by Betty Smith
his revolving chair before his rolltop deals, tilt the chair
back, put his finger tips together and confer with his
pictured classmates. It sort of cleared his
mind straightened things out for him. He silently
addressed his class after Mary had left.
Gentlemen, diagnosis clearly indicates that a therapeutic
abortion is indicated in the case of the patient, Mary Moore.
The procedure is as follows, gentlemen: Two or more
physicians most be in agreement after exa,nination that the
pregnancy should be terminated. Under prope' conditions an
abo/tion is as safe as a to7?silectomy.
'4 question, Ml. Levine'
(He often used this device to examine heath sides of a
situation. He listened intently to the man in the last
roNN, second front the right. Levine had been the class
heckler.)
A question, Doctor. Hits anyone ever called you in for
Co71sultation? Do you know anyofZc YOZ/ Pallid call in?
No. YOU are not that kind of a doctor.
I could do it on my own, Mr. I.evil/e.
That would be illegal, I )octor.
True. Besides the patien would i70t c oasent. Her religion,
you |,Z?07W.
For the sake of argzcmef7t, Doctor: Szcppose she did
consent and you aborted her and something we7 t wrong,
went then? Mawslazcghter, Doctor. Manslaughter.
Hard to prove, Mr. LevJne. Loopholes in t/.'e law. I acted
in the best interests . . . post mortem indicated death was
inevitable if pregnancy was allowed to come to childbirth....
You might get ok. Surf. But you'd nevei- he able to
practice again.
Gentlemen, you have heard Alr. Levine. .~llr. T.evine is
correct 071 all points. Another question', Mr. T.rvi7?e?
Yes. What are you going to do?
Doctor Scalani had to think for a n~ornent. Back in
Coo B.C'., gentlemen, a doctor named Hippocrates said:
"Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease."
Roughly translated, that means let nature tale its course. I
shall count 0?7 natural f orces.
What else did Hippocrates say, Doctor?
Doctor Scalani sighed. I ou know it as .:ell as I do.
F/,, I
"I will not give to a woman any instrument to produce
abortion."
He stood up. That was right ii, boo B.C., and it's just as
right in
9/0 A.D. We are agreed, I believe, that abortion is against
ethics and religion. It is a sin against life against having the
chance for a life to be born. That is all, gentlemen.
He put his hands in his pockets and stood looking out
of his store window. He wished it were Sunday so that he
could go to Dodie's house.
I wonder whatever l~eem~te of I evine, he thought idly.
Lottie gave Maggie-Now instructions: "When your
mother gets ready to go to the hospital, I want you to ring
me up right away. Hear? llight away. I got a surprise for
her I'm saving till the minute her labor starts. Did you
ever telephone before?"
"No."
"Here's what you do You go to a store where there's a
phone. You ask Central to give you this number I wrote
down. Then you put a nickel in the hole. Keep a nickel
handy. When the candy-store man down by the corner
says, hello, you say, Will you call Mrs. Timothy Shaven to
the phone? Any hour of the day or night he'll come and
get me because I'm going to give him a dollar when you
call up."
A few weeks later, diary was awakened by the rupturing
of the bag of waters. She was alone in the bed; Pat had
taken to sleeping on the lounge in the front room during
the past week because Mary was so big and twisted and
turned all night trying to get into a comfortable position
and she worried about keeping Pat awake.
Mary lay still awhile, knowing her time had come. It will
be hard, I know, she thought. It was hard when
Maggie-Now . . . but when it was over and they put her in
my arms, I f argot. I was so happy. It will be the same again.
I'll forget the pain. I hope I have a son. Patrick would be
pleased. He said he doesn't care but all men want a son.
And won't Maggie-Now be happy. It's foolish of me to be
afraid....
But she found she was trembling. She got up and
changed the linen on the bed, then she went to wake her
daughter. She looked
t'341
down on her. In sleep, the girl's face still had the
lineaments of childhood. She grasped the girl's bare
forearm gently, because, even though Maggie-NoNv didn't
have red hair, she had the skin that went with red hair
and she bruised easily.
"Wake up, dear. I have to go to the hospital."
Maggie-Now was awake instantly. She threw- her clothes
on. 'I'll go wake up Papa."
"No, let him sleep a while longer. It's going to be hard
Otl him anyhow and I want to put it off as long as
possible. No use both of us suffering." She thought of the
girl. "I know vou don't n~itld helping me. Rut your
father's different."
Maggie-Now put her arms around her mother. "Don't go
to the hospital, Mama. H as e the bahN home w here I
can take care of
you. "
"It's hefter that I go to the hospital. Doctor Scala;li had
told her it was necessary in case of surgery. "Now you get
the buns and a morning paper for your father to take his
mind off things and stop at Doctor Scalani's first and tell
him."
Maggie-Now tapped at ~ he doctor's door. The shade
was down. It shot up a second after her knock. He was in
his pajamas and the couch where he had been sleeping
was rumpled with sheets and blanket. He assured
Maggie-Now that he'd be at the hospital waiting for her
mother. 1 le shut the door and pulled the shade down
again.
He took a brand-rev shirt front a drawer. Dodie had
made it for him as a Christmas present. He buttoned it
up. The sleeves were a little long. He put sleeve garters on
to pull up the sleeves. Dodie had made the garters for him
as a birthday gift. He fastened on a stiff collar with a gold
collar button that Dodie had given him when they first
started going together. He knotted on a black knit tie also
made by Dodie for some anniversary or other. He put on
the best of his two suits. It was the first time he had ever
treated one of his patients at the hospital and he wanted
to look nice and make a good impression on the nurses
and doctors.
It was very early in tl,e morning and the bakery was still
closed but Mrs. Luthlen has carrying buns from the back
and putting them in the showcase. But she opened the
door for Nlaggie-NoNv. The girl told her about her
mother and asked foi
1 I'; 1
ten cents' worth of sugar butts. Th
e woman filled a bag to
overflowing with buns hot from the oven. She pushed
MaggieNow's dime back.
"On a day like this, I can treat a good customer. Tell
your mama I'll be thinking of her. And let me know,
Maggie-Now."
She put a penny on the newsstand and picked up a
Journal and went into the candy store and asked to use
the telephone. She got the number and shouted through
the mouthpiece that she had to speak to lairs. Timothy
Shavv n. It took hours, it seemed, before Lottie ;mswered.
"Aunt I,ottie! Aunt Lottie! Can you hear me?"
"Don't holler, girlie, l ain't deer yet." Maggie-Now told
her the news. She wanted details but Maggie-Now didn't
have any to tell. "Well, listen good, Maggie-Now.
Gracie y on know, Widdy's wife? Well she gave birth to
twins three weeks and two days ago. I've been saving it as
a surprise for your mother. I know she's nervous so I
thought if she finds out just before how little and skinny
Gracie is and how she was in labor only two hours, it
might make her feel better. You tell her vv hat I said,
hear? About how skinny Grat ie is and only two hours .
. . and she was up the third day."
"What's their names, Aunt Lottie? "
"Well, I'll tell you," said Lottie.
Maggie-Now groaned. She knew Lottie. She knew Lottie
would string out the story. Maggie-Now was nervous. She
was afraid her mother would have the baby while she was
phoning. "They're here with me right now," said Lottie.
"Widdy and Gracie went over to Manhattan last night and
didn't . . ."
"Please, Aunt Lottie, what's their names? Mama will ask
me."
"Well, I wanted to name them Timmy and Jimmy. I
think that's cunning, don't you?"
"Is that their names?"
"Wait. Widdy wanted to call them Ike and Mike. You
know. Because they look alike?"
"I haven't got much time, Aunt Lottie."
"Well, Father Shaley got insulted about Mike and Ike.
He said he wouldn't christen them that. Oh, my! He gave
Widdy Hail Columbia."
"I'll call you up later, Aunt Lottie." ~ 1,6]
"Wait! Do you know what they finally named them?"
"Put another coin in the slot, please," droned the operator.
"I got to go, Aunt Lottie."
"Wait! They finally named one De Witt and the other
Clinton."
"Put another coin . . .''
"Good-by, Aunt Lottie."
"Listen! Tell your mother not to be brave. Tell her to
give in and holler. You don't holler, they think it don't
hurt. They don't do nothing. Tell her to holler...."
The phone went dead. Maggie-Now was sweating and
the warm buns were crushed out of shape because she had
held the bag so tight against her. \rhen she got home, her
father was up and dressed. Her mother was very nervous
and Pat had been trying to calm her down.
"If you'd only stop telling me it's going to be all right .
. . If you'd only stop talking," she said. Maggie-Now was
astonished. She had always known her mother as kind and
considerate. She'd never heard her speak that way.
"Where have you been so long?" she asked Maggie-Now
fretfully.
"I promised to call up Aunt Lottie because she had a
surprise for you. Gracie and Widdy had twins."
Mary's face smoothed out. She smiled and sat down.
"Oh, isn't that nice!"
"She said to tell you that you know how skinny and
nervous Gracie is and Gracie had an easy time. In labor
only two hours, Aunt Lottie said."
"Did she S.ly that?"
"Yes, and she was out of bed in three days."
"My, that makes me feel better. What did they name
them?"
"De Witt and Clinton," said Maggie-Now. Mary smiled
again.
"That Big Red," burst out Pat. "That Timothy Shawn.
Still butting in. Here," he said to Maggie-Now, "I been
trying to quiet down your mother since you went to the
store. She won't listen to me. But let her hear about Big
Red's grandchildren . . ."
"That's all right, Patrick," said Mary absently. She patted
his arm and then began giving nervous instructions as she
put her hat on.
"Keep the house up, Maggie-Now, so that it's nice and
clean
[ ~37 ]
when I come back with the baby. And see that your father
has a hot supper when he comes home.... Oh, Maggie,
how could I get along without you! And make your
father's coffee strong in the morning. And Sunday, go
over and see Lottie. And keep off the streets while loll
away."
i'Oh, Mama, now . . "
"And Patrick," continued Mary in an offhand way, "I
want VOU to deed over this Louse to Maggie-Now when
she marries."
"We'll talk about that when the time comes," he said.
She held his arm in a tight clutch. "Promise me. Patrick!"
"I will do so, Mary,' he said.
"You heard your father, Maggrie-.N'oN~ '
"Yes, Mama."
"Remember. He promised.'
She gave the girl a little black bankbook. "When the
tenants pay the rent, put the m`~neN: iT1 the hank. It
must he saved for taxes and interest."
"I know, Mama."
Mary started to put her gloves on and a pain caught
her. She dropped her gloves and held on to the hack of a
chair. Thev watched for an agonizing moment.
"There!" said Mary. "That was the first one." Maggie-No
put her gloves on for her. lTary looked around vaguely.
"I didn't get all the ironing done," she fretted.
"Now, Mama, I'll finish it," said Maggie-Now. "Don't
worrNabout a thing. I'll take good care of Papa and the
house will be shining clean for you when N'OU come
back."
Mary started trembling violently when she walked into
the hospital. 1~- was gloomy and smelled of sickness.
The downstairs windows were barred. People stood in line
before a nurse's desk waiting to be admitted or treated.
Mary was told to sit on a bench along the wall until her
turn came. She sat between her husband and her
daughter. Pat sat- with his head down, his hands holding
his hat between his knees. Maggie-Now pulled her
mother's arm through hers and held it tightly.
The nurse finished filling out an old man's card. She
tapped on a hell and an orderly came to take him to a
ward. The old man was weeping.
~ ',y 1
"I will never come out alive," he wept. "No one ever
comes out of here alive."
This was almost true. The poor people were terrified of
the hospital and few entered unless they were at death's
door. So it was logical that few cam' out alive.
They kept Mary waiting there because there were so
many emergency cases that had to be handled
immediately. Childbirth was considered routine not an
emergency. The old man's weeping had unnerved Mary.
She had a sharp
pain and when it had passed she said:
"Patrick. Do something. Please do something!" her voice
was hysterical.
Pat jumped to his fee' and shouted: "Where's that
damned doctor; "
An efficient, middle-aged nun, the steel bows of her
eyeglasses making ridges in her fleshy cheeks on account
of the tightness of her coif, was passing through the room.
She turned and scowled and was about to rebuke Pat
when Doctor Scalani came into the room.
He looked neat and efficient and almost handsome.
Even Mary looked at him in surprise. He was so different
from the last time she had seen him. He spoke
authoritatively to the desk nurse. Mary was admitted imm'
diately. A nurse came with a wheelchair to take her away.
Doctor Scalani told Maggie-Now and her father to go
home. He said he'd let them know....
At the start of Mary'. third day in labor, Doctor Scalani
realized his life's ambition as a doctor. He was given a
consultant a very important consultant indeed the
chief of staff of the hospital, who examined I )octor
Scalani's patient and gave him every professional courtesy,
which made Doctor Scalani feel good. It was a brief
consultation and they were in agreement.
If labor continued to teen, they agreed, the baby would
be born dead. But there was a slight chance that the
mother would live. If they intervened and took the baby
from her, the child would live but the mother, in her
weakened condition, would die.
So, according to the dictates of the religion, they saved
the baby and let the mother die.
1 /,9 ]
She knew she was going to die. She didn't review her ~
hole life as it is said one does at such a time. She had no
last word of wisdom ,r conclusion drawn from living, no
great truth to articulate before she died. She h id no
thorl~,ht save for her new-born SOII. I here was a great
achint, place adhere the child had been torn from her
body. The milk was beginning to fill her breasts. Like a
primitive creature, she whimpered for her young and
wanted to crawl to it. She begged the nurse tic get the
child and put it to her breast. The nurse concealed her
horror v. ith professional briskness.
"After a while," she said briglltly. "After we've rested a
bit. Then we'll bring our b By in." Tile mlrse ran out in
the corridor looking for Doctor Sc~lani. She found Dill.
S!lc s..id: 'She wants to nurse her baby. Isn't that
awf~l`'
"Let her," he said.
"But to let a live, he:iltilV t!.3bN tlLUSi' front a dN in`."
mother! It gives me the creeps."
"Let her have her Lab;. I hat s an order."
"Is it?" She tossed h'r head. '~170u're just an outside
doctor. T don't have to take orde s from y on."
He grabbed her am and held it tight enough to make
her vince. He spoke, putting a space between each word.
"I am the doctor on the case. I an1 divine Noll an order.
Nurse, take the baby to the patient."
"N'es, Doctor," the St1 d.
I~ilere wasn t nlucl1 t Nile. I he!- sent .laggie-N'c'~
to her first "Just act natural," said Doctor Scalani. "That's
always best."
There Noms a screen around Mary's bed. Itlaggie
Now's eves widened in fear u hen she S.ZNV her motller's
waxy-looking face. 'Mama!" she said. "Oh Mama! ' She
started to babble to avoid sobbing. "I got all the boiling
done, Mama. And Papa ate evervthing I cooked. And I
put nets shelf paper . . ." IIary heard nothing ol what she
said.
"The baby," whispered ,NlarN. She tried to pull the
blanket away from his face and couldn't. I~IagDie-NoNv
pulled it hack.
"Oh, isn't he tiny," exclaimed the girl. "Isn't he cute!"
'Take him up," whispered .larv.
"What? "
[ ~401
"Pick him up."
Maggie-Now put the baby in the crook of her left arm.
Instinctively, she held him correctly. His head, not much
bigger than an orange, rested against her breast and went
up and down a little with the beating of her heart. She put
