The Delivery

Chapter 6

One Month After Delivery

It takes three cycles of Maddy’s nigh-night routine before she stays down. Rebecca and Mark sit on the floor in the hall outside her closed door, listening for another request—water, bathroom, beneath-the-bed search.

But the silence stretches five minutes and then ten, and then by implicit agreement, they rise silently and creep down the hall to the nursery.

The hum of the rectangular prism has steadily grown louder. Code scrolls across the inset screen. It is as if they are watching something dream. As if they are peeking in on a sleeping baby.

They note the sensor light on the prism.

It remains red.

They withdraw.