"Hi," she said with a smile, "I'm Dr. Connolly. Welcome to the Dorian Institute. We're all very excited about having you here."
"Deb, come in," Ellen said seeming slightly startled "Is there something we forgot to—"
"No, I just need to take one hundred fifty milliliters of blood. We've got to get started on the cultures we'll be using
ASAP."
"Hang on a second" Ally said. "I was hoping to talk this over a bit more with Dr. Van de Vliet before I take the final leap."
"You're free to dither as much as you like," Dr. Debra
Connolly said, her smile vanishing, "but our programs are on a schedule."
"I'd still—"
"I'll just be taking a small amount of blood. We can then get started on the cultures while you talk." She was already swabbing Ally's arm and feeling for a vein. "Now make a fist."
Ally hated giving blood and to distract herself she glanced around the office, trying to construct a life story for Dr. Karl Van de Vliet. Then she noticed a photo of him and a woman standing together on a bridge, next to a sign that said Charles river, which meant Boston, and they were holding hands and smiling.