• Chapter 17: The Waiting Room

    Kauri awoke, not entirely sure why her alarm had gone off at 9 on a Saturday. Oh, right, Today’s my doctor’s appointment. She quickly got ready and stepped into the crisp air of the upcoming October. She knew it was finally fall by the cool air and gentle winds all around her. She walked out to the road to see Nancy’s van with Cameron in the back seat. She quickly assumed the front seat had been saved for her and Nancy probably wanted to tell her about children.
    She climbed in and was welcomed by Nancy’s warm smile. “Are you ready for your first appointment?” Nancy politely asked.
    “If I wasn’t, would you take me back to my tent?”
    “No, I wouldn’t,” Nancy said after she laughed at Kauri’s insecurity of doctors.
    “Are they going to put any needles in me? I’m really scared of needles,” Kauri asked with a frightened look in her eye.
    “At two months? Of course not. They’ll probably ask you what has happened with your pregnancy so far, and then they might do a small ultrasound. Nothing to worry about, it will be really minor,” Nancy assured the frightened girl in the passengers seat.
    Kauri sat quietly, listening to Cameron and Nancy, sometimes giving them short and simple answers such as “Yes”, “No”, and “Ok.” She was too nervous to talk too much. She was afraid that the doctor would go to take the ultrasound and there be something wrong with the baby. She was afraid of miscarriage, too. She had gone through way too much in the past two months to loose her baby now. Of all the things that crossed her mind, none of them included what was about to happen.
    The maroon van pulled into the parking lot and Kauri stepped out. She walked next to Cameron, and they walked a little ways behind Nancy since she had to check in at the desk and they had time to kill. Cameron took a look at Kauri and began to talk to her after a moment or two.
    “Are you alright? You’re being quiet and you keep drifting off,” he informed her.
    “Huh? Oh, I’m fine. It’s just that, it’s been a really long time since I’ve been to the doctor’s, and I’ve never been to a pregnancy doctor.”
    “Oh, I’m sure it’ll be just fine. You’ve been pretty healthy, except for minor things. I’m sure no bad news will come.”
    “Well, it’s the minor things I’m worried about. Sometimes minor things grow and become the biggest problems of your life.” Kauri paused for a moment as they were now sitting in the waiting room. Nancy had taken a spot across the room, noticing they were in intense conversation. “I don’t think I can be a parent. I give up. I’m about to just ask for an abortion.”
    “You can’t have an abortion! We both have agreed that’s wrong. Remember the conversations we’ve had at lunch?”
    What he said was completely true. Cameron, Hanna, Carrie and Kauri had spent their time talking about abortion, and how they were against it. “Yea, but we all decided that if the girl was raped, it was alright. It’s not my fault. It’s wrong if you chose to, but I didn’t.” What Kauri just said was also completely correct, too.
    “So that’s it then? After all you’ve done for that child, and your going to kill it? You’re going to make sure a child never get a chance to live just because you’re tired of dealing with it? It’s finally straight in everyone’s minds what happened, you’re finally used to the tent, you’re bruises are gone, and you want to kill it already. It’s only been there for 2 months, and you’re tired of it?” Cameron asked, obviously upset with Kauri.
    Kauri felt ashamed that the thought had even crossed her mind. It wasn’t its fault she was raped, so why should it die? She kept her eyes down on her lap, not wanting to look Cameron in the eye. “You’re right. I’m sorry I even thought about it. I promise I won’t do it, and I won’t even think about it.”
    “Kau…. Kauri? Kauri Shivalsip. The doctor is ready,” the woman stumbled over Kauri’s odd name.