Hazel was sitting on the living room couch anxiously, dressed in a pretty lace white dress. Her mommy had combed her long hair so she looked good when Dr. Whitmore came. Hazel had no idea why her mommy and daddy wanted a doctor to come see her so late at night. She wasn’t sick. Her mommy just said it was for a check up and Dr. Whitmore would come to their house for it. She was listening to the music playing on the radio as she waited. She liked when the radio played music the best. She always got bored when it was the men talking about things. It was hard to pay attention with her baby brother crying though. Her mommy was cradling her little baby brother in her arms and whispering soothingly to him. He’d been born last week but already her mommy and daddy loved him more than her. Watching them hurt so she looked at her daddy. He was pacing the living room and he seemed really excited about something. He kept mumbling to himself about all the things they could buy with the money. What was he talking about?
She went back to paying attention to the radio until she heard the loud sound of knocking. Her daddy immediately headed for the door and answered it and led Dr. Whitmore into the room. She tensed up when she saw him. He looked stern and grim and when their eyes met she looked down at her hands nervously. Dr. Whitmore came over to her and told her to lie down on the couch. She did as she was told. She had been taught that when a man told you to do something, you did it even if you didn’t want too. Dr. Whitmore looked her up and down and she wished she could be anywhere but here.
“She’s perfect. Augustine appreciates your help toward the advancement of science.” Advancement of science? Hazel frowned. What was he talking about? Dr. Whitmore stood up and pulled money – a lot of money – out of his pocket and handed it to her daddy. Why was he giving her daddy money? Shouldn’t her daddy be paying for her check up?
Dr. Whitmore turned back to her and told her to hold out her arm for him. She did, not knowing what else she could do. “I’ll be your doctor from now on,” he told her. He took a big needle out of his pocket and undid the cap and her heart began to race in panic. She wanted to run away but she couldn’t. You did what men told you to do. She had to stay. She started to cry as he put the needle into her arm. It really hurt. The more medicine that disappeared the more tired and heavy she began to feel. When he took the needle out she was struggling to keep her eyes open. She felt so drowsy. Her eyes flickered open and closed as she felt Dr. Whitmore lift her up into his arms. “Pleasure doing business with you,” Dr. Whitmore told her daddy and mommy. The last thing she saw before she drifted off to sleep in his arms was her mommy kissing the top of her baby brother’s head, not even looking at her…
Cold. She was so cold. Cold and sleepy. She didn’t want to open her heavy eyes. But she wanted to open them and pull the blankets over her. But when she let her eyes flicker open she saw there were no blankets. No bed. She was on the cold ground in a strange empty room with bars. Why did the room have bars? Where was she? She sat up, swaying a little. She was so sleepy. Why was she so sleepy? Where were her mommy and daddy? She remembered the doctor. She remembered getting the shot and getting sleepy and him carrying her away. Had he been taking her to the clinic? She remembered how the doctor had given her daddy money. She remembered him saying something about science. She didn’t understand. She just knew she wanted her mommy and daddy. She wanted to go home. She didn’t want to be here in this scary room. She could hear the familiar sound of the radio playing but it didn’t make her feel better. She noticed in the corner of the room were smaller bars where she could see a man in another room. She slowly crawled over. She was scared but she wanted to know where she was. “Where am I?” She asked him. “I want to go home.” Her voice broke on the word home and she started to cry.