Meg sat in the waiting room until she called her name, then went to the examination room and changed out of her clothes into the hospital robe, just as she had done last week. She was very round and pregnant now, and her breasts hung large and low over her ball of a stomach.
The nurse dimmed the lights, wheeled out a computer with a huge screen attached, and lubricated Meg's bulging stomach with some blue gel. She put a plastic sensor on her belly and looked up at the shifting images on the screen. Five, ten minutes passed as he slid the tool around and stared at the blurred images, which seemed to make no sense at all.
"I can't tell what you are pregnant with" said Dr Steward slowly.
"This is the second ultrasound, with another machine, to check you pregnancy and I have to say I would believe you are expecting puppies. But that is impossible and you say you are 6 weeks pregnant but I would say you are 12 weeks or more."
The air was heavy with the unnerving reality of her family doctor realizing like Meg that something unnatural is happening.
"Can't I have an abortion?"
"Not without your parent's permission, do you want to get them involved in this?"
"No."
Steward considered her options:
"I could force an immediate caesarean section to cut the 'fetuses' out but that would draw too much attention. The Medical Board would be involved in any decision and the problem that would mean for a career I like very much."
"What do I do?" pleaded Meg.
"You need to move, go missing with some money I can give you. Get these...things out of you and come back. Or you can go back to this Erika and her salve. However given the fact that you are already in so much shit that you need a snorkel I suggest you stay away from that girl and her lotion."
"Dye your hair blue, get some piercings, tattoos and move to Mexico until you give birth."