Chapter 19. Alice
ALICE
“Do I have to take all my clothes off?”
Jenny said the words with such terror that Alice had the feeling that if she said yes, Jenny might faint on the spot.
“No.” Alice pointed toward the exam table. “Get onto the table and pull your top up a little, so he can see your belly.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” Alice waited until Jenny moved, then stood and grabbed the privacy curtain bundled against the wall, and slid it across its tracks, hiding Jenny.
Alice sat in the chair that Jenny had been using. The doctor’s desk was a mess of files and forms. In the background, paper crinkled as Jenny moved onto the exam table.
“Do I sit or lie down?” Jenny whispered.
“Lie down,” Alice said. “Just, you know, stare at the ceiling.” Where was the doctor’s pen?
He didn’t seem to have a pen holder anywhere.
They were probably in the top drawer. Alice was debating about whether she could open the drawer quietly when the doctor knocked and entered the office.
He nodded at Alice, still with his friendly smile, so Alice assumed he hadn’t discovered in the last couple of minutes that he was about to examine a criminal.
“All right then, Ocean, are you ready?” He set his clipboard down—and on top, a pen.
“Yes.”
The swish of the curtain, the slide of metal rods. The doctor’s reassuring, professional voice. “I’m going to have a listen first, okay? The stethoscope is a bit cold, so you’ll feel that.”
Alice reached across the desk, moving only her arm so the chair didn’t scrape on the floor or squeak. Her fingertips grazed the pen. She leaned forward, extending her hand, until she was able to use the pad of her fingers to roll the pen closer. Now she needed paper.
“Would you like to hear the heartbeat?” the doctor said.
“You can hear it?” Jenny’s voice lifted into pure joy and relief.
“Yes, indeed. Put these in your ears.”
Alice closed her eyes, wished she had a mental privacy curtain to block out memories of her prenatal exams, the exhilaration at hearing those tiny rapid heartbeats, and then the trips to the emergency rooms, squeezing her legs together as if that would stop her body from rejecting the life form growing within.
Don’t think about it. Don’t remember. Just get that paper.
Alice opened her eyes and examined the desk. The prescription pad. No, she couldn’t tear off a piece quietly. She spotted something white and rectangular shaped. An envelope. She softly slid it closer, glancing over her shoulder at the curtain, making sure it was closed.
Now what to write? She had to be fast. She tried to time her pen strokes with the doctor’s voice, moving and shifting her body, coughing, anything to muffle the sound of pen on paper.
Help! We are being held captive in our Winnebago. This girl’s wanted for murder. Her name is Jenny Perron, and her boyfriend is Simon Gray. We are heading east. Tell the police!
Alice wished she knew the RV’s new license plate. How would the police ever find them? It was the summer of the Olympics—the roads and campgrounds were littered with RVs.
“I’m going to gently palpate your belly now.”
Alice slid the envelope with her note under the clipboard, but then she hesitated. He might pick the clipboard up while they were still in the office. She pulled the envelope free and tucked it under the edge of a file folder. Only a white corner was peeking out.
In the background, the doctor was checking Jenny’s blood pressure, while Alice was studying the doctor’s phone on his desk. Oh, how she wished she could pick it up. Her fingers itched. Now the doctor was talking about vitamins. Jenny was asking questions, shy and uncertain.
“We’re all done. Come out when you’re ready.” A swish of the curtain, and the doctor stepped out, then dragged the curtain closed. He sat at his desk and made notes on the clipboard.
“Are you enjoying your holidays?” he said. It took Alice a moment to understand that he was speaking to her, and not Jenny, who was still behind the curtain putting herself together. “My nurse mentioned you’re traveling,” he said. “Terrible news about having your purses stolen.”
“Yes,” Alice managed to answer. “It’s been … an adventure.”
The doctor looked at her. “Do I detect a hint of an American accent?”
Alice was startled. “I’ve spent some time in the US.
My parents were from California.” It was also where Alice was born and had spent her early childhood, until her oldest sister had moved to the Pacific Northwest with her husband.
Alice had followed suit, first for a short stay, and then longer once she’d found work as a school secretary. The rest, as they say, was history.
“But you live in Canada now?”
How to answer? “Yes.”
The curtain swished and Jenny appeared.
“Have a seat,” the doctor said to Jenny, and Alice realized she would have to move because Jenny should be the closest. Alice got to her feet and walked to the chair on the other side of the office.
Jenny sat down, her cheeks pink, and her eyes glancing at the doctor, then away.
Alice wondered if maybe Jenny had a religious upbringing, but she hadn’t heard her referencing God or Jesus, and she’d never said prayers before they ate.
Considering she was a criminal and pregnant, even if she had been raised religious, she’d clearly strayed from the fold.
The doctor was talking to Jenny about vitamins. “I think I have a pamphlet here.” He shifted papers around on his desk, shuffling and sliding. Alice held her breath. “Hmm. I’ll get you one.” He stood and gestured for Alice and Jenny to wait. “I’ll just be a moment.”
Alice had to fight all her reflexes to look at the desk. Was the envelope in clear view now? At the moment, Jenny was staring at her lap, but Alice needed to keep her distracted.
“So, it’s good news. The baby’s fine.”
“Yes.” Jenny lifted her head. “I heard the heartbeat.” Her face had turned from embarrassed to awed. “It’s amazing.” She paused, and softly added, “I think it’s a girl.”
“That’s wonderful.” How long was the doctor going to be?
“Yeah.” She picked at the edge of her nail, then, as though catching herself, perhaps hearing an echo of a familiar admonishment, she pulled her hands apart and placed one on the corner of the desk, removing the temptation, but now closer to the envelope.
She glanced at Alice, then seemed to hesitate, searching Alice’s face, like she saw something there, saw the fear.
Alice tried for a smile and realized that was worse.
Her smiling at Jenny was suspicious behavior.
She had gone too far the other way. Jenny looked down at Alice’s lap, then around the room, hunting for the source of Alice’s strange behavior.
Her gaze skipped across the shelves of books and landed on the desk.
Alice tried to follow the direction of her eyes.
Maybe she wouldn’t see it. Maybe it would just look like a doctor’s note.
Jenny reached out and placed a finger on the corner of the envelope. She dragged it toward her, paused to read. Footsteps in the hall. The doctor was coming back. Jenny lifted the envelope and folded it into her palm, then hid her hand in her lap at the same time the door opened.
“Lots of good information in these.” The doctor handed Jenny a couple of pamphlets. She took them with her free hand. “You should be able to find the vitamins at any drugstore.”
“Thank you,” Jenny said. “You’ve been very kind.”
“It’s always a pleasure to give good news. Now remember, you need to rest, and if the bleeding increases or if you’re having more pain, go to the closest emergency room. I know you’re traveling, but you might want to consider staying in one spot for another night or two.”
“Okay.”
The doctor turned to look at Alice. “Take care of this girl.”
Alice nodded and forced her lips into a smile.
“Make sure you’re eating lots of vegetables and fruit,” he said to Jenny. “You’re in luck. So much is in season right now.”
“We’ll stop at a farmer’s market,” Alice said, calm as could be on their lovely holiday.
Jenny, now holding her gaze, said, “That’s a good idea.” She turned to look at the doctor. “My aunt is a wonderful cook. We are blessed every day, always a surprise.”
Was Jenny being sarcastic? Alice was caught off guard. Jenny had been defensive, scared, indignant, and desperate, but she hadn’t ever been cutting.
Jenny rose to her feet, Alice following. They trailed after the doctor to the waiting room, where they said their final pleasantries. Jenny pushed open the door and they stood blinking in the direct sunny heat of midday. Around them, the Bavarian theme was even more incongruent.
“He said I can buy the vitamins at a drugstore.” Jenny’s voice was vaguely disconnected, which troubled Alice, who was already deeply troubled.
“Do you want to find one?”
“Not now. I don’t want to see more people.”
Jenny began walking down the sidewalk, Alice beside her. Jenny stopped by a garbage can. She slid the pamphlets into her purse, then ripped the envelope with Alice’s note in half, again and again, until it was confetti that she let float into the garbage can. She looked at Alice.
“That’s why you offered to come. You wanted to find a way to escape.”
Alice didn’t speak. There was no reason to repeat the obvious. The proof was in the paper, which was now at the bottom of the garbage, along with their chance at freedom.
“You hate me,” Jenny said.
This Alice felt she could answer. “No. I don’t.”
“You should.” Jenny turned. “Come on. Simon will be worried if we take too long.”
“Are you going to tell him?”
Jenny kept walking. “No.”
She didn’t give a reason, and maybe she didn’t know, but Alice didn’t feel any safer.