Strong Medicine (63 page)

said, "I think you'd better start at the beginning."

"All right. I will."

She sensed Seth organizing his thoughts and, while she waited, wondered why

he was calling, and not Sam Hawthorne.

"You remember the reports of damaged babies. Vegetable babies -that awful

word. The reports from Australia, France and Spain?"

:'Of course."

'There have been many more-from those countries and others. So many more,

there can't be any doubt Montayne has been the cause."

"Oh, my God!" Celia's free hand went to her face. Her shocked f

irst thought was: Don't let it be truel This is a bad dream and isn't

happening. I don't want to be proved right, not this awful way. Then she saw

Andrew through the open bathroom door, his face set

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grimly, and noticed the increasing light of dawn outside, and she knew

that what was happening was no dream, but real.

Seth continued, reciting details. ". . . began two and a half months ago

with some scattered reports . . . cases similar to those earlier ones .

. . then the numbers increased . . . more recently, a flood . . . all the

mothers had taken Montayne during pregnancy . . . nearly three hundred

defective births worldwide, so far . . . obviously more to come,

especially in the United States where Montayne has been on sale only

seven months . . ."

Celia closed her eyes as the tale of horror grew. Hundreds of babies who

could have been normal. but now would never think or walk, or sit up

unaided or, through their lifetimes, behave in any normal way . . . And

still more to come.

She wanted to weep bitter tears, to cry aloud in anger and frustration.

But whom to cry to? No one. And weeping and anger were ,useless and too

late.

Could she, herself, have done more to prevent this grisly tragedy?

Yesl

She could have raised her voice after resigning, gone public with her

doubts about Montayne, instead of keeping silent. But would it have made

any difference? Would people have listened? Probably not, though someone

might have, and if one baby had been saved, her elTort would have been

worthwhile.

As if reading her mind from five thousand miles away, Seth said, "All of

us here have asked ourselves questions, Celia. We've had sleepless,

conscience-ridden nights, and there isn't one of us who won't carry some

guilt to his grave. But your conscience can be clear. You did everything

you could. It wasn't your fault your warning was ignored."

Celia thought: It would be so easy and comfortable to accept that view.

But she knew that to the end of her days she would always have doubts.

Abruptly, a new and troubling thought occurred to her.

"Is everything you've told me, Seth, being made widely known? Is there

urgent publicity going out? Have there been warnings to women that they

should stop taking Montayne?"

"Well . . . not exactly in that form. There's been some scattered

publicity, though-surprisingly-not much."

That would account, Celia thought, for the fact that she and Andrew had

heard nothing adverse about Montayne while on their tour.

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Seth went on, "Apparently no one among the news people has pieced the

whole story together yet. But we're afraid it will happen soon."

"You're afraid

Obviously, she realized, there had been no attempt to create massive

publicity, which meant that Montayne was still being sold and used Again

Celia remembered Andrew's report yesterday; in quoting Tano he had spoken

of Montayne "selling like crazy." A shiver ran through her as she asked,

"What has been done about withdrawing the drug and recalling all

supplies?"

Seth said carefully, "Gironde-Chimie have told us they'll withdraw

Montayne in France this week. I understand the British are preparing an

announcement. And the Australian government has already stopped sales

there."

Her voice rose to a shout. "I'm talking about the United States."

"I assure you, Celia, we've done everything the law requires. Every bit

of information coming into Felding-Roth has been passed on promptly to

the FDA in Washington. Everything. Vince Lord attended to that

personally. Now, we're waiting for a decision from FDA."

"Waiting for a decision! In the name of God, why wait? What other

decision can there be but to withdraw Montayne?"

Seth said defensively, "Our lawyers advise us strongly that at this stage

it will be better to have the ruling from FDA first."

Celia was close to screaming. Holding herself in, she replied, "The FDA

is slow. Their machinery could take weeks."

"I suppose that's possible. But the lawyers insist-if we make the

withdrawal on our own, it could be an admission of error and therefore

of liability. Even now, the financial consequences . . ."

"What does finance matter when pregnant women are still taking Montayne?

When unborn babies - . ."

Celia stopped, realizing that argument was useless, that the conversation

was going nowhere, and wondering again why she was talking with the

comptroller and not Sam Hawthorne.

She said decisively, "I must speak with Sam."

"Unfortunately, that isn't possible. At least, not now." An uneasy pause.

"Sam is . . . well, not himself. He has some personal problems. That's

one of the reasons we want you-need youback."

Celia snapped, "Double-talk. What does it mean?"

She heard a long, deep sigh.

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"I was going to tell you this later because I know it will distress you."

Seth's voice was low and sad. "You remember . . . just before you left

us, Sam had a grandchild."

"Juliet's baby. Yes." Celia recalled the celebration in Sam's office in

which she had shared, though she dampened it later with her doubts about

Montayne.

"It seems that when Juliet was pregnant, she suffered a good deal from

morning sickness. Sam gave her Montayne."

At Seth's last words, Celia went icy cold. She had a horrible foreboding

of what was coming next.

"Last week the doctors established that Juliet's baby was adversely

affected by the drug." Seth's voice was close to breaking. "Sam's

grandson is mentally defective and has limbs that won't function-a

vegetable like all the others."

Celia emitted a strangled cry of grief and anguish, then incredulity

replaced it. "How could Sam have done it? At that time Montayne wasn't

approved for use."

"There were physicians' samples, as you know. Sam used them, telling no

one except Juliet. I suppose he had so much faith in Montayne, he assumed

there was no risk. There was some personal involvement too, and maybe

pride. If you remember, Sam acquired Montayne himself from

Gironde-Chimie."

"Yes, I remember." Celia's thoughts were whirling-a m6lange of

frustration, anger, bitterness and pity. Seth interrupted them.

"I said we need you, Celia, and so we do. As you can imagine, Sam is torn

with grief and guilt and, at the moment, isn't functioning. But that's

only part of it. Everything here is a mess. We're like a damaged,

rudderless ship, and we need you to assess the damage and take charge.

For one thing, you're the only one with sufficient knowledge and

experience. For another, all of us-including the board-respect your

judgments, especially now. And, oh yes, you'd come back as executive vice

president. I won't go into the financial arrangements, but they'd be

generous."

Executive vice president of Felding-Roth. Only one rung below the

presidency, and higher than she would have been as vice president of

sales, the promotion she had forfeited by resigning. There was a time,

Celia thought, when the offer just made would have been a cause for

rejoicing, a shining landmark in her life. How strange that suddenly it

meant so little.

"You may have guessed," Seth said, "that some others-a few

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members of the board-are with me, listening to this conversation. We're

waiting here, hoping your answer will be yes."

Celia became aware of Andrew signaling to her from the batbroom. For the

second time since the conversation began, she said into the telephone,

"Wait, please."

Andrew hung up the extension and came out. As before, with her phone

mouthpiece covered, she asked him, "What do you think?"

He told her, "You'll have to make the decision. But remember this: If you

go back, it won't matter that you resigned and have been away. Some of the

Montayne mess and responsibility will rub off on you."

"I know." She considered. "But I was with the company a long time. They

were good years, and now they need me. I'll only go back, though, if . . ."

She returned to the phone.

"Seth, I've listened carefully to what you've said. I will accept, but

under one condition."

"Name it."

"Montayne must be withdrawn from sale by Felding-Roth today, and a public

statement made about its dangers. Not tomorrow, not next week, and no more

waiting while the FDA makes up its mind. Today - "

"Celia, that's impossible. I explained the warnings from our lawyers, the

question of liability. We could be inviting millions of dollars' worth of

lawsuit&---enough to break the company."

"There'll be lawsuits anyway."

"We know that. But we don't want to make the situation worse. Withdrawal is

bound to happen soon. Meanwhile, with you here we could discuss it . . ."

"I don't want it discussed. I want it done. I want it on national TV and

radio today, and in every newspaper in the country within twenty-four

hours. I'll be watching and listening. Otherwise, no deal."

It was Seth's turn to say, "Just a moment."

Celia could hear a muted discussion at the other end. There was some

obvious dissension, then she heard Seth say, "She's adamant," and a moment

later, "Of course she means it. And remember, we need her more than she

needs us."

The debate in New Jersey continued for a few minutes more, most of it

inaudible to Celia. Finally, Seth returned to the phone.

"Celia, your terms are met. What you insist on will be done at

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once- -within the hour. I guarantee it personally. Now . . . how soon

can you be back?"

She told him, "I'll get the first flight out of here. Expect me in the

office tomorrow."

4

They managed to get four coach seats on a United Airlines 747, leaving

Honolulu at 4:50 P.m. The flight was a nonstop to Chicago, where they

would change to another flight due in New York at 9 A.M. local time the

following day. Celia intended to get what sleep she could en route, then

go to Felding-Roth headquarters that same morning.

Lisa and Bruce, who had planned to spend two more days in Hawaii, made

the decision to return east with their parents. As Lisa put it, "We

haven't seen you for so long, we want to be with you as much as we can.

Also, if I'm by myself I know I'll be sad, and probably cry, thinking

about those poor deformed babies."