Pinky

Pinky ** By: Kristen Kientz   It’s the year 2060 and designer babies have flourished throughout the country. The procedure costs $15,000 per try so only the wealthy can afford designer babies. The poor are looked down upon because they are thought to be ugly. One day the Smiths found out that they are expecting their first daughter. They were so excited. “We have to make her a designer baby so that she is beautiful.” Mrs. Smith said. “I agree.” Mr. Smith said. The next day, they went to the clinic to place their order. “Fill out this sheet with the desired traits and put it in the slot by the door when you’re done. We have you scheduled for the procedure next Thursday at noon. Is that correct?” the receptionist asked. “Yes. Thank you.” Mrs. Smith replied. They sat down at a table and began filling out the form. “We want her to have medium skin, blond hair, and green eyes. She should be tall and thin and absolutely beautiful. All done, I’ll turn this in.” Mrs. Smith said. They put it in the slot and left the clinic. Thursday came so they went in for the procedure. “Hello. I’m Dr. Brown and I’ll be doing your procedure this afternoon. Can you review this sheet while I prep you for the procedure?” “Yes, everything looks correct.” Mr. Smith said. “Alright let’s get started.” Dr. Brown replied. Several hours later Mrs. Smith came out to her husband in the waiting room followed by Dr. Brown. “We had some complications.” Dr. Brown told Mr. Smith. “But everything should be okay when the baby is born.” “Okay thank you so much doctor.” The Smiths left the clinic to return home. Several months later Mrs. Smith was at the hospital about ready to have the baby. They were so excited to finally see their beautiful designer baby. The doctors and nurses got ready and soon enough the baby was born. But when she was born the room suddenly got silent. All you could hear were the newborn baby cries. This baby was definitely not a designer baby. She didn’t have medium skin, blond hair, green eyes, and she certainly wasn’t absolutely beautiful like they had ordered. This baby had pale skin, hot pink hair, and brown eyes! “Could Dr. Brown have messed up? There’s no way that is our baby!” Mr. Smith yelled furiously. The doctors rushed out of the room with the baby to figure out exactly what happened, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Smith alone. “I am not keeping that thing! She’s worse than an ordinary ugly baby with brown hair! That can’t be our baby! What are we going to tell people?”Mrs. Smith was fuming. A little while later the nurse walked in with the baby. “Well after some tests, we found that this really is your baby. Dr. Brown made a few mistakes that he thought were minor but turned out to completely change your daughter’s genes which gave her this pink hair. Luckily if you want, you can dye her hair later on.” The nurse reported. “Good because there’s no way we're keeping her with that hair.” said Mrs. Smith. “But I do have some bad news.” The nurse continued. “We also found in the tests that the baby has a condition called Huntingdon’s disease. It is a genetic degeneration of neurons in certain areas of the brain. It causes uncontrolled movements, loss of intellectual faculties, and emotional disturbance. Physicians can prescribe a number of medications but Huntingdon’s disease can’t be completely cured. Here’s your daughter. I’ll give you guys some time to think things over.” The nurse handed the baby to Mrs. Smith and left the room. “There is no way I can deal with this baby. She is just too ugly. People will judge us and I don’t want that. We’re going to have to try again to get a beautiful baby.” Mrs. Smith kept going on but finally looked up at her husband. He was crying. “Don’t cry I know this isn’t what we wanted but we could just give her back.” “No, no. I’m not crying because I’m sad. I’m crying because our daughter is beautiful.” Mr. Smith said. “Have you seen her hair?” Mrs. Smith questioned. “Yes I have. It’s different but I like it. This baby needs us. She has a long road ahead of her with this disease. We have to keep her and take care of her and love her. Look at her. She’s adorable.” Mr. Smith replied. Mrs. Smith looked down at the little bundle in her arms. The baby was smiling and looking up at her mom in amazement. A tear ran down her tiny cheek. “You’re absolutely right. She is the sweetest thing! Just look at her. We have to take care of her. That smile is so cute and I already love her to pieces.” Mrs. Smith said, changing her mind. “Who cares what other people think. I love our daughter for who she is. If we hadn’t have done this designer baby thing, she wouldn’t have had pink hair or Huntingdon’s disease or anything. But we made a mistake and we are going to love and take care of this baby anyway.” Mr. Smith told his wife. The nurse walked in and asked, “Is everything alright?” “Everything’s great, thank you. We were just admiring our beautiful daughter.” Mrs. Smith answered. “Glad to hear it. She’s a lucky baby to have such loving parents as you. By the way, what’s her name?” The nurse asked. “Pinky” They both replied in unison.
 * 

Picture: http://www.onelilcupcake.com/items.php?cat=2&name=Hearts