Rivers seemed genuinely puzzled. 'What's the difference?'
'It's the difference between acceding to transoption and demanding abortion. It's the difference between expelling a fetus and killing it. It's the difference...' she searched for the concept, 'between abandonment and infanticide. One allows the possibility of rescue. The other takes an active hand in making rescue impossible. That is the difference between transoption and abortion.' Fletcher shook her head. 'No. If I believed that Valerie was under some sort of obligation to care for Renata, I would never have performed the transoption. There are some rights that you must recognize whether you approve of them or not. A woman has a right at any point to abandon her child. Anything less would be slavery. She has no right, though, to kill that child. And I have every right to take in an abandoned child of any age.'
'We'll be right back,' Rivers said to the camera. When the red light flicked off, he turned to Fletcher and smiled. 'Well done. If I could have you move down one seat, we'll get into a discussion with Ms. Burke-'
'Sorry.' Evelyn stood, removing her microphone to lay it on the chair. 'I made my point. I'm not going to endure their abuse.'
'Why not? I mean, they aren't here to abuse you. They just want their points of view aired, too.'
'Then air them. You don't need me for that. Theirs are the same viewpoints that have been aired for centuries: slavery for women or death for infants. Have fun.' She stepped off the risers. A voice over the loudspeaker demanded to know what was going on.
Rivers sat back in his chair. 'People might draw the wrong inference if you're not here after the commercials.'
She turned to face him. 'If my words didn't convince them of anything, neither would my forbearance.'
Rivers raised a hand in defeat. 'Have a nice day.'
'
The door to Terry Johnson's office swung open. Dr. Fletcher stood there, staring at the cramped enclosure. Her eyes nar-rowed, focusing in on Terry behind the small grey military-surplus desk.
'Don't you ever put me on one of those things again,' she said. He looked at her with a merry expression. 'You were great,' he said. 'A few more of those and you'll have the press in your pocket.'
'I'm a doctor. I have to keep my pockets clean.'
'It's the doctor part we've got to worry about.' He pulled a small sheaf of papers from under a coffee cup. 'BMQA.' He pronounced it Bumqua.
She took the pages from him and looked them over. Her eyes revealed the pain the words caused.
'It's only a temporary suspension,' he said.
Fletcher reached inside her jacket for her pack of Defiants. 'Effectively permanent if they sit on their duffs and do noth-ing else. I could have been convicted of malpractice and man-slaughter, and they'd take years to suspend me. Get a little publicity, though, and pow.'
Terry moved quickly with the table lighter to strike up a flame for her. She took a long drag on the cigarette without even a thanks for the light. Her gaze fixed upon some distant vista outside his window, even though the view stopped four feet across at the masonry of another drab Long Beach building. Johnson filled the silent void. 'Nurse Dyer was flat out fired as well as having her credentials pulled.'
'She told me she's moving back to San Francisco.' The ciga-rette glowed orange at her fingertips. 'I guess I'm available for lecture tours.'
'Don't let it get you down. If we can win the trial, we can file-'
'I can't bother thinking that far ahead. I've got to arrange something for Renata.' She blew a cloud of smoke off to the side. 'May I use your phone?'
'Sure.'
She called the hospital and paged their best pediatrician, who, though he was not a favorite of Dr. Lawrence's, carried considerable clout. He agreed to take over Renata's case, even giving Fletcher a brief rundown on her current condition.
'Look, Lon,' she said. 'All I have left is my personal pager. I'm sure Lawrence's shut my hospital one down. If her stem cells kick in or if her condition declines, let me know right away.'
'In the same breath I'm telling the Chandlers,' said a reso-nant voice on the other end.
