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Janice
Janice busied herself preparing a lunch for herself and Jack before going upstairs to shower and dress. Picnics together were something they had been doing since they were teens and had found a pine grove that was quite secluded even after all these years.
She smiled at her reflection as she brushed her hair and tied it up in a ponytail. The years hadn't been unkind to her, she thought. Sure, her full breasts weren't perky (as if they ever were) and her hips had spread, but she could still excite Jack -- and that was all that mattered.
"Jan, I'm back! You ready?"
"On my way!" she called back, smoothing down the sun dress she'd decided to wear. Easy access, as Jack would say. Grabbing a blanket from the linen closet, she hurried downstairs.
He was standing with his back to her when she walked into the kitchen. Slipping her arms around his waist, she nuzzled his neck, whispering. "Hiya, big boy. Looking for a good time?"
Jack turned to face her, his face pasty white. Alarmed, Janice quickly asked if he was all right. He didn't answer at first. Just held up the letter.
The letter! Janice's stomach lurched as her husband began to speak.
"I heard it on the news. I mean how could I not have? It's been all over the place. I just thought... I hoped... Don't take this the wrong way, baby. I hoped you were too old to be selected."
Janice stood where she was, feeling kind of funny about the age comment. She knew he didn't mean it badly, but it stung all the same. He seemed to forget that it was the plague and his subsequent infertility that had halted them from having a larger family, not her inability to bear more children.
There was no denying the fact that she, along with her friend Devi and women all over the world, would basically be whored out to their sons and brothers. Forced to reproduce for the good of humanity. Her stomach began to churn, but she fought back the bile that rose in her throat.
"Some joke, isn't it?"
There was no mistaking the irony in her voice as Jack stared helplessly into his wife's tear-filled eyes. She'd never been with any man except him and now... Now...
Taking her in his arms, he kissed her forehead. "Everything is going to be all right, Jan. You'll see. The tests are when? Day after tomorrow? Maybe they'll find something wrong. Maybe you won't have to... "
The thought of his wife with another man... let alone their son revolted him, and for a moment Jack Fleming wasn't sure if he felt sorrier for himself or his wife as a mixture of emotions ran through him.
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