When Eleanor Caine finds out her three-year old son Jaxson, her only child, has a terminal and supposedly incurable inherited disease, she fears all is lost. But when she discovers Miracle Institute online, offering to cure incurable diseases for an exorbitant price, she discovers that the cost of love is higher than she thought it was.
With the promise of a 99% success rate, Eleanor stretches her credit to the max to afford to be able to take Jaxson to Miracle Institute to be cured. Unfortunately, after Jaxson becomes the unsuccessful 1% part of the 99% success rate equation, Eleanor demands answers.
Moral of the story: Be careful what you wish for. You might just get it…
This short story is Darren Camp's Sci-Fi tribute to O. Henry, master of stories with ironic endings, and was originally an unsuccessful submission to Asimov's Sci-Fi Magazine.
