"Not if she won't tell you, no."
"And what about her doctor?"
Officer Lowry shook her head. "He can't tell you, either. Doctor-patient privilege."
Georgia Bellarmino collected the syringes and threw them back in the bag. "This is ridiculous."
"I don't make the laws," the policewoman said. "I just enforce them."
They were drivinghome. "Honey," Georgia said. "Are you trying to get pregnant?"
"No." Sitting there with her arms folded. Furious.
"I mean, you're sixteen, that shouldn't be a problem...So whatare you doing?"
"You made me feel like anidiot. "
"Honey, I'm just concerned."
"No you're not. You're a nosy, evil bitch. I hate you, and I hate this car."
It went on like this for a while, until finally Georgia drove her daughter back to school. Jennifer got out of the car, slamming the door. "Andyou made me late for French!"
It was anexhausting morning, and she had canceled two appointments. Now she had to try and reschedule the clients. Georgia went into the office, set the bag of needles on the floor, and started dialing.
The office manager, Florence, walked by and saw the bag. "Wow," she said. "Aren't you a little old for this?"
"It's not me," Georgia said irritably.
"Then...not your daughter?"
Georgia nodded. "Yeah."
"It's that Dr. Vandickien," Florence said.
"Who?"
"Down in Miami. These teenage girls take hormones, pump up their ovaries, sell their eggs to him, and pocket the money."
"And do what?" Georgia said.
"Buy breast implants."
Georgia sighed. "Great," she said. "Just great."
She wanted her husband to talk to Jennifer, but unfortunately, Rob was on a flight to Ohio, where they were making a TV segment about him. That discussion - which was sure to be fiery - would have to wait.
CHapter 063
Riding theunderground tram from the Senate Office Building to the Senate Dining Room, Senator Robert Wilson (D-Vermont) turned to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and said, "I think we ought to be more proactive on this genetic thing. For example, we should consider a law that would prevent young women from selling their eggs for profit."
"Young girls already doing that, Bob," Feinstein said. "They sell their eggs now."
"Why, to pay for college?"
"Maybe a few. Mostly, they do it to buy a new car for their boyfriend, or plastic surgery for themselves."
Senator Wilson looked puzzled. "How long hasthat been going on?" he said.
"A couple of years now," Feinstein said.
"Maybe in California..."
"Everywhere, Bob. A teenager in New Hampshire did it to make bail for her boyfriend."
"And this doesn't trouble you?"
"I don't like it," Feinstein said. "I think it's ill-advised. I think medically the procedure has dangers. I think these girls may be risking their reproductive futures. But what would be the basis for banning it? Their bodies, their eggs." Feinstein shrugged. "Anyway, the boat's sailed, Bob. Quite a while ago."
Chapter 64-67
CHapter 064
Not again!
Ellis Levine found his mother on the second floor of the Polo Ralph Lauren store on Madison and Seventy-second. She was standing in front of the mirror, wearing a cream-colored linen suit with a green scarf. She was turning this way and that.
"Hello, dear," she said, when she saw him. "Are you going to make another scene?"
"Mom," he said. "What are you doing?"
"Buying a few things for summer, dear."
"We talked about that," Ellis said.
"Just a few things," his mother said. "For summer. Do you like the cuffs on these pants?"
"Mom, we've been here before."
She frowned, and fluffed her white hair absently. "Do you like the scarf?" she said. "I think it's a bit much."
"We have to talk," Ellis said.
"Are we having lunch?"
"The spray didn't work," he said.
"Oh, I don't know." She brushed her cheek. "I felt a little moisturization. For about a week afterward. But not a great deal, no."
"And you kept shopping."
"I hardly shop at all anymore."
"Three thousand dollars last week."
"Oh, don't worry. I took a lot of those things back." She tugged at the scarf. "I think, that green does a funny thing to my complexion. Makes me look sick. But a pink scarf might be nice. I wonder if they have this in pink."
Ellis was watching her intently, with a growing sense of foreboding. Something was wrong with his mother, he decided. She was standing at the mirror, in exactly the same place she had been weeks before, when she showed a total indifference to him, to his message, to her family situation, to her financial situation. Her attitude was completely inappropriate.
As an accountant, Ellis had a horror of people who were inappropriate about money. Money was real, it was tangible, it was hard facts and spreadsheet figures. Those facts and figures were not a matter of opinion. It didn't depend on how you looked at it. His mother was not recognizing the cold reality of her financial situation.
He watched her smile, asking the salesgirl if the scarf came in pink. No, the salesgirl said, he didn't make pink this year. They only had green, or white. His mother asked to try the white. The salesgirl walked away. His mother smiled at him.
Very inappropriate. Almost as if...