Mrs Little, however, was not as comfortable as her husband, and she hoped the stress and strain of their new life would not have any effect on her first child which was done very soon. Despite the apparent safety of the shelter, she was obviously very worried about the effect of the radiation on her unborn baby, but her husband assured her that there was no possibility of its being deformed in any way through this cause. She listened to his reasoning, his explanations of the thick walls around them which were giving them the greatest amount of protection possible, and, in her mind, she was calmed. But, in her heart, she wasn't. She was afraid, afraid of the future, afraid that the baby would have something wrong with it, maybe six toes on each foot, maybe one arm shorter than the other. She couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that somehow something would be wrong.
As the day came closer, Andrea Little's fear grew, until John was quite alarmed. Nothing he could say or do had much effect on her, and he was afraid the prolonged confinement underground was proving too much for her.
However, one day she suddenly changed. She was almost a new person. She seemed to have no fear of fallout at all and was even more confident than a mother-to-be in normal circumstances. After this amazing change she appeared to be quite happy and content with the strange life she was living, although she did appear to be a bit vague. Often when John was talking to her he realised she was not listening to him, and he had to repeat many things that he said. On the whole it was as if she had been carrying a terrible problem in her mind, and had at last solved it, in the end being too worn-out to understand the answer anyway.
It was not long after this that the child was to be born. When the day came Dr Little made all the necessary preparations and arrangements with a strange fear in his heart which he could not quite place. Perhaps it was just that his patient was the woman who was married to him, but he just couldn't be sure. He couldn't help feeling that something was wrong. Fortunately his wife apparently did not share these feelings and was very calm. At last Dr Little delivered the baby . . . then broke down and wept.
How could he tell her? He could think of new easy way to break the terrible news. The only way would be to let her see for herself. The time he dreaded came much too soon when she woke up and asked to see the baby. He tried to put it off, but at last she insisted. He told her to brace herself for a shock, then brought in the new-born baby boy and showed him to Andrea.
"Why there's nothing wrong with him," said Andrea. She counted its toes and fingers twice to make sure it was normal in every way. "Nothing at all wrong with him."
"But, Darling," replied John. "Can't you see it? This has never been known to happen before in the history of Science. Some kind of radiation must have penetrated the shelter and had an extraordinary effect on our unborn baby. Can't you see what's wrong with him?"
"No dear! It's just a normal, living human being like we are."
"Andrea, there are some things so glaringly obvious that we just don't see them. We worry about little details but miss the important facts, the big picture. You look at this child and see absolutely nothing wrong with it. I believe you'd live for years with him and never notice, if I didn't tell you. You can't see what is staring you in the face. Unfortunately it's up to me to tell you the terrible truth. Andrea, the baby's head is on back-to-front!"
"John, I hate to tell you this, but . . . I know! It must be something to do with the fallout - what you were saying about not realising - it took me a long time to notice it, but - but, darling, our heads are also facing the wrong way!"