Prizes by Erich Segal Read Free Book Online Page B

coats.”
    “They certainly weren’t,” Adam grinned. “Still, they were sending very friendly smiles in our direction.”
    “
Your
direction. I’ve no illusions about my looks. But let’s get upstairs. I want to talk to you about an important project.”
    “Something new? How long have you been hiding it from me?”
    “Oh, about ten years.” And there was something about Max’s tone of voice that sounded as if he was not exaggerating.
    Thirty minutes later they were locked within the glass-walled partitions of Max’s office.
    “This is very difficult for me to discuss,” the older man began uneasily. “Tell me truthfully, have you come across any rumors about why Lisl and I didn’t have children?”
    “That’s none of my damn business.”
    “Decency never slowed the circulation of juicy gossip, my boy. Do you mean to tell me that you’ve never heard it whispered in the corridors that I didn’t have a family because it would distract me from my research?”
    Adam looked his boss in the eye and said with conviction, “First of all, I’ve never heard it—and most of all, I don’t believe it for a minute.”
    “I’m glad,” Max responded, “The truth is, we both desperately wanted a baby. And in fact Lisl was pregnant at least fourteen times.”
    “Fourteen?”
    “Well, a great number of them ended so early that only a doctor could have determined that she’d been pregnant at all. There didn’t seem to be anybody in our illustrious OB/GYN Department who could shed light on the matter. So I took the investigation into my own hands.
    “I soon discovered that there was a sizable number of women who go through this agony many times before giving up completely. It’s a catastrophe that haunts them through their whole life. And a mystery which, to thisday, remains unsolved.” He looked up for a moment, his face flushed with emotion.
    “Max, think of all the nights we’ve worked together in the lab, spilling out our hearts to each other. How come you never once mentioned this to me?”
    “I didn’t want to burden you with something that neither of us could do anything about. But I’ve been gathering data over nearly ten years.”
    “All that time behind my back?”
    Max nodded. “I’ve been moonlighting in the Marblehead Gynecological Clinic, specializing in patients with repeated miscarriages.” He patted his computer and said, “Everything’s in here. All I need is the benefit of your brain.”
    “Okay, boss. But I still sense that if Batman’s calling Robin, it means he’s already on the trail of a solution.”
    “As a matter of fact, I am, Boy Wonder. Naturally, I’ll give you the printouts, but I think you’ll agree with my basic hypothesis: that these unexplained miscarriages might result from the woman rejecting the fetus as a foreign body, the way early transplant patients rejected hearts and kidneys.
    “My experiments with mice have shown that certain females carry their own antigens, which are toxic to the baby.” He lowered his head sadly and murmured, “I am afraid my little Lisl is that kind of mouse.”
    “You must have suffered a great deal,” Adam whispered, unable to hide his sadness.
    “No. She suffered—I just endured.” And then, regaining his gruff tone of voice, he ordered, “Now, let’s get to work, shall we? Your computer’s already hooked to my database, so all you have to know is the password.”
    “Which is?”
    “You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure that one out.”
    “ ‘Blintzes’?”
    “You have great scientific instinct.”
    “Thanks.”
    “What are you thanking me for, dear boy? I’ve just saddled you with a problem of enormous magnitude.”
    “I know,” Adam conceded, “but it makes a difference to be working on an experiment and being able to visualize the human being involved.” To which he added softly, “Even though it’s too late for Lisl.”
    With the data, the technicians, and the mice already in place, it