move with them toward the exit.
'How painful was your bone-marrow transplant?' another woman shouted, jabbing a microphone at Valerie.
'It hurt,' she said. 'It still hurts.'
'Why did you want an abortion?'
'Did you ask your boyfriend's opinion?'
'Do you plan to have other-'
'Hey!' one of them shouted. 'There they are!'
The tide suddenly went out on the ocean of newshounds. Lights and equipment bobbed hastily back toward the court-room to surround the defendants. Ron lowered his arm and walked briskly with Valerie toward the exit. He glanced back at the crowd and smiled. Let him get grilled for a while. Johnson welcomed the barrage. With Evelyn on his left arm and Karen on his right-protected on her other side by David-the young man forced a winning grin onto his face. Inwardly, though, being the center of such a crowd made him nervous.
'Of course we can't read the minds of the jurors,' he said loudly to the microphones, 'but we're certainly putting our point across.'
'What point?' shouted a voice from somewhere in the knot of questions.
'That Dr. Fletcher helped Karen and David Chandler res-cue a defenseless baby from the jaws of death and that they would be better parents than the plaintiffs.'
'Mrs. Chandler,' a blond woman called out. 'Do you feel that carrying Renata to term makes you more of a mother than the woman who conceived her?'
'How did you feel when you found out your blood couldn't save her?'
'Dr. Fletcher! Will Renata survive all this?'
'Will she need more transplants?'
Terry increased his pace in an effort to move toward the exit. It was like moving through the tar pits.
'Please,' he said. 'Let my clients through. Contact me and we'll set up interviews.' His clients stared at him in shock. 'I'll explain over dinner,' he said in low tones. The promise did nothing to abate the storm of interroga-tion. Sighing, he raised his elbow and began his charge.
'
Czernek thought he and Valerie would be safe once past the reporters. Then he saw the crowds outside.
Two lines of picketers, separated by a double line of blue uniforms, shouted at each other and the police. Pro- life to the left, pro-choice to the right. And the police opening a corridor right down the middle.
He was unsure which group would give them worse treat-ment. He read the pro-lifers' signs. If She Hadn't Aborted, This Wouldn't Have Happened
Transoption Is Baby Stealing
Abortion and Transoption: High-Tech Child Abuse
Stop Nazi Experiments! Fletcher = Mengele!
He couldn't tell if they were on his side or not. He scanned the pro-choice side. Transoption Is Not an Option!
Fletcher Steals Our Right to Choose
Women Are Not Cattle
End Reproductive Slavery
Stop Nazi Experiments! Fletcher = Mengele!
