Chapter Sixteen

Hebe

February 29. 2000. Ancient Era

New Jersey. United States

Hebe Bender looked at the establishment's lettering, and nervously clutched the handle of her purse and smiled.

"You're here, come on, come on," she said in a low, but determined tone, to encourage herself.

Over the past few months she had been to the place quite a bit. The first few times it was just for information, but then, when she thought she was ready to take the big step, she had backed out due to nervousness. That had forced her to make another appointment, which she missed due work, and the next one, where she had barely parked her car and had to start again.

The fourth time would have to be the charm.

She pursed her lips and, with a smile on her face, finally entered the assisted reproduction clinic.

She was a woman with tanned skin. Her hair, loose and carefree, which in other years had been a dark brown, had been whitened by the sun and the desert climate, where she had worked in previous years. Even now, after so many years away from field work, she still had the air of an adventurous girl in her style.

She wore a beige, slightly loose-fitting explorer shirt over a tight-fitting T-shirt and khaki wide-legged pants with short-heeled booties. Around her neck were two necklaces, one with an Egyptian scarab and the other with the sign of a sundial, given to her by her grandfather in honor of her name.

And yet despite her style, she was nervous that day.

She walked down the long hallway and finally found herself in the waiting room, where only one other woman sat, reading a magazine. The receptionist, behind the desk, was on a call at the time, and gestured to Hebe to wait a minute.

When she finally ended her call, Hebe was calmer. She was already there. It had to be that day.

"Miss Bender! It's good to see you again," greeted the receptionist.

"Good morning," Hebe greeted.

"Are you ready to take the big step today?"

Hebe just nodded, tight-lipped and trying to put on a smile.

"Please have a seat, wait a few moments, and the doctor will call you for your appointment," the receptionist invited, pointing to the comfortable seats in the waiting room.

Hebe simply sat on the opposite side of the waiting room from the other woman, and picked up one of the magazines on the low table, to concentrate on something else, although she didn't pay much attention to it. The magazine was a couple of weeks old and, much like the other magazines in the stack, it was all about the Y2K disaster in early January. For which reason the stock market had crashed in several markets around the world.

Hebe didn't own any shares in the stock market, and didn't have enough money to be affected, so like the rest of the almost 98% of the people on the planet she hadn't been too affected. A different thing had happened with the computer companies, whose stocks were down the next day after the disaster.

She tried to look for a magazine that interested her, but she couldn't find one with a historical theme.

I should have brought a book, Hebe thought.

Hebe Bender, following the love her grandfather had instilled in her for ancient history, had studied Egyptology in college and, after graduation, had the good fortune to spend almost seven years in the Valley of the Kings, helping in the excavations for the discovery and preservation of ancient Egypt. After that, upon returning to the United States, she was lucky to teach Ancient History at her former university, which at the same time was the one that had sponsored the excavation program. A teaching position she still held.

She loved her career, and had always been attracted to history thanks to her grandfather. Still, if there was one thing she hadn't had any luck with, it was finding a steady partner.

In her forties, just a few months past her 40th birthday, she had finally made the decision to step forward and start a family, even if it was just her own.

"Hebe Bender!"

Hebe raised her head and looked at whoever had called her.

She had been distracted by the magazines after all, because the other woman had disappeared at some point without her noticing, and now in front of her stood a doctor who was greeting her.

"Y-yes. How are you doing, Dr. Ahern?"

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Miss Bender. Please come with me."

Dr. Brian Ahern was a man in his fifties, with gray hair, dark eyes, square-rimmed glasses and a smile as white as the tiles on the clinic floor.

The doctor's office was just as Hebe remembered it from the last visit. A man of routine, Dr. Ahern, for his part, never moved his furniture or shifted things around. He simply pulled out some of the folders with patient, or donor, files when he needed to, and put everything back in its place.

He invited her to sit down and he did the same in his chair.

"When you canceled the second appointment, I honestly thought you wouldn't come," the doctor said, smiling at her.

"It's not that I changed my mind, it's just that it's a big decision and I was nervous."

Hebe spoke to him apologizing for the previous cancellations, saying she wanted to be sure. The truth was that it was a decision that she had been made months ago, but inside she couldn't hide her doubts.

It was opening a new chapter in her life, and she wanted to be sure she could handle the new challenge of raising a child. The freedom she had enjoyed throughout her life and career would now be changed by the arrival of someone in her life. She didn't care that her lifestyle would change because of it, she simply wanted to make sure that she would be as good a mother as her own mother had been to her.

The doctor understood that, as these were many of the same concerns he often heard in his office. Whether it was from couples resorting to assisted fertilization or from women who wanted to become single mothers.

"So, are you planning to continue then?"

"Yes definitely!"

"I can see how determined you are about this decision. But I want to make sure you feel supported throughout the process. Starting a family on your own is a significant step. Have you thought about the emotional implications and the support system you may need?" In front of the doctor, Hebe Bender had no doubt about the decision she had made. But he couldn't blame her for her nervousness, since starting a family on her own was a big step.

The talk went on for a few minutes, while Hebe gave him some final data that the doctor took care of putting on the forms to arrange the procedure.

"Good, then let's make a new appointment to coincide with the ovulation period," the doctor said.

Hebe nodded.

"You said you would prefer an injection to stimulate ovulation?"

"Y-yes?"

The doctor had already pulled up Hebe Bender's chart, before calling her, and now he was flipping through the pages with the results of the previous tests.

"Honestly, I don't think the injection would be necessary. The preconception studies were more than encouraging. Although, we could do the injection to be on the safe side. If that's your choice, of course."

"Yes. Please."

"Well, then we could schedule first for the injection a few days before ovulation, and do a new test to schedule the date and then in a 24-48 hour period to proceed with the insemination of the ovum. OSI carry minimal risks, such as swelling or mild discomfort. But these symptoms usually subside within a few days, or maybe even hours. For safety, we closely monitor your hormone levels and perform ultrasounds to follow the development of the follicles. This helps us determine the optimal time for insemination."

"Sounds good," Hebe said and smiled and the doctor could see how hopeful her eyes were.

"Is there anything else you have concerns about?"

"About the donor…"

"He's completely anonymous, unless you decide to contact him. Or he could be one of the candidates for whom we have all his information. In the event that you have a donor in mind, we would have to make an appointment for him and do some tests first."

"No. I would prefer if it were anonymous both ways."

"I understand."

"But you told me last time that I can choose according to certain profiles. Right?"

"Yes. We have anonymous donors, from whom we can offer certain information related to their profile. Such as physical characteristics, educational level and socio-occupational level. All donors have already passed a test to eliminate any genetic problems or incompatibility."

Dr. Ahern spent the next ten minutes answering Hebe's questions. Obviously the woman was determined, but she had some doubts. With the same patience with which he had practiced his job for fifteen years, the doctor answered all the questions.

"It's not that I'm looking for something special about the donor but, I don't know. I mean, I know that predicting how a child will grow up, or what he will want to be in the future, is impossible, but... "

"I know what you mean. Thinking ahead is important. I can give you the list of donors by certain profiles if you prefer, and you can choose the one you think is best from them."

"Can I?"

"Yes, of course. Give me a second."

The doctor left the office to return a few minutes later with a folder containing the donor profiles. The sperm donor business must have been going pretty well, because it was a pretty thick binder box.

Hebe took the folder and spent the next few minutes flipping through pages of different donor profiles. There was too much to choose from, from sperm motility, to sperm count. Too many parameters to consider. On the other hand there was also information regarding employment status and education level of the donors.

There must not have been many clients at that time, because the doctor certainly didn't mind Hebe taking her time turning the pages. Hebe had only seen one client, she must have been in one of the other offices so, she figured that must have been the reason the doctor let her take her time.

After twenty minutes of questions where the doctor was bombarded by Hebe, she arrived at the donor listed as 26-2102-72-77-72-521-21-21-02-0-0002. The donor seemed to have a good sperm per milliliter count, although that was not the data that mattered to Hebe. It was his profile that caught her attention.

College educated, with a graduate degree in particle astrophysics. Frequent physical activity and good hearing and vision parameters. No history of chronic or neurodegenerative diseases, apart from some migraines. A good economic level. As side notes, he was a man who liked to travel, although he spent most of his time working. Although it was not specified in what area exactly. Hebe guessed it must have been in something academic or something like that.

Maybe he was a good donor. But Hebe knew that predicting what a child would look like would be like rolling a dozen dice, and expecting all the faces to come up with the same number. At the end of the day, upbringing and environment would determine that to a large extent, regardless of whether or not his parents had good genetic parameters.

After thinking about it for a few minutes, and sifting through other profiles, she finally decided on the profile she had marked. The doctor searched his database and left again, only to return with a thinner folder containing all the data pertaining to the particular donor. Just to make sure that his patient was absolutely sure of his decision, he asked her again if she wished to proceed with the procedure.

But the decision on Hebe's part was already made and she nodded with a smile again.