When Mary saw Joe her heart leapt. She tried to keep the joy out of her face. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I...I don't know," Joe stammered. "I had to. Couldn't stay away. Something told me I had to come."
Mary: "Well, you're here. So now what?"
Joe: "I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead. I just knew I had to find you. The baby..."
Mary: "What about it?"
Joe: "That was part of what the voice told me."
Mary: "The voice?"
Joe: "A dream...or something. It said take care of the baby; don't be afraid."
Mary was stunned. "I hear voices too; dreams too; terrible dreams."
Joe: "What are your dreams about?"
Mary: "Save the child. Evil forces seek his life."
Joe: "You mean you want to have the baby?"
Mary: "I don't know. What would I do with a baby? How could I care for it?"
Joe: "Maybe it's best to get rid of it."
Mary: "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what to do," Mary wailed. "I've been thinking, but the more I think the more confused I get."
Joe: "What does Brother Holloway say?"
Mary: "He's no help. He tries to be. Just says it's up to me. My decision. My body. -- But what about her body? Doesn't she have a body too? A soul?" Mary had already been thinking in terms of a girl; someone she could relate to; someone who could understand her.
"I don't know," Joe mumbled. He had been only dimly aware of the abortion debate, and only in the abstract: "choice;" "woman's own body;" "viability;" "murder;" "right to life." It was a different thing, now that it was impacting him directly. "I don't know," he repeated. "What is life?" It was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened. Simpler just to go back to the way things were -- but could they ever go back? He wished he could just wipe it all away. But there was Mary. And there was that bulge in her stomach. It wasn't going away. Hard to believe that bulge was a person.
"I just came for you," Joe said. "I had to."
"We...I have to decide," Mary said. "Have to."
Joe hung his head and said nothing.
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