My Story updated June 4, 2004	Ectopic Facts
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Little Bean

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Nothing There
A million ultrasonic fragments
Of black and white and grey,
Swirling and merging, forming
Nondescript patterns on the screen.
The search deepens and the panic rises
But determined not to sob or scream
My concentration switches to the ceiling
As the monitor switches off.
Tears coat my dull eyes as I continue
To stare. "I'm sorry Mrs Sumner,
I'm afraid there's nothing there."
Six months of trying
One week of wondering
And four days of worrying
Included seven hours of hoping
Thirty six minutes of joking
And one fleeting moment of panic.
Then, in a instant, it's all over, all
gone,
All uncertainty removed by advancements
In medical science.
Destined to our horrible fate, together
We are taken down the corridor to be
Surgically removed from one another.
Another embryonic tragedy,
A reproductive catastrophe.
Breath held, I watch my heartbeat
Zigzag ever slower as the cold thick
Liquid drains the day away
And I want to say "No"
"Let us stay".
But I awaken to another day of
emptiness,
A terrible deja' vu of unfairness
And try to accept the damage as well
as the loss.
-Leah Sumner 

IN MEMORY OF SEPTEMBER 11th VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES, OUR MILITARY FORCES and FOR US ALL, you are listening to "Imagine" by John Lennon