Brenda Cole slid open the glass panel and tapped the counter with the tip of her blue ballpoint pen.

“Vivian Brooks,” Brenda called.

I walked up to the counter and set my state insurance card on the Formica.

“I’m scheduled for a twenty-four-week scan with Dr.

Thorne,” I said.

Brenda took the card, ran it through the magnetic reader beside her computer, and watched the red light flash on the side of the machine.

She clicked her ballpoint pen twice and typed the nine-digit policy code in by hand.

“This policy comes up locked,” Brenda said, looking up from her monitor.