We Four

WE FOUR WARREN GORMAN, M.D.' A bright four-year-old boy, watching his mother who was due to deliver in two weeks, suddenly asked her, pointing to her fullfront, "Does the baby in there get thirsty?" His mother sat down on the sofa as the boy squatted on the floor. In her warm manner she explained that the new baby did not get thirsty because he was fed all the water he needed through his belly button from inside her belly. The boy listened, his eyes twinkling with interest, as she explained the functioning ofthe umbilical circulation. Then, without a word, he got up and went to his toy box, where he assembled an attractive little bed, while his mother beamed. Soon afterward, when his father came home, the mother told him of her accomplishment. "Goodjob," the father said, "especially for a Bryn Mawr literature major, but let's take another angle." Getting out a pair of identical cups as he prepared a drink ofwater for his son and tea for himself , he sat down with his son for a man-to-boy talk. "You're the first and oldest ofmy children, Dickie, and you always will be. Mommy will always love you, too, even though pretty soon she'll have a lot ofwork to do for the new baby. That's what she did for you, when you were too little to remember. She even taughtyou how to drink from a cup." The boy walked over to his mother, who had been watching in the kitchenette doorway, to take her hand firmly as he guided her back to the sofa. "Sitdownnow, Mommy," thelittleboy said, "Daddy and Iwill take care ofyou." * Present address: 5602 Nauni Valley Drive, Scottsdale, Arizona 85251. I68 Warren Gorman · We Four Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Winter 1970 ...