Part II
Synopsis: Going to a department store to buy himself a new
suit, Mr. Harfwyt has been told by the manager that he is
out of proportion. He suffers from Anatomical
Extraconfiguration Syndrome, or AES, as well as from
Anatomical Disconfiguration Syndrome, or ADS, both treatable
through medication or surgery.
Mrs. Harfwyt has gone to the library to research the
condition and the serious side effects of the
medication.
Mrs. Harfwyt made a photocopy of the page and took it home to
show her husband.
"I think we should go to a specialist," said Mr. Harfwyt
after studying the paper. "This is too important to be left
to the opinion of a clothing-store manager."
They located an Anatomical Misdevelopment Center in their
area. After undergoing the standard Anatomical Morphometrical
Analysis (AMA), Mr. and Mrs. Harfwyt went for consultation
with Dr. Sczpeschul, Director of the Center.
"Well, Mr. Harfwyt, the AMA confirms our suspicions. I don't
think we should go straight for surgery but first try the
medication for a few months and we'll see if that takes care
of the problem."
Dr. Sczpeschul began writing out a prescription, but Mrs.
Harfwyt interrupted him. "I heard that the medication can
have side effects and can even be dangerous. Is it really so
important that he take the medication?"
Dr. Sczpeschul turned his steel blue eyes on Mrs. Harfwyt.
"Everything has side affects, Mrs. Harfwyt. Do you know how
many people have died from choking on bread? Are you going to
suggest that your husband stop eating bread?"
Mrs. Harfwyt stood her ground before the onslaught. "But I
read in the Quarque Manual..."
"Mrs. Harfwyt," Dr. Sczpeschul broke in, "have you come here
to consult with me or do you expect me to consult with you?"
The sarcasm in his tone was cutting. "I treat thousands of
people a year and I can assure you that no one has died from
the medication. It is as safe as any other medication and if
I had any reservations about its safety, I would not
recommend it."
"Doctor, why wasn't my problem noticed before?" Mr. Harfwyt
asked respectfully.
Dr. Sczpeschul settled back in his chair. "Modern technology
has helped us become more aware of problems such as this. We
can now AMA whole masses of the population and that enables
us to build up a solid database. We can now detect it even in
young children and that enables schools to standardize their
student intake."
"You mean schools are refusing to accept children because
they are the wrong size?" Mrs. Harfwyt blurted out in
shock.
Once again, the doctor lashed out at Mrs. Harfwyt. "Madam,
how would you like to teach a classroom of children of all
different sizes?" He paused for a moment. "And do you know
how much it costs a school to supply school uniforms? Why
should parents of normal children have to pay extra just
because some children are morphologically deficient?
Nowadays, there are plenty of special schools for
misdimensioned children."
Dr. Sczpeschul continued writing out the prescription.
"I suppose you give this medication to children."
Dr. Sczpeschul detected a tone of sarcasm in Mrs. Harfwyt's
voice.
"As a matter of fact, the AMA is enabling us to catch these
problems at very early ages and, of course, we used the
medication proactively to prevent problems occurring when
children grow up. We are actually working on a program to
screen babies immediately after birth." Dr. Sczpeschul's eyes
glazed slightly. "We are working towards a world in which
everyone will be the same size."
He turned sharply to Mrs. Harfwyt. "Do you know how much it
will save the world if everyone is the same size? Billions of
billions of dollars! Imagine! We will only need one size of
clothing -- only one size of furniture -- car seats will not
need to be adjustable -- bicycle seats will be welded to the
frame. The list goes on and on!"
With a flourish, he handed Mr. Harfwyt his prescription and
the couple left the doctor to his dreams.
*
Mr. Harfwyt was one of the few who reacted badly to the
medication. After only a month, he had to discontinue
treatment and they prepared for surgery. The doctors decided
to first perform a phlangeal Reconfiguration for his extra-
long and thin fingers. The operation was successful and on
the way back from the hospital, Mr. and Mrs. Harfwyt
celebrated by buying a pair of gloves.
"Look how well they fit! Look! And they are so
comfortable!"
Mr. Harfwyt had been warned that his fingers would be a
little stiff for a while so he waited a week before taking
his beloved guitar. Unfortunately, his morphologically-
corrected fingers were unable to reach over the strings as
they had before the operation.
"Never mind," consoled Mrs. Harfwyt. "You'll still be able to
paint."
Following the success of the first stage of remorphing, the
doctors proposed a further operation to remorph his body
totally.
After the operation, the surgeon and Dr. Sczpeschul went to
visit Mr. Harfwyt's widow and children during the mourning
period. They expressed their deep regret and condolences and
explained that the operation had been successful but a freak
allergic reaction to the plastic of the intravenous tubing
had triggered a massive heart attack.
*
The local community rallied around Mrs. Harfwyt in her
distress. Two years later, the time came for Mrs. Harfwyt to
look for a high school for her oldest boy. She first applied
to the nearby one. The principal told her that unfortunately,
they were full and could not accept any more pupils. She
applied to one further away but at the interview, the
principal explained that, unfortunately, her son was just too
young and could not be accepted for this year. When she
phoned the more distant school, she was put through to the
principal's secretary who put her on `hold' while she
consulted with her employer. Something seemed to go wrong and
after half an hour, she hung up and tried again. But whenever
she tried to call, it just rang and rang and no one
answered.
Finally, Mrs. Harfwyt went with her son to see Dr. Kindler
who was principal of the Westalix school at the other end of
town and had been an old friend of her late husband.
"I don't understand what's going on, Dr. Kindler. The first
school told me that they were full and couldn't consider any
new applicants. But then they took the child of my neighbor
who applied a few days later. The next school I applied to
told me that my son is too young and then they accepted
another boy who is even younger. The third school seemed to
know who I was and refused to even speak to me. What's going
on? Will you take my son or will he have to stay at home?"
She then burst into tears.
Dr. Kindler waited until she regained her composure. "The
problem is that your son has the same build as your late
husband. He has long legs and arms and a comparatively short
trunk. The latest research has shown that the eye-desk
distance is critical for maximum vision efficiency. Also, the
relationship of the arm to the desk needs to be at a certain
ratio for optimum writing performance. That means that if we
accept your boy into our school, we will have to provide him
with a special split-level desk in order to enable him to
maximize his functioning."
"How much will that cost?" Mrs. Harfwyt interjected. "I am
prepared to pay for however much it costs."
"Mrs. Harfwyt, that is not the issue." Dr. Kindler paused for
a moment, obviously embarrassed at the path the conversation
was taking. "You see, the fact that your son will have a
customized desk will... make him... different!"
"So?" Mrs. Harfwyt's question was pointed.
"Mrs. Harfwyt, you have to understand that some children can
be very cruel. Some years ago, I did accept some misfit
children into my school and the results were not pleasant.
Finally, a group of parents told me that they were not
prepared to allow their children to be in the same class as
misfit children. I made special classes for the misfits but
then my school became known as a school for misfits. I had no
choice but to refer these children to a special school which
had opened in the area."
Mrs. Harfwyt got the message. All of the Harfwyt children are
now attending special schools for children suffering from AES
and ADS. The cost of suitable furniture, clothing and other
customized requirements for these schools has ballooned
because government regulations only allow such items to be
produced by especially trained craftsmen and government
funding of billions of dollars are being channelled to the
schools.
*
Ten years later, we are beginning to see Dr. Sczpeschul's
dream world emerge. Many items are now standardized and
prices have fallen.
Sophisticated AMA screening now shows that the AES and ADS
syndromes affect 35% of the population, and the numbers are
growing daily. Ongoing development of software and hardware
is continuing through research programs backed by a
consortium of drug manufacturers, leading to discoveries of
more and more sub- syndromes which are being found to affect
major sectors of the population.
Treatment through surgery is now rare, due to the development
of a new family of `smart' drugs which can target specific
bones. The optimal size of the bone can be programmed into
the drug and it either increases or decreases the size of the
bone as required. These drugs are very expensive but
government funded programs of several hundred million dollars
are available to help families with children who require
treatment.
Though considered safe in small doses, the AES and ADS drugs
have been found to cause dependency in overdose. Clinics are
open in all the major city areas. The clinics are funded by
the government drug-abuse program with a budget of several
million dollars.
However, educators are becoming increasingly worried by the
fact that surveys are now showing that standards of regular
schools in the arts and in sports are falling rapidly. This
tendency was noticed some years ago and the government is
channeling several million dollars into programs to try and
reverse the trend. Unfortunately, because of financial
limitations, this extra funding is only made possible by
cutting back on funding to the special AES and ADS schools
who have now had to curtail many of their own arts and sports
programs.
From time to time, articles appear in the press claiming that
the AES and ADS labels are leeching society of the most
talented sector of the population. They cite examples of
famous personalities of the past who clearly suffered from
these syndromes. The articles are countered by experts such
as Dr. Sczpeschul who state that these articles are emotional
and are scientifically unfounded.
Other articles bewail the lack of outstanding talent in the
upcoming generation. "Where are the geniuses and brilliant,
innovative minds? All we see is bland mediocrity!"
*
Mrs. Harfwyt scrimped and saved to provide extra tuition for
her children and they are all now accomplished musicians. And
the local kids begrudgingly admit that the Harfwyt children
are the fastest runners in the area.
In an interview, Mrs. Harfwyt explained that she did not feel
any resentment against people like Dr. Sczpeschul. "They are
only doing their jobs and there are some people who are
really disfigured and they have been helped by these new
discoveries," she pointed out. "The store managers and school
principals are also only doing their jobs. They are not in
control of people's feelings and, understandably, they feel
that their first priority is to look after their
establishments. I think that ultimately it is us -- the me's
and you's of society -- who have to take the blame.
"I think that in one hundred years from now, people are going
to look back at us and laugh, be angry and cry. They will
laugh at our stupidity, be angry at our intolerance and cry
over the innocent and talented souls we are destroying."
