"What happened?"
Beth shrugged and shook her head as her face fell. "Just like I said. Dr. Vodola just came into work one day and said that she was gone. He never talked about a divorce or where she went. It was like poof. She never existed. I know Melanie was upset about how much time he was spending away from the family, but I never thought she'd leave Sawyer."
"What did she look like?"
Her eyebrows drew into each other.
"Don't you all have pictures at the house?"
I shook my head. She pulled out her phone.
"I'll have to go online; it's been probably fifteen years at this point, but there has to be one saved somewhere."
As she was scrolling, my heart raced. I was going to see the woman that I chased away, the woman that left her child in the hands of Dr. Vodola. Finally, Beth handed me her phone. It was a picture of her, Dr. Green, Dr. Vodola, and a woman with brown hair. There was less grey in all of their hairs back then, but I could tell it was them. They all had smiling faces as they were sitting around a table at some restaurant. I held the phone in both hands as I stared at the screen. Dr. Vodola had a grin on his face with his arm draped over the woman's shoulders.
"Sawyer looks a little like her." My voice came out softly.
"Does he talk about his mom?"
I shook my head. "Never."
"Poor thing."
As I stared at the woman, she seemed familiar. Those eyes seemed etched into my brain. I narrowed my eyes as I used my fingers to make the image bigger.
"I feel like I've seen her before."
"Probably because Sawyer looks more like his mom than his dad."
"Maybe…"
I handed her the phone back.
"I thought since your cough is long gone that we would take a field trip to the food store so that we could stock up that fridge of yours. What do you think? We'll call it a real-life experience field trip."
I laughed. "If it gets me out of this building, I'm up for anything."
"Go put your shoes on. It'll be our little secret."
I didn't wait for her to change her mind. I slipped on my sneakers. The sweatpants flared out slightly, covering the tops of them. I threw on my coat that sat draped over the chair's back on top of my long sleeve shirt. I followed Beth out of the room and down the hall.
Dr. Green was patting down the band-aid. He put on my bicep then threw the wrapper into the trashcan in the corner. His tablet was on the counter with notes of this visit. He said somehow it looked like my immune system was doing better but still wasn't entirely back to my regular rate.
"You look a lot better."
"Does that mean I can go back to school?"
Dr. Green raised an eyebrow as one corner of his lips curled up.
"Are you not enjoying time with my wife?"
"I am, but…"
My voice trailed off. I'd been in here a month or so, and it was hard to keep track of time. I missed Christmas and New Years' with Sawyer. I'd read the few books I had twice. I could tell you the number of tiles on the ceiling in the hall. Or even the number of steps from my room to the lab and cafeteria.
"I'm only joking. I'd love to say that you're going back, but honestly, I can't promise anything right now."
Dr. Green leaned against the counter.
"Would you like to meet someone?" Dr. Green asked randomly as his hands were in his lab coat pockets.
"Sure?"
"Get dressed, then follow me."
He closed the door. Quickly I threw the robe aside and put my clothes back on. Straightening the bottom of my sweater over my jeans I opened the door to see Dr. Green just standing off to the side. He smiled and continued down the hall. Dr. Green turned into another room, and I nearly passed him. We were in a small room that had a crib. Arching my neck, I tried to see around him. Dr. Vodola was in the room, scribbling on his tablet. I got to the dark crib to see a tiny baby wrapped up with one small blue cap on his head. My chest swelled.
"Is this a clone too?" I asked, my voice barely came out.
Dr. Green nodded. "The second one to have ever survived."
There was another one. I wasn't the only one any longer. I reached out to touch the chubby cheek, and his dark blue eyes opened at me. A gummy mouth opened.
"He started to come to life a little before you went into the hospital. So, he's nearly three months old now. We would have someone take him home, but we decided to keep him here a little longer. We're doing a conference later this week about him."
The baby reached out and wrapped his tiny fingers around one of mine. Had I seen a baby in person before? His hand was warm, and he squirmed.
"He's so little."
The scientists in the room chuckled.
Dr. Green responded. "You were too at one point."
Was this child going to go through the same life that I went through? He had no idea what was in store for him. He was so innocent and unaware. He was so tiny, and to think that he would have to live through these big expectations seemed unreal. I felt terrible for him as he wiggled.
"What's his name?"
"Adam."
I nodded.
"We think we've finally tapped into the key components to have healthy clones." Dr. Vodola spoke up, and I hadn't even noticed that he was in the room.
How many more would there
