Showdown in Choctaw County

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Rebecca doesn’t move. Sara looks up from the couch and says hi. He had been worried about how they would receive him. White men who work for the government aren’t always greeted warmly around here. But there is a loose confidence to Sara’s smile, and the casual way she continues changing her son’s diaper puts him at ease.

DeShazo says that he’s brought some supplies and then sits down and asks Sara if she’s got any income.

"Nothing but food stamps," she says, seemingly unfazed.

"How about Rebecca?"

"She got a disability check."

"How long has Rebecca been like that?" deShazo asks, nodding toward the kitchen.

"She’s been real sick for three days now," Sara answers. "Something’s messing with her eyes."

DeShazo feels a twinge of fear. He thinks that she probably has contracted CMV, normally a relatively benign virus, but one that can blind AIDS patients.

"You getting any medicine, Sara?" deShazo asks.

"I get medicine while I’m pregnant, but I save it," she says. "I ain’t going to get no more when I have the baby."

DeShazo’s head starts to spin. "You pregnant again, Sara?" he asks. He was so relieved to see her carrying weight.

Sara smiles, shakes her head as if she can’t believe he couldn’t tell, and says, "Seven months."

DeShazo’s questions begin to tumble out faster and with more urgency. "Y’all still seeing those doctors in Waynesboro?" he asks.

"Yeah, but I missed my last two appointments because I didn’t have no way to get there," she says.

Rebecca still hasn’t uttered a word. She coughs again—a coarse hack. Sara tells deShazo that she was turned down for Medicaid before she got pregnant. He figured as much. In Alabama you have to be over 65 years old or prove you are blind or disabled. In his experience, most people aren’t able to get the help they need unless a lawyer or a professional advocate is working their case. Rebecca stumbles into the room and collapses on a couch next to the door. She has white flecks of spittle on her mouth and chin.

Sara’s pregnancy has deShazo worried that she might have infected others. He asks Sara if her boyfriend has been tested. He tested negative a year ago, she says, but he hasn’t been retested since she got pregnant again. (He’s now in prison.) And, as far as she knows, Rebecca’s boyfriend hasn’t been tested at all. "My boyfriend takes some of my medicine," Sara says, "just to be careful." DeShazo feels a flush of anger. He can’t believe these sisters are having unprotected sex and that they think feeding them AZT is going to keep their boyfriends safe. They could be starting a small epidemic.

As for the toddlers, Benny and William, Sara tells deShazo that they were tested a few months ago. This is good news, but it doesn’t mean they are all right. Small children need to be tested repeatedly before it can be absolutely determined that they didn’t contract the disease from their mothers.

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