The first thing Vanessa noticed when she awoke, even before she opened her eyes, was the lack of pain. The horrible pain that the cancer had ravaged her body with was totally gone. She opened her eyes. Dr. Menendez was there, smiling.
"Welcome back, Mrs. Kreiger!" she said with wonder in her eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Good!" Vanessa said. "Wow, I can't believe I just said 'Good!' You did it! The treatment worked!" She quickly sat up to really test this newfound freedom from the tyranny of disease. "Amazing!"
The Good Doctor playfully leaned down toward the bed. "I told you!"
"H-how?!" Vanessa stammered.
"My experimental treatment worked! Total eradication. Now, it's time to get up and get back to your life! Your new life! Your family is waiting outside!"
"Send 'em in!"
"It worked, Doc." Phil said. He pointed to the monitor. "Total transfer. She has no idea." Vanessa's digital family happily poured into the room.
Dr. Menendez looked carefully at her CGI counterpart. "You guys didn’t get my hair quite right this time." She sighed. "Another case of cancer cured."
"You’re a genius," Phil said, unenthused.
"I think outside the box!"
"Or, in this case." Phil knocked on the nearby computer tower. "In the box."
"Ha, ha," she said. Her cell phone rang. She answered it. "Yes? Good. The body is ready. You'll just have some papers to sign when you get here. No, don't worry, they don't know…"
Vanessa hugged her daughter more warmly than she ever had before. She had never known such pure joy. She felt so—
Hold on. Something was wrong with her daughter's hair. The texture was wrong. It was too silky. Was she using a new product?
Vanessa smiled. She’d ask about it later.
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