The Mirror Man, стр. 84
It had been so long since he’d spoken a single word to his son. He found it disgusting that the first thing he said to him was an outright lie.
“You know, Parker,” he said after a moment, “I know you miss your mother. I miss her, too. But I’m here for you. If you ever want to talk. You don’t have to go through this alone.”
“Whatever,” Parker said, and turned to leave. Jeremiah looked at the receptionist, who smiled and waved at him. It seemed she’d decided against pushing her secret button.
In the car, Parker slumped into the front seat, tossed his backpack into the back and grunted.
“You’re the one who needs the doctor’s appointment,” he said. “I didn’t cut off my own finger with a chain saw.” Jeremiah had wondered what story the clone would concoct. It sounded fishy and desperate to him. What would he possibly have needed a chain saw for first thing in the morning as he was leaving for work?
Halfway back to ViMed, Parker informed him this wasn’t the way to his doctor’s office.
“It’s a different doctor,” Jeremiah said. “A new guy.”
When they pulled into the complex, Parker was thoroughly confused.
“Isn’t this your office, Dad? What the hell?”
“Some new thing with the health insurance,” he told him. “Routine exams can be done right here at ViMed now for everyone in the family. It’s the best health care money can buy. A new perk—very high tech. Wait and see. It’s cool—like one of your video games.”
Parker shrugged. “Whatever,” he said. “How long is this going to take?”
“Not too long,” Jeremiah told him.
They walked through the front entrance, followed at a discreet distance by Scott and a lone security guard, and were met in the hallway by Dr. Pike.
“Good morning, Mr. Adams,” Pike said with a bit too much enthusiasm. “This must be Parker. Nice to meet you, young man. If you’ll both follow me.”
Parker looked at Jeremiah with a puzzled look. “That’s kind of weird,” he said. “We don’t even have to check in or anything? No waiting room?”
“Like I said, this is only for employees and families,” Jeremiah told him. “They aren’t exactly overbooked around here.”
He followed Dr. Pike and Parker into a small examination room and Parker climbed up on the table and stared at his father.
“You don’t have to stay, Dad,” he said. “I can take it from here. I’m not five, you know.”
“No, I’d rather stay,” he said. “In case the doctor here has any questions. Isn’t that right, Dr. Pike?” He wasn’t about to leave Parker alone with anyone.
“It’s customary for a parent to remain in the room during this part of the exam,” Pike said. “Nothing to worry about, young man. I assure you, this part is all routine. No embarrassing questions. I’ll save all of those for when your father is out of earshot.”
Parker stripped from the waist up and Pike began a typical check of his vitals.
“Am I going to need any shots?” Parker asked.
“I doubt it,” Pike said, and directed Parker to take a deep breath. “If you’re not up to date the scan will detect it.”
“What scan?”
Pike removed the stethoscope from his ears and opened the side door that led into the scanning room Jeremiah had entered so many months before. He directed the boy to take a seat in the hydraulic chair and Parker looked at him quizzically.
“What’s all this?” he asked. “This doesn’t very seem routine to me.”
“It is a high-velocity bio-scanner,” Pike explained. “ViMed created it. It is the only one like it in the world. In fact, you’re one of only a few people to ever use it. This machine can detect all manner of illness and disease right down to the cellular level. It even gives a full medical history. It can do the work of ten doctors in a fraction of the time. It’s quite safe. Nothing to worry about. Take a seat.”
He handed Parker a pair of dark glasses to guard against the lasers and told him to buckle up. Jeremiah tried to act unconcerned as Pike closed Parker in the room and he followed the doctor to a complicated panel of controls in an adjoining hallway. There were no windows between Parker and the control panel. He couldn’t see his son, but he could hear him clearly through a speaker system connecting the rooms.
“There will be a series of bright lights, Parker, and a lot of movement as the machine begins to scan your body. Remain still and don’t be alarmed.”
“Dad?”
“I’m here, Parker,” he said. “I can hear you. You okay in there?”
“What the hell is this thing? What’s this for? Do I have cancer or something?” The tinge of real fear in his son’s voice was alarming, and Jeremiah swallowed hard before answering.
“Oh, my God—no, Parker, you don’t have cancer! You’re fine. Everything’s fine. This is all just routine. I’m telling you, it’s nothing to be worried about. I’ve done this myself. It doesn’t hurt.”
About an hour later, Jeremiah steadied his son with a hand on his shoulder and they walked back into the adjoining examination room.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Jeremiah said, trying to sound as casual as he could.
“Not really,” Parker told him. He looked a bit pale. “Can we leave now? Can you just take me back to school?”
Jeremiah looked at Pike, who nodded quickly toward the door as he began looking through the test results.
“Yeah, we can go, Parker. But there’s only a few hours left of school. Why don’t you just take the day off? We can grab some lunch and you can spend a few hours with me at the office. I’ll show you around. It’s pretty cool.” He still had no clear idea of how