After the doctor made the call, he heard the beeping ring tone and then suddenly a click, before the ringing continued.
"That's odd," the doctor said.
"What?" Trevor asked.
The doctor held up his finger, motioning Trevor to wait a moment. "Yes, hello. This is Dr. Forrest. I'm calling on behalf of the ReAllocation Program that your son has been enlisted in." He paused for a second. "Uh huh. Yes. So, you already know about this. And this signature is genuine?" the doctor asked, holding up the form in front of him. "Yes, I understand. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me." The doctor hung up.
Trevor did nothing but stare at the doctor throughout the entire conversation. He couldn't believe it. His own dad really did sign that fucking form. Trevor saw the phone number that the doctor used. It was his house number. So that was definitely someone who lived there. But he still couldn't believe it. But maybe that's because he didn't want to believe it.
The doctor leaned forward on his desk and looked directly at Trevor. "There's no mistake. You are supposed to be here." Then he sat back. "The process is simple and takes no longer than ..."
"I'm not doing it," Trevor said.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. I'm not fucking doing this."
The doctor sighed. "Then we'll have to do this the hard way," he said, as he took a needle out of one of his desk drawers.
Rick Sheppard looked up from the phone. "Please say I don't have to do that again," he told the principal.
"Not too many more times."
"Simon, this is wrong," Rick said, standing up and beginning to pace the room. "If anyone finds out about this ..."
"No one will find out."
"We already lied to the police and now we're lying to the ReAllocation Center. Who's next? The mayor?"
"Would you relax? Everything is going to be alright. I mean, it's not like we're doing anything really wrong. We're getting rid of troublemakers. Just imagine. A year from now, we could have the best school in the state ... or maybe even the country."
"Or the world?" Rick asked sarcastically. "Simon, no matter how much you justify it, it's still wrong."
Simon sighed. "You just don't have vision, like I do. You can't see the benefits that this will bring to the school."
"The ends justify the means?" Rick asked.
"In this case ... yes."
Rick fell into his chair and slumped.
"Cheer up, Rick. There's only another half a dozen to go."
