.

  “You have the only key to the laboratory. It’s down in the corner of the basement. I’ll

  make sure that nobody disturbs you while you’re there.”

  “I haven’t kept up with Edward for a while now,” explained Ray. “So I’ll have to look

  around for a while and go through his papers. I might be down there for a little while.”

  “Take your time, Ray. I know you’ll take care of everything.”

  Raymond left the room and walked down the hallway to the basement stairs. It seemed

  that the number of people in the house had doubled while he talked with Edward’s widow. The

  people thinned as he came nearer to the room at the bottom of the house. The house looked

  empty down here as Ray inserted the key into the lock on the door. He waited a moment to

  collect himself as he turned the key and slid the door open.

  Ray reached for a light switch and flipped it up. At first, the light didn’t come on, but it

  slowly warmed up with a soft blue glimmer. Ray entered the room and locked the door carefully

  behind him. The light reached a very weak peak and remained rather dim, adding just a sparse

  amount of color to the room. Overall, he could see to get around, but the room had no bright

  lights inside at all.

  A Novel by Brett Barney Remember Me?

  © 1995 Brett Barney Literary Page 110

  Ray looked over the technical instruments throughout the room. Along the wall sat

  several special monitors, including a fetal heart monitor. The low humming of motors from

  various pumps created a constant harmony, and Ray could read the pressures on the gauges

  connected to each pump.

  There was also a large bench top with what looked like a huge fishtank sitting on it. A

  heavy cover blanketed the container and Ray knew immediately that he had located the artificial

  womb. All the wires and hoses flowed beneath the cover.

  Several digital monitors next to the device measured the temperature and pH of the

  solution inside. A shelf nearby held a variety of small jars labeled as different chemicals. The

  room had a familiar hospital sort of odor about it and a carefully controlled internal heating

  device that kept it comfortable. An open logbook sat before the device and Ray sat down to look

  it over.

  “... Friday, July 12, 1976, 700 a.m.

  Only three days until separation of the infant from the artificial womb. The child seems to

  be responding very well, but sometimes kicks the glass of the tank. There appears no stimuli to

  force itself into labor. This has been a concern of mine.

  Heart rate remains the same and the infant still seems very active for a third trimester

  child. I try to keep the tank covered as much as possible. She opens her eyes often and looks

  around at things. I sometimes worry that this might cause problems for her and it’s outside my

  field of study to allow her to do this.

  I’m confident that there will be no problems with the separation from the artificial womb.

  I want to keep the child in the device until it reaches its original due date. This will assure the

  scientific community that this is completely feasible and didn’t fail towards the end of the

  pregnancy.

  I’ll give Ray a call this evening, and ask him if he would like to come down to aid me in

  the removal of the child, and to witness the event. I will also film the event...”

  Ray looked over at the heart monitor and noticed it still recorded a heartbeat. He stared at

  the cover over the tank for a long time before he could bring himself to remove it. The

  anticipation overwhelmed him, but the fear of what he might find made him hold back. He

  finally set the cover to the side of the bench top and looked inside the device.

  Ray had delivered many children during his lifetime. He couldn’t count the number of

  Cesarean sections he had performed He had seen many children under many circumstances at

  this stage of pregnancy, but nothing had prepared him for the sight before him.

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  The child looked extremely healthy to Ray. Edward had filled the tank with liquid,

  probably something similar to amniotic fluid. A large foam pad covered the top of the tank and

  kept the infant from floating to the surface and coming into contact with the air.

  The infant floated against the pad high above the bottom of the tank. The child held her

  eyes open, staring directly back at Ray. Ray stared in astonishment for several seconds before

  cracking a smile. “The mad genius actually did it,” Ray whispered aloud to himself.

  Ray continued to watch the child moving around in her environment. She reached her

  arms out several times at the light. A special net several inches from the glass kept the child from

  bumping against the outside structure.

  Edward had pulled the net tightly and designed the structure in a fashion making it

  impossible for the infant to become strangled inside. The child seemed rather familiar with the

  structure as it kicked around t
he tank and moved over towards the light.

  Ray remained entranced by the sight of the child. Edward had fused the child’s umbilical

  cord to the artificial placenta of the device. A series of tubes and wires came out of the placenta

  at the top of the tank and separated out into a maze of machines and instruments.

  The instruments did everything from dialysis to adding oxygen to the infant’s blood. Ray

  had worked with many of the instruments before, but hadn’t ever seen a setup as complex as this

  before. He recalled how Edward only brought several instruments and a smaller sized tank to the

  clinic when they had removed the child from its mother. Here before him now, it all looked

  much more complex.

  Ray watched in wonder for some time before replacing the cover over top of the device.

  As he sat thinking about what he had just witnessed, he noticed a light and constant thumping

  sound, almost like a blown speaker.

  He followed the sound with his ear until he located the stereo that sat beside him on the

  desktop. Ray laughed as he realized the reasoning behind it.

  Edward had designed a small electric device to simulate the sound of a human heart. Ray

  turned on the stereo and found the light sounds of symphony playing at a low volume. The

  peacefulness of the music calmed Ray as he considered his options.

  Ray found the telephone on a bench top behind him and dialed home to his wife. A

  frenzy of thoughts filled his head as he tried to find the words to explain the situation to his wife.

  When the call connected, he found himself still speechless.

  “Hello,” answered the tender voice of his wife on the end of the line.

  “Hello dear, this is Ray.”

  “Ray,” exclaimed the worried woman. “What happened, where are you? Mary said

  somebody died.”

  “Yes dear, Edward Penn died this afternoon.”

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  © 1995 Brett Barney Literary Page 112

  “Really? What happened to him, Ray?”

  “He was killed in a car accident.”

  “Oh, that’s terrible.”

  “I know dear,” spoke Ray. “Believe me, you couldn’t be as shocked as I was to hear it.

  You’re probably wondering why I drove down here right after I found out.”

  “It did cross my mind, Ray,” Alice confessed. “I know you were really good friends in

  college and that you saw him just a few months ago, but it doesn’t make sense to drive out there

  all of a sudden like this. You hardly even know his family.”

  “There’s a lot more to it than just that,” explained Ray. “I just wanted to let you know

  that everything’s all right. We’ll have to sit down and have a serious talk when I get home

  tonight, Alice.”

  “Is something wrong, Ray?”

  “It’s a really long story, Alice. I promise I’ll tell you everything when I get home

  tonight.”

  “All right, Ray.”

  “Alice, I really love you. You know me better than anyone and I like to think I know you

  better than anyone. Prepare yourself for a big shock. As soon as I can get everything tied up here,

  I’ll come right home. It might be a little while. I’m really going to need your support on this

  one.”

  “About how long, Ray?”

  “I have to read through some of Edward’s books before I can do anything and I have to

  do it right away, a child’s life depends on it.”

  “Take your time, Ray, I’ll still be here waiting for you.”

  “I love you, Alice, you know that.”

  “I know, Ray,” she replied in a soft and calming voice. “I know.”

  Ray hung up the phone and began searching through the library of books Edward had in

  the small laboratory. Ray turned on a reading lamp and sat down to go through it.

  Ray walked up the stairs of the house many hours later. The number of people in the

  house had dwindled considerably. Ray recognized the sister who had opened the door for him.

  She sat with Cheryl all alone in the living room. Cheryl looked up with intrigue at her husband’s

  old friend.

  “Was everything all right, Ray?” she asked in a concerned tone.

  “Everything is just fine, Cheryl. Your husband’s work is still in excellent condition.”

  “Wonderful,” she uttered with a sigh of relief. “You were down there for so long, I was

  beginning to worry. I don’t want his final dream to be destroyed.”

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  © 1995 Brett Barney Literary Page 113

  “Don’t worry about it, Mrs. Penn. Everything will be just fine. I’ll need to remove some

  of his books tonight. I’ll take some of the equipment home with me this evening. It might take

  several months before I can write things up to be published. I’m working with only a little bit

  more knowledge on the subject than you have.”

  “That’s fine, Ray,” Cheryl assured him. “My only worry was that something might go

  wrong to destroy his dream. Edward kept much of his work to himself. I know you don’t have an

  easy task ahead of you. I’m going to get some rest now. If you would like, I can get some of the

  neighbors to help you move things out of the laboratory.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I need to keep things as sterile down there as possible. I’ll have

  to come back again next week to pick up the rest of the equipment he has down there.”

  “Come back at your convenience, or I’ll just see you at the funeral.”

  “We’ll be there, Cheryl.”

  “Well, I’m going to help her get to sleep,” muttered the sister who had remained silent

  until now. “Excuse us please.”

  Ray watched the two women walk down the hallway to the master bedroom and

  disappear inside. He looked around the house to make sure that everything was clear. A clock on

  the wall read 230 and he knew he wouldn’t reach home before five.

  Ray walked back down to the laboratory and washed his hands thoroughly in the sink. He

  had found the sterilized gloves which Edward used to work in the tank and the device to cut the

  umbilical cord. He prepared himself to begin the procedure, confident since reading through

  what Edward had written about the procedure.

  Ray adjusted the various instruments to the settings Edward had listed in his literature.

  He found the drugs that Edward felt needed to be administered into the child and injected them

  into the lines leading to the cord.

  Overall, the procedure went quite well. Within minutes, Ray held the child high above

  the tank and had clamped the cord. The child gave out several small cries as she began breathing

  on her own. Ray washed her off with sterilized gauze and wrapped her in a warm blanket and a

  diaper. He cut the cord behind the clamp and set the child in the small incubator sitting to the

  side of the instruments.

  The child responded well to her new environment, looking around the room with a new

  curiosity. Ray placed several drops in each eye to protect them from the light and injected her

  with some vitamin K. He began administering some food through a bottle to the child and soon

  found himself changing the diaper on the baby’s bottom.

  Within an hour of the procedure, Ray had removed all the books and equipment he would

  need for the first few days for the child, and placed them in the trunk of his car. He set up his

  child’s c
ar seat in the front of the car where he could watch the child and packed her tightly

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  © 1995 Brett Barney Literary Page 114

  inside. The warm night air and the solitude supplied him with an opportune moment and he left

  the house without alerting anyone as to what had just happened.

  As Ray began the trip home, he turned on some music for the child that sat next to him

  staring back. The child seemed remarkably quiet and calm. He knew that the child had

  experienced one of the least stressful deliveries possible and probably experienced no pain right

  now. Ray also noticed a strange feeling coming over him. He felt quite close to this child right

  now, almost like a father.

  A Novel by Brett Barney Remember Me?

  © 1995 Brett Barney Literary Page 115

  Chapter Seven

  Margaret stopped her car in the driveway and gave the house a long look. She lived in a

  large home, and there were many rooms. Most of the windows looked dark this late, except for

  the living room. Her parents were there, probably waiting for her. She knew she had a lecture in

  her immediate future.

  Margaret walked into the quiet house and prepared to face her parents. She didn’t know

  how she would react, now that she knew what she did about them. They sat on separate sofas,

  waiting for her arrival as she walked towards the kitchen. That wasn’t a good sign. Usually if

  they sat on separate sofas, it meant the lecture would take a while. They looked up at her and she

  knew immediately that she had upset them.

  “Where have you been?” asked her mother. ”You’ve worried us sick.”

  “I went for a drive on the mountainside to think things over for a while,” Margaret

  answered. “I was sitting home this afternoon, and got thinking about how I’ll be leaving home

  soon, and I guess I just got a little bit scared. I’ve never been on my own before and I’m worried

  about how I’ll do in college. I guess it just hit me all of a sudden this afternoon, and I wanted to

  run away for a while to get some fresh air.”

  The level of her mother’s anger decreased drastically, but Margaret could tell that she

  remained upset. Her father sat quietly, allowing her mother to take charge of the scolding. He sat

  beside the soft reading lamp and held a book in his hands which he had used to pass the time