01-19-2003, 04:35 PM
|
|
obsolete
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 617
|
|
|
She watched the news in stunned silence. This couldn't possibly mean what it sounds like. Grabbing the remote, she flipped the channel to NBC. Then CBS. Finally to CNN. It was all the same. It couldn't be a hoax if all the channels were carrying the same news. Could it?
Her mind was reeling as she half-listened to the reporters throwing frenzied questions at President Schuller.
"What are the genetic repercussions of this?"
"Are you saying you are condoning incest?"
"What if someone refuses?"
"Will there be any exemptions?"
The answers were given by what appeared to be a team of doctors and geneticists gathered from all over the world. She barely heard a word they said, though one phrase seemed to be repeated over and over. "...All of humanity will be extinct within two generations."
Unbelievable! This was like something out of a horror film. Janice Fleming's hands shook uncontrollably as she finally reached for a pen and reluctantly jotted the phone number down before clicking off the television set.
There! She had done her part, she thought wryly. Took the number even though she knew she wouldn't phone. She would wait. Maybe they would skip over her. Over them. Maybe there would be enough volunteers that they wouldn't even need her.
"Hi, mom! I'm home!"
Jan quickly shoved the scrap of paper into her pocket and rose to meet her son. Her son! They couldn't possibly want her to... The bile rose in her throat as she raced past him to the bathroom.
"Mom? Mom, are you all right?"
Sinking to her knees, she clung to the edge of the commode and retched until there was no more. Until all that was left were dry heaving gasps that wracked her entire body. Tears streamed down her face as she vaguely felt the cool cloth her alarmed son had placed against her forehead.
|