HIGHTAIN

Monday—November  21, 2016

            “Tom, I’m sorry.  Words are inadequate, I realize that.  And we continue to offer our deepest condolences...”

            Les Wesmore and Tom MacKay were alone in the director’s office.  The physician was standing behind his desk.  Tom—across the room by the windows—was looking out at the city, the mountains, the setting sun. 

            “In hindsight,” resumed Wesmore, “The argument could be made that we erred.  If we had only been more instinctive of the apparent fanatical environment.  In retrospect, enhanced safeguards were warranted...                   

            “And, Tom, I’m sorry to still report that we still don’t know who is responsible—who it was who hired those terrorists.  The pilot and the one other who survived are still refusing to cooperate. But, trust me—we will reach the truth...   

            “Tom, it’s my hope that you honestly believe that we did everything we could to try and save them—the twins.  The boys.  But, we can be grateful for Allanna.”

            Tom MacKay had been voicelessly listening to Wesmore in what was an attempt to rationalize what had happened.  And, the longer the physician spoke, the more furious the young man was becoming.  He spun towards Wesmore. 

            “Grateful for Allanna?  Why don’t you drive down to the city and share your words of inspiration with her over at the hospital.  Her beautiful face bruised and battered and burned.  Fractured ribs, a broken arm, all sorts of internal injuries.  No chance of ever again carrying another child.  But other than those things, Allanna made it through our little adventure amazingly well!  Sure, Wesmore—go visit her.  Because I’m sure your stellar bedside manner would really cheer her!”

Hearing all that, Wesmore lowered his head.  

            Awkward silence.                                                  

            Tom turned his wrist, and tapped his watch.  Noting the time, he started for the door.  “Excuse me, sir—Grace has been stuck with the sitter all day…I’m going to go spend some time with my little girl before I tuck her into bed.”

The door slammed, leaving the physician alone in the office.

Wesmore sat down at his desk. 

He folded his hands in front himself…

It wasn’t the right moment to bring it up—to approach Tom about it.  

That is, to appeal to Tom for him to continue on as part of the project.  Allanna wasn’t due to be discharged for another week, so the MacKays would be around for at least that long.  Therefore, Wesmore could afford to wait a few days before he had his talk with Tom about staying.  By then, Allanna would be up and around—and hopefully, foul feelings would have mellowed...

            To Wesmore’s thinking, his proposition was reasonable.  He wouldn’t even request that Tom and his family reside at Hightain.  Instead, they were welcome to return to Maine—and Tom could then fly out by himself for several days each month. And if Tom MacKay rejected the idea of any further volunteer work, Wesmore would entice the young man by offering him lucrative financial incentives. True, there was no money formally budgeted for such, but Wesmore had access to a substantial discretionary fund—and he would have no problem about using some of the cash to compensate the MacKays.

            Still, the physician was debating over how much of the completed research should initially be disclosed to Tom.  Perhaps, it could follow something along these lines:                                       

Tom, it’s true that Allanna will  never again conceive.  But on the upside, our research has profited immensely because of both of your participations here.  Primarily because of you two, for one we now are convinced that the fertility malfunction is in some way tied to the human male—and  that the female is the non-factor.  What we now hold to be true is that women are as fertile as they’ve ever been, and that it’s the males of the human species—who for some still undetected reason—are carriers of the infertility factor.  You are the factor, Tom—not Allanna.  Because—as of this moment downstairs in a freezer unit—are stored a total of  ten embryos from female donors.  From women ranging in age from thirteen years to forty-five.  Each of these embryos was conceived in-vitro—all of them were successfully fertilized by using you...

            The more Wesmore pondered it, the more he was convinced that such was the sum total of what Tom should be told.  No, Tom would not be told that two of the embryos he had fathered had already been successfully replanted in two unrelated females.  And, that these two women were now respectively three and four weeks pregnant.