“I found him! I found him!”  Hector shouted.  Dora was heavily sedated and, having lost the will to live, was on the brink of a mental breakdown that the doctor feared might lead to a coma.  Dora was about to lose consciousness when the door burst open and Hector entered the room.  That’s when Dora’s eyes lit up and she shouted with joy, “My baby!”  Dora thanked Hector and praised him as her hero.  The doctor, the nurses, and the other orderlies, all aware of Hector’s proclivity for pulling pranks looked at him suspiciously prompting him to ask, rhetorically, “What?”

Dora promised to see a counselor as long as they promised not to take her baby away.  The counselor’s name was Egeria.  She explained to Dora that she was named after the mythic nymph who was a protector of pregnant women.  Dora smiled.  She also explained that she specialized in hypnosis and dream therapy.  Dora appeared worried.  “Relax,” she said, and Dora was sound asleep.  She was driving very fast over cobblestones.  The moon and stars were reflected in pools of water that were impossible to avoid.  She found herself on a life raft in the middle of the ocean.

Dora sat in her mother’s kitchen.  The familiar smell of warm banana nut bread permeated the air.  Her mother served her a nice warm slice on a pretty pink porcelain plate.  Dora bit into it and began to chew.  But something wasn’t right.  Crunch. Ouch! These aren’t nuts in this bread she soon realized.  Dora spit her food back upon the pretty pink porcelain plate and recoiled in disgust.  Bits of glass lay mixed with blood and chewed up banana nut bread. Dora threw up into the plate.  Is that an arm? Are those toes? And are those little fingers?

Dora was on a table in a dark room with a large light suspended above her.  I’m in a hospital she thought.  She was suddenly hopeful that her baby was going to be alright.  She was still a little worried about the things she saw on that plate porcelain plate.  What if her baby came out missing pieces and parts?  Don’t worry about that said a masked doctor who suddenly appeared by her side.  We can put her back together again.  He held a sharp scalpel which he raised high above his head.  This might hurt a bit he said.  Dora, holding her stomach, screamed in pain.  I’m so sorry said the doctor, blood dripping from his scalpel.  Your little girl had too much banana nut bread in her system. Dora was all alone.

Porcelain is dead she cried to herself.  Someone opened the door to her room and tip-toed in.  It wasn’t until the dark silhouette was inches away that Dora realized who it was.  Dora was relieved.  It was her mother.  She was crying.  What is it mother?  I’m sorry baby, she whispered, as she stroked Dora’s forehead, the scent of banana nut bread still on her fingers.

Dora woke up and told Egeria about her dream.  Egeria looked concerned.  She went off to speak to the doctor.  The doctor proceeded to tell Egeria details of Dora’s case.  Dora was admitted to the mental health wing of the hospital three years ago after she was found wandering the parade field of the military base where she lived with her husband who was in the Navy.  Where is he now she asked?  I don’t know he replied.  He stopped visiting two years ago.  What caused the miscarriage she asked?  I don’t know he replied.  Perhaps Dora’s mother would know?

It was the stress, Dora’s mother said to Egeria.  She explained how she warned Dora that she was moving too fast with this Navy boy.  “Driving too fast on a slippery slope I told her,” she said.  “What are you going to do when he’s on a boat out in the middle of the ocean and you’re all alone with the baby?  No, she wouldn’t listen to me.  So they got married and sure enough off to the war he went.  There was hardly ever enough money what with daycare and all.  I think Dora worried that baby to death.”

Egeria studied the baby’s autopsy report.  It mentioned that trace amounts of a certain chemical were found in the baby’s system.  She recognized it as one of the active ingredients in an ECD popular in Europe that had been banned in the United States.  It was commonly referred to as a morning after pill.  She helped champion the ban because the pill wasn’t 100% effective and if it didn’t terminate the pregnancy it could result in a miscarriage or the delivery of a baby with severe birth defects.  Why would Dora deliberately put her baby at this type of risk?

“You’re getting sleepy,” Egeria said as she hypnotized Dora.  “I’ll ask you a few questions about your mother, your husband and your baby and you will answer as honestly as you are able to.  Tell me what you remember before you lost the baby?”  Dora winced.  She remembered she was angry that her mother was not able to accept the fact that she was pregnant and in love with Tony and that they were planning to have a baby and get married. “How are you going to raise a family,” asked her mother.  Dora said they would find a way.

She remembered feeling very sick during the pregnancy.  She went to the doctor who discovered traces of chemicals in her bloodstream that were used in “morning after pills” as a post-coital emergency contraceptive device.  She discovered that her mother had replaced her anti-depression pills with the ECD pills.  She confronted her mother.  They fought.  Dora was hospitalized.  Egeria mentioned this to Dora’s mother and the doctor.  Dora’s mother was livid.  “I knew you were up to something!” Dora’s mother spat at Egeria. “You’re not even a real psychiatrist!  I demand that this charlatan be removed from my daughter’s case immediately!”