The Project Gutenberg EBook of Unbegotten Child, by Winston Marks

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Title: Unbegotten Child

Author: Winston Marks

Illustrator: Vidmer

Release Date: April 27, 2010 [EBook #32149]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNBEGOTTEN CHILD ***

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction November 1953.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

unbegotten child

By WINSTON MARKS

Illustrated by VIDMER

_If this was true, there ought to be another edition of What
Every Young Girl Should Know!_

* * * * *

"What," she demanded, sitting bolt upright in the hospital bed, "has
happened to the medical world? In Italy, they tell me I have an
abdominal tumor. In Paris, it's cancer. And now you fat-heads are
trying to tell me I'm pregnant!"

I stuffed my stethoscope into my jacket pocket and tried to pat her
hand. "Take it easy, Mrs. Caffey--"

"It's _Miss Caffey_, damn you," she said snatching her hand away, "and
better I should have gone to an astrologer!"

[Illustration]

"See here, now," I said, letting a stern note enter my voice. "You
came here requesting a verification of the malignancy of this
growth. Our discovery of a six month foetus is a fact, not an
accusation."

"Look, Buster, I'm a thirty-six-year-old spinster. Like the joke goes,
I haven't been married _or anything_. Also, I knew about the birds and
the bees before you were emptying bedpans. Now will you get off this
subject of babies and find out whether it's safe for me to start any
continued stories?"

* * * * *

Such protestations from unmarried mothers were not uncommon, but Sara
Caffey's cold convictions were unshakable. She sank back into her
seven satin pillows and sighed mightily. Her wide-spaced, intelligent