a stewardess who had had her child was diffident about returning to her original base, she would be quietly transferred to a new one of her own choosing.
In return for all this, the airline asked three assurances from the stewardess---hence the Three-Point Pregnancy Program.
First, the girl must keep the airline personnel department informed of her whereabouts at all times during her pregnancy.
Second, she must agree that her baby be surrendered for adoption immediately after birth. The girl would never know the baby's adoptive parents; thus the child would pass out of her life entirely. However, the airline guaranteed that proper adoption procedures would be followed, with the baby being placed in a good home.
Third---at the outset of the three-point program the stewardess must inform the airline of the name of the child's father. When she had done so, a representative from Personnel---experienced in such situations---promptly sought out the father with the objective of obtaining financial support for the girl. What the personnel man tried to obtain was a promise, in writing, of enough money to cover medical and nursing home expenses and, if possible, some or all of the stewardess's lost wages. Airlines preferred such arrangements to be amiable and discreet. If they had to, though, they could get tough, using their considerable corporate influence to bring pressure on non-cooperating individuals.
It was seldom necessary to be tough where the father of a stewardess's baby was a flying crew member---a captain, or first or second officer. In such cases, gentle company suasion, plus the father's wish to keep the whole thing quiet, were usually enough. As to keeping quiet, the company obliged. Temporary support payments could be made in any reasonable way, or, if preferred, the airline made regular deductions from the employee's pay checks. Just as considerately, to avoid awkward questions at home, such deductions appeared under the heading: "personal misc."
All money received by these means was paid, in its entirety, to the pregnant stewardess. The airline deducted nothing for its own costs.
"The whole point about the program," Demerest said, "is that you're not alone, and there's all kinds of help."
He had been careful of one thing---to avoid any reference, so far, to abortion. That was a separate subject because no airline would, or could, become directly involved in abortion arrangements. Advice on the subject was frequently given unofficially to those who sought it---by stewardess supervisors who learned, through experience of others, how such arrangements could be made. Their objective, if a girl was determined on abortion, was to insure its performance under safe medical conditions, avoiding at all costs the dangerous and disreputable practitioners whom desperate people sometimes resorted to.
Gwen regarded her companion curiously. "Tell me one thing. How is it you know so much about all this?"
"I told you, I'm a union officer..."
"You're part of the ALPA's for pilots. You don't have anything to do with stewardesses---not in that way, anyhow."
"Maybe not directly."
"Vernon, this has happened to you before... getting a stewardess pregnant... Vernon, hasn't it?"
He nodded reluctantly. "Yes."
"It must come pretty easily to you, knocking up stewardesses---those gullible country girls you were talking about. Or were they mostly from 'modest city homes'?" Gwen's voice was bitter. "How many have there been altogether? Two dozen, a dozen? Just give me an idea in round figures"
He sighed. "One; only one."
He had been incredibly lucky, of course. It could have been many more, but his answer was the truth. Well... almost the truth; there was that other time, and the miscarriage, but that shouldn't count.
Outside the car, traffic density was increasing as they neared the airport, now less than a quarter mile away. The bright lights of the great terminal, though dimmed tonight by snow, still filled the sky.
Gwen said, "The other girl who got pregnant. I don't want to know her name..."
"I wouldn't tell you."
"Did she use the thingummy---tbe three-point program?"
"Yes."
"Did you help her?"
He answered impatiently, "I said earlier---wbat kind of a man do you think I am? Of course I helped her. If you must know, the company made deductions from my pay checks. That's how I knew about the way it's done."
Gwen smiled. " 'Personal misc.?' "
"Yes."
"Did your wife ever know?"
He hesitated before answering. "No."
"What happened to the baby?"
"It was adopted."
"What was it?"
"Just a baby."
"You know perfectly well what I mean. Was it a boy or a girl?"
"A girl, I think."
"You think."
"I know. It was a girl."
Gwen's questioning made him vaguely uncomfortable. It revived memories he would as soon forget.