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Kath sat on the roof of the beat-up Tesla S, legs draped down the back , shotgun in both hands, looking out into the dark for whatever ht hurt them They’d come forty miles or so to an encampment in what had once been a park with a picnic area and duck pond A playground with a plastic slide and jungle gyh the barkA collection of trucks and caether with space for a campfire in the middle The fire was banked now Some tents and lean-tos had been set up a little further out, along with a couple of rickety sheds In summer, people didn’t need much more shelter than that Winter, the caas for it Getting hard to find gas, though The place was starting to look permanent One of the trailers had a chicken coop built next to it, and a couple of roosting chickens were visible, feathers plumped out The caone to bed

The packed-dirt raves were lined up outside the circle of campers The doctors didn’t ask about them, the ones they couldn’t help

Turned away fro around the area rab such a valuable commodity as a doctor

They’d parked the Tesla next to a roans of a woman in labor Only this box of a roo and noise of effort ed over the last twenty ent, and also more exhausted Kath could try to peek in the door, at the wo But she just listened

“You’ve got this One more push”

That was Melanie’s voice Did Dr Dennis have her handling this delivery? She usually assisted him

One roan, then came silence Kath held her breath until a tiny wail sounded, the new baby successfully announcing itself A ruckus followed, the handful of people in the RV talking over each other,noises

Unless so in the next little while, which could involve anything fro some kind of illness or injury, Dennis and Melanie would wrap up and they could be on their way Might be smarter to wait until dawn to make the trip back to the clinic But the road between here and there was still passable, and Kath wanted to get home

The light froures stood in front of it Dr Dennis was standing with the thirty-so Dennis was giving him instructions

“We’ve still got vaccines lying around Bring her to the clinic in a couple ood start” The man, presu forward a bit, Kath could peer through the doorway and catch a glimpse of the camper’s interior The newher hair to her face, sheets tu her bundle the new baby against her skin, probably explaining everything she could about nursing in a handful of

They ht decide they had bigger probleh

Dr Dennis came down the alu into the night air “Everything okay?”

“Yeah No trouble,” Kath said

“Good I want to get out of here as soon as we can”

So he was on edge, too The unfaht draw out people they didn’t want to talk to

“You okay, Doctor?”

“Six ive that baby six months, based on the condition of the rest of the caoddamn pointless”

Dennis and the other doctors at the clinic went over the statistics all the time Without proper nutrition, clean water, medicine, without so many little necessities, infantthey could do about it If they were in the area, maybe one of the doctors could co the baby to the clinic

The man returned to the door and handed over a threadbare pillowcase, half-filled “Here It’s e can spare Thank you Thank you for co”

Grimly, Dr Dennis took the makeshift sack by its bunched-up neck “You’re welcoht?”

Dennis took a quick look in the sack, which Kath kneould be filled with canned goods, lue Odds and ends Whatever salvage the parents thought worth the doctor’s attention Barter Dennis used to get paid thousands of dollars for delivering a baby

He looked up “Kind of a weird question Do you have any golf balls?”

The man pursed his lips and shook his head “No, I don’t think so”