COFFEE DATE

The feeling was mutual. They had both decided to do what was best for them as stated in the consultation room.

Good thing it happened while it did. Mary knew Tom would say that as he always did when he presumably escaped a crisis. She stirred her cup of tea and nodded her head in quite silence.

Of all the things she thought she would have to deal with looking for a husband, this had never caught her radar. She replayed the doctor’s words, capturing the pieces that exploded in her ear…rare genetic disorder…one in two million couples…both carriers…high chances…affect the boy child…survival is uncertain beyond 2 years.

Tom was scrolling through his phone, almost pouring the soup on his shirt as he lifted the spoon to his mouth. The way his eyes narrowed as he read through the articles made her anxious. And so even if she did not want to know the rest of the details, she found herself asking, what does it say?

It says here that it is rare just as the doctor said. The severity of presentation depends on whether both parents are carrying the gene, boys mostly affected, a bunch of stuff about how it varies between race and population…and ooh, there is an article here of a family with a boy who has been living with it. He stretched out the screen for Mary to see this teen boy on a wheelchair, smiling, holding a basketball in his hand.