Population Zero (3 page)

Chapter Four

Todd was twelve-years-old when his mother had gotten pregnant. It was just one year after his father had taken the puppies to the pound. Todd's mother was doing that awkward squat that pregnant woman do as she lowered herself down onto the couch cushions. Her stomach was the size of a beach ball. Todd couldn't imagine why he hadn't noticed it before. Had she been hiding it? He didn't think his father had noticed either. Raymond Hammerstein worked all day at UPS driving a forklift and then at night as a security guard at the Supermarket. Todd couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen both his mother and father together in the same room.

The idea of a new brother or sister excited Todd. It meant a possible end to his loneliness. Todd jumped off the bed with a smile bursting onto his face as he pointed at her bulbous stomach. Now, Todd often wondered what his life would have been like if he hadn't noticed.

"Momma! You're pregnant!"

Todd could tell by the way she looked at him that he had said something wrong. Maybe she wasn't pregnant. Maybe she had just gained weight and he had somehow insulted her.

"Go to your room, Toddy."

Todd wondered what would have happened if he had stayed, if he hadn't turned quietly and stalked off to his room feeling sorry for himself. Maybe his mother would still be alive.

More than an hour had gone by before Honey had begun barking. Honey never barked. A shock collar had long ago eliminated her urge to express herself. So her sudden outburst had shaken Todd. He knew something bad was happening and he knew that it probably involved his mom. That sad angry look in her eyes when Todd had noticed her swelling belly had warned him that something terrible was on the way. He only hoped that she wasn't going to hurt his dog. He didn't care if she hurt him. He was used to it.

Todd dropped his Wolverine comic back in the shoebox where he kept it hidden and slid it back into his closet. His mother didn't like him to read comics. She thought they were too violent. Todd had always thought it ironic that the same woman who frequently beat him with extension cords and wire hangers found the pretend violence in comic books to be too disturbing. But, to her, it was the same as pornography.

Honey was still barking when Todd stepped out into the hallway. She was crouched outside the open bathroom door.

The fur on her back was standing up and she was backing away. From inside the bathroom Todd could hear his mother moaning in pain. The hair on his neck and arms rose. Todd had a feeling that something worse than anything he could imagine was happening in the bathroom.

"Momma?"

Todd shuffled forward slowly.

"Uhhhhnnn! Uh. Uh. Oh God."

"Momma? Are you okay?"

He could hear her rapid breathing. She was panting the way Honey had the night she'd given birth to her litter of puppies. Todd rushed forward, thinking maybe his mother was having the baby. He turned the corner into the bathroom, skidded on a pool of blood and fell flat on his butt. He looked up at his mother who was squatting on the toilet with a bloody hanger still shoved up inside of her and blood pouring out of her in what looked like an endless river. It had overflown the toilet and was pouring out onto the floor in a tide of blackish red. His mother was still tugging on the hanger, making little grunting noises as she yanked at it, shoved it back up inside of herself, then yanked at it again. Her labia had been completely mangled by her efforts. Todd had never seen so much blood. He knew what his mother was doing even before he saw the tiny skull plop out of her bleeding vagina. The wire hanger had pierced the fetus's eye socket and had gone straight through its skull, which had been nearly disconnected from its body. There were gouges, big chunks of flesh completely torn away, all over its face and head from his mother's previous attempts to anchor the hangar into something in order to drag the fetus out of her. Todd screamed. His mother continued to yank on the hangar.

By the time Todd's father came home his mother had bled out. Todd sat leaning up against the blood-filled toilet in a pool of his mother's blood, cradling her in his arms, crying hysterically. She was naked with her legs spread wide and tiny fetus spilled out of her vagina. The fetus was still attached by the umbilical cord and coat hanger pierced its little skull.

"Oh my God! Rachael! Oh my God! What did you do? What did you do?"

Todd looked up at his father and shook his head. He opened his mouth but no words would come out. His dad kneeled down beside him. His father's eyes were wide as he looked over his dead wife.

"She-she was pregnant? Oh my God. She was pregnant! Why would she do this? Why would she do this?"

They sat like that, both kneeling in his mother's blood for what seemed like forever before his father rose and took Todd's arm, pulling him away from his dead mother. He took him into the kitchen and stripped his bloody clothes off of him then cleaned the blood from his skin with a wash rag.

"Don't worry, Toddy. Mommy is in heaven now," his father said through tears. He paused and bit down on his own hand to keep himself from sobbing hysterically then picked up the washcloth again and continued to scrub the blood from Todd's skin. "She's in heaven now. It's okay."

But Todd wasn't sure she was in heaven. He'd heard that you didn't go to heaven when you committed suicide. But he wasn't certain that she had been trying to kill herself. She was definitely trying to kill the baby though. Todd thought about the baby that had been inside of her. He was pretty sure that God would have considered what she had done murder unless maybe she'd had a really good reason.

"Was it like the puppies?"

His dad stopped scrubbing and looked up at him. Tears were in his father's eyes and a look of confusion and disgust.

"What?"

"What Momma did? Was it like the puppies? Did she kill the baby because we couldn't afford it, because there would have been too many of us?"

His father shook his head and began to cry harder. He hugged Todd closely as his tears overtook him.

"I don't know, Toddy. I don't know."

Todd was led back to his room, a glass of milk and two chocolate chip cookies were placed by his bedside.

"I have to go clean up mommy now. You try to get some sleep."

Todd couldn't sleep. He sat up and listened to the police and the paramedics trapsing through his home. He heard his grandparents come. Heard their desperate tears. Then he heard sounds that he would never forget, wet sticky sounds as his mother's body was moved. The worst of it was what he heard his father say to his grandfather as they stood in the hallway just outside of Todd's room.

"I don't know why she would do this. Rachael was against abortion." It was his grandfather's voice.

"The baby wasn't mine. I didn't even know she was pregnant. I've just been working so hard. I-I don't know how I didn't notice. She had to be at least eight months. I was just always so tired when I came home."

"What do you mean it wasn't yours?"

"Rachael and I had decided not to have any more children. Two years ago, I had a vasectomy. I think it was somebody at the church. I think she must have had an affair."

"That can't be."

"I would have forgiven her. I would have. She didn't have to..."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I'm sterile."

There was a pause and Todd's bedroom door opened. The two men peeked into Todd's room to make sure he was still asleep. Todd held the covers up over his face and didn't move. He didn't move again until he was sure that he and his father had been left alone.

Chapter Five

Todd looked forward to going to work now. He was on a mission. A one-man mission to stop the spread of humanity one child at a time. The second day was not nearly as successful as the day before had been.

A black lady with two kids, one a teenager and one a toddler, came in. Her name was Sandra Watson. She was tall and beautiful and unmarried and pregnant. Her skin was a light coffee color, cappuccino, and her eyes were green. Her hair was long and braided in cornrows. Todd looked at her application. She was 31-years-old. She must have been about 15

when she'd had her first child.

Ms. Watson's unemployment had run out and she'd started working for a temp agency. Then she'd gotten pregnant. She was looking for welfare, food stamps, and WIC, while she went to nursing school.

"That's great that you're in nursing school. It must be hard being pregnant and already being a mom and still working part-time."

"Yeah, it's difficult. But Jamal helps out. I work for a temp agency during the day and my sister watches the babies.

She works at night. Then Jamal babysits for me after school so I can go to school."

"You're lucky then."

"Yeah, he's the man of the house now."

Todd looked over at the shy young kid. He had a caramel complexion with a mixture of African and Caucasian features. Thick lips but a thin nose. Hazel eyes and high cheekbones. He had obviously inherited his mother's good looks. His hair was cut short, almost to the skin. He wore a baggy T-shirt and name brand jeans that hung off of his hips. Both looked new. He had a silver chain around his neck and an expensive looking watch. Todd wondered how the kid could afford to dress so well if his mother was barely working.

"Does Jamal work?"

There was a moment of hesitation.

"Does Jamal have a job? On your application you put yourself down as the sole income for the family."

The woman turned to look at her son and she saw exactly what Todd had seen. There was no way she could lie.

"Ms. Watson?"

"He-he just has a little part-time job after school. It's nothing really. It's just so he can buy his school clothes." There was desperation in her voice.

"Where does he work?"

"UPS."

"My father used to work for UPS. They pay pretty well don't they? How much do you make, son?"

Todd saw the woman turn to her son and give him a look as if she were trying to will him to lie.

"Ten dollars an hour."

Todd scribbled some notes on their application.

"Wow. That's pretty good. What do you do there?"

"I load boxes onto the trucks."

"That's good hard work there, son. That's man's work. You should be proud of yourself. My dad used to drive the forklift. How many hours a week do you work?"

Ms. Watson looked terrified.

"Twenty, including weekends."

"So, you make about $200 a week?"

The boy nodded.

Todd looked at the woman and shook his head.

"I'm sorry. But there's no way I can approve your application. With both of you working part-time you make too much money. Now I can approve you for WIC and maybe some food stamps but I can't give you a check."

"But that's not fair! I have a baby on the way. You're punishing me for working? So, if I was one of these lazy-ass bitches who just leeched off the system forever and never tried to make something of themselves then you'd approve me no problem then, huh? This is bullshit!"

She picked up her purse and prepared to leave.

"Come on, kids."

Todd held up a hand and waved her back into her seat.

"Wait. There might be something else I can do for you."

Ms. Watson turned and looked at him suspiciously then eased herself back down into the seat, letting the purse slip from her shoulder back into her lap.

"Look, you're going to school, trying to build yourself a career and give your kids a good life. I admire that. It's rare to see that sort of thing around here. That baby is only going to complicate things for you. If you'd consent to an abortion and then have a tubaligation I'll forget about Jamal's job and qualify you for monthly assistance."

"What the fuck did you just say?"

"I know you're already in your second trimester but there are doctors who can still do it safely."

"I can't believe this shit. What is this? Some sort of government genocide program? Trying to sterilize all the niggers so we can't reproduce?

Wipe us all out in a couple of generations?"

"No, I'm afraid you've misunderstood me."

"No. I understand you perfectly, White man! You want to kill my baby! You sick-ass peckerwood motherfucker!"

She was getting loud. Other people were starting to look over at Todd's cubicle.

"Please, calm down. Lower your voice."

"Why? You don't want all of these people to know what the government is up to? They are trying to bribe you to have an abortion! They don't want no more niggers being born!"

"This isn't a conspiracy. You just misunderstood me."

"I didn't misunderstand shit!"

Todd stood up and gestured toward security over the clear plastic wall of his cubicle. They were already on their way and when they saw Todd they rushed forward blocking the cubicle.

"Come with us, ma'am. We're going to have to ask you to leave the building."

"Don't fucking touch me! You'd better not touch me."

"No one is going to touch you."

"Come on, Jamal!"

She stormed out of Todd's cubicle casting one last look over her shoulder at him.

Todd collapsed down into his chair. Shaken. There was a line of applicants standing outside his cubicle. He didn't know if he had the strength to face them.

"Todd? Are you okay?"

Todd looked up. It was his supervisor, Elizabeth Santiago. She was in her forties, attractive, though a bit overweight, with long curly black hair that came down to mid-back, large breasts and hips and a large ass that she seemed to be embarrassed of. She always wore skirts and a blazer and Todd had never seen her without her shirt buttoned all the way up to the top regardless of the weather. She was the most uptight woman he'd ever met.

"Yes. I'm okay. I just need a moment. I'll be fine."

"Did she attack you?"

"No. I'm fine."

"What was that all about?"

"I found out that her son had a job and she hadn't disclosed that on her application. I had to turn her down and she got upset."

"Yeah, I'd say she was upset. What was all of that about the government wanting her to have an abortion?"

Todd shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his desk.

"I guess she thought that was her only option if she couldn't get welfare."

"These people. You'd think they'd consider all of that before they ran off and got themselves pregnant. There is such a thing as birth control." She shook her head and turned her back on Todd as she walked out of his cubicle.

For the rest of the day Todd did his job as he had done it the last six years but no more pregnant women had come in so that had made it easier. He wasn't sure what he would have told the next pregnant woman that came in. He kept thinking about what Heimlich had said about one human being responsible for the death of 100 animals a year and the loss of over an acre of trees. He didn't know if it was in him to stand by and do nothing. Then Terrence Mohammed walked into his cubicle.

Terrence was a six-foot-seven, two-hundred and sixty-pound, former high school basketball star who had flunked out before graduation and ruined any chance he'd ever had of a college scholarship or ever entering the NBA. Now he was almost thirty and had four children by three different women. He wasn't married to any of them but he was paying child support to all three of them.

"I want to take care of my kids. I just don't know how I can take care of all of them and still feed myself."

Todd wondered how many children a guy like this could potentially produce in his lifetime? He could almost see all those millions of potential kids pooled in his scrotum, waiting to attack some unsuspecting ovum. Statistics from Heimlich's book began to run through Todd's head. The average adult male had 2.3 children but if they didn't graduate from college they were 38% more likely to produce more than five children. Black men were 25% more likely than whites to produce more than four children in their lifetime. This man was a walking baby factory. Everything about him disgusted Todd. He imagined those old Catholic families that used to have twelve and thirteen kids. He shuddered visibly.

"I have a proposition for you that might just help you out."

Todd smiled and Terrence smiled back at him.

"Have you ever considered having a vasectomy?"

"What? You mean cut my nuts off ?"

"No. Not exactly. It's a procedure where they cut the vas deferentia or sperm ducts and then seal them with stitches or by cauterizing the ends. It's perfectly safe and these days there's very little pain and of course, you'd still be able to function sexually just without the risk of unwanted children."

Terrence laughed.

"Man, you trippin'. You want me to let some fool cut into my nuts and stitch them bitches closed?"

"In a manner of speaking. It's perfectly safe and it will keep you from making any more babies that you can't afford to feed. If you go ahead and have the procedure, I'll go ahead and qualify you to receive government assistance and I might even forget about the warrant out for your arrest for back child support."

It was a bluff of course. Todd had no way of knowing if the man was current on his child support or not.

"Man, I pay my child support. I ain't one of them deadbeat dads. Ain't no warrants out for me. All my baby-mommas love my black ass. And what happens if I get married some day and my wife wants kids? What am I supposed to tell her? That I sold my nuts for a welfare check? Come on, dude. I ain't goin' out like that."

"Well, then I'm afraid there's not much I can do for you."

Todd was furious. He could barely look at the man. This guy already had four kids and he was seriously considering having more. Todd put together a plan in his head as quickly as he could. He was sure that he was making mistakes, mistakes that would get him caught. But this was an emergency and risks had to be taken.

"I can offer you some job training and placement. Here's the address of a guy who's hiring sales trainees. They pay really well and you'll be drawing a paycheck while you're in training. You just need to go to his house today at six. If you're late or if you don't show up then just rip this address up. This guy has a pretty busy schedule and there are a lot of people trying out for this position. I'm going to put a good word in for you though so if you show up you'll be almost guaranteed to get the job."

Todd picked up a sticky note and wrote down the address to his own apartment. He hesitated a moment, trying to decide if he was willing to take it to this level, not knowing what he would do if the big guy showed up on his doorstep. He handed him the paper and the big man took it then grabbed his hand and shook it enthusiastically with a large smile plastered on his face. Todd could see why so many women had fallen for him. Terrence was startlingly handsome and his smile was warm and friendly. He was the type of guy that women wanted to sleep with and men wanted to be friends with. Todd almost felt guilty for what he was planning on doing to the guy.

"I'll be there. Don't worry about that. Thanks, man. Thanks for everything."

"My pleasure."

Todd watched the big man leave. He would need something to bring a guy that size down. Something he could use to control him with. He didn't have anything in his apartment that he thought could do the trick. He'd have to make a stop on the way home. There was a police supply store just a few blocks from the office where he knew he could get a stun gun and some handcuffs. Just a few blocks from there was a medical supply store where he could pick up a scalpel and some catgut for stitches. He wouldn't be able to get any painkillers without a prescription so he'd have to manage without them. He made a mental note to add duct tape to his list. He hoped this wouldn't be too expensive.

He turned over the sign outside his cubicle directing the remaining applicants to the next representative. He was going to take a ten minute break. He logged onto his computer and clicked on the search engine. He typed in "vasectomy step-by-step procedure" and began scribbling down notes.