53 Months

On a dive one day Leona discovers a brooding G. boreopacifica, Octavia, and embarks on a once-in-a-career opportunity to document in real time the longest known gestation period on earth. As time passes and Leona earns Octavia’s trust, Leona begins to prioritize time underwater with Leona over time on land with her husband, Gary, who doesn’t want to wait 53 months to start a family. Two years into Octavia’s gestation, Roe v Wade gets overturned and Leona’s feelings about being a mother on land become more fraught. Around the same time, Leona observes Octavia’s egg growth reach a plateau. Heartbroken at the prospect of telling Octavia or watching her sacrifice herself for eggs that will never hatch, Leona has an idea. If she can get Octavia swimming and eating, perhaps she can retrigger her metabolism, reverse senescence, and give Octavia a new lease on life. Against all odds, Octavia trusts Leona to egg-sit and begins going for daily swims. A few weeks in, Leona realizes she, herself, is pregnant and must travel to a different state to get an abortion. Liberated from the unwanted pregnancy, Leona tries to convince Octavia that she, too, is worth more than clumps of cells, but learns that intelligence doesn’t necessarily translate to a concept of self or a sense of purpose beyond reproduction. The only thing that makes human beings more than clumps of cells is our ability to make choices. Every person with a uterus has the right to determine for themselves how they relate to cell growth inside that uterus.