Sunday Snippet and another opportunity to taste a bit of Salsa Dancing with Pterodactyls. This week, I’m sharing a selection from Part II. This scene takes place when Emily and David are attending their first appointment for fertility treatments.
“Just a quick pregnancy test, Emily. Shouldn’t take long.” Dr. Nathan Daley smiled at his new patient and her husband. “Sandra’s told me a lot about you two.” He extended his hand to David. “You know what to do with this,” he said, holding out a cup to Emily.
“She’s not pregnant,” David said.
“No offense, David, Sandra told me you were using the oldest contraception in the book, but we’re all human.”
Emily laughed for the first time in weeks. She giggled.
“I think,” David said, gazing at her, “that means Emily is pretty certain I’m not human.”
Nathan Daley frowned a moment, glanced through their notes. “Sandra gave me the impression that you were prepared for this process.”
“We are. It’s a private joke,” David said. “Nothing to worry about. Everything is great.”
“While you’re doing that, Emily, we’ll check David’s sperm count again, do a few tests. Then we’ll see you back in my office. David, come with me.”
“You’ll get sick to death of these tests,” the nurse said. “Every month for months. Some of my ladies cry every time. Breaks your heart.” The nurse flicked her wrist and peered at the strip of paper. The pregnancy testing kit proved David right but it didn’t prove that he wasn’t human, only what he had claimed in Carling’s office before Christmas. He did celibacy – at least where Emily was concerned – better than most. “Dr. Daley will explain everything to you in a few minutes. Let’s get you a cup of really good coffee, a luscious doughnut and see what your husband’s got to say for himself.”
16 Comments
Interesting excerpt. Makes me want to know more; is he or isn’t he human. The hassle is worth the good coffee and doughnut.
Strength of purpose makes him superhuman but otherwise, he’s human! Thank you for commenting.
Admiring the time and energy you put into your site and in depth information you present.
It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed information.
Wonderful read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS
feeds to my Google account.
Thank you for your comments. I do appreciate when readers take the time to express their thoughts.
I was going to ask if he was human or not but I see you’ve already answered that in the reply to ‘everwriting’.
Knowing nothing about fertility treatments, I found this really interesting. And boy, what a title for the book – very memorable!
Thank you for that. I had a lot of working titles while working through the manuscript. Salsa Dancing with Pterodactyls was a natural spark of lightning once the whole story was written. Thank you for commenting, much appreciated.
This is nicely written! But I’m not so sure he’s being entirely truthful about everything being okay . . .
Thank you, Sarah. David is rarely as expected. And, he’s a lawyer.
Well, there is an interesting situation. Alien or human? Which is it?
Superhuman in some instances, Sharon. Thank you.
Love that last line. So they are not having sex? Is he just being the donor? Got my curiosity up with that snippet.
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It’s good to know the snippet has piqued your interest. Thank you!
I’m confused, but maybe it’s because it’s 1:30 in the afternoon and my brain goes into a coma then. They’re getting fertility treatments but practicing celibacy? Step one: stop practicing celibacy. But I think I’m missing something somewhere…
There’s a reason for the celibacy, revealed earlier but that would give away too much too soon. Thank you for reading this snippet and taking the time to comment.
Ugh, speaking of brain being in a coma… I forgot to say that this does make me want to learn more about what is going on.
Goodie! That’s the main goal of a snippet, I think. Thank you!