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                                    The Trial

The testimony of Dr. Franklin Collier came before the court that afternoon in the legal context of a hostile witness, questioned by the chief attorney for the Plaintiff.  Ryland Whitley leaned one elbow on a corner of the jurors' box with an air of almost nonchalance.  His dark Saville Row pinstripe made the doctor's polyester plaid look sick.  The doctor didn't look so well himself.  He'd been on the stand for an hour, thus far.

Q:        Dr. Collier, you told us that when you examined Becca Stevens, the

            fetus she was carrying was in the sixteenth week of  gestation; is that

            correct?

A:         Approximately, yes.

Q:        The autopsy showed, in fact, that it weighed 362 grams.  You have

            also testified that, in your experience, viable births have been known

             to take place for fetuses weighing as little as 400 grams.  Is that

             correct?

A:         More or less; right.  Although, if I may add, that small a fetus would 

            usually be so underdeveloped, its chances of survival in the nursery

             would be very slight.

Q:        So that while the fetus may not have had the lung or cardiovascular

            capacity, for example, to survive for very long, the delivery, 

             nevertheless, could be a viable one?

A:         Technically, yes.

Q:        Technically?  What do you mean by that, Doctor?