Gabe had moped around for so long that his showing interest in any woman made Ms. Martin the happiest mother in America. Seeing Kate with Mattie sealed the deal for her. She and Kate had become fast friends which in turn made Gabe happy. Everyone was happy, but me. I was starting to get on my own nerves.
Kate had been under the weather for several days. In caring for her, I’d become sick as well. I was surprised that Gabe wasn’t coming down with it, considering all their kissing- in front of me- like teenagers. We quarantined ourselves in my room, away from Mattie. Ms. Martin made us some delicious chicken soup to cure what ailed us. We were a sight. Luckily, our fevers cycled together. We threw the covers off and replaced them at precisely the same time. We were the cleanest sick women in the history of the world. Since we couldn’t breathe, we’d spend most of the day and night in my steam shower, wearing our bathing suits and drinking Gatorade. I was selfishly enjoying being sick with her since we rarely saw each other anymore. We reminisced about college life and had many healing laughs. She began to improve and left me. That was becoming a recurring theme.
I was starting to get over my head and chest cold, but my stomach had other dastardly plans. Most everything I ate came back up looking exactly the same as when I ate it. I was withering away and felt weak. Kate wanted to call Henry and tell him, but that was ridiculous. I obviously needed to reign in my need to be rescued. She did the next best thing- she called Tommy. He threatened to come for a week if I didn’t go to the doctor. Considering my options, I agreed.
Gabe called and made an appointment with a physician he knew in town. I didn’t have much choice about accepting his charitable act, but I wasn’t about to let them accompany me as they had hoped. I called back and changed my appointment to an earlier time.
I took a shower before leaving for the doctor. I considered drying my hair and applying makeup, but I just couldn’t bring myself to put forth the effort. I threw on a pair of sweats, my flip-flops, and was out the door. My head was pounding. My stomach was killing me. This virus should have already run its course.
I followed Gabe’s directions and managed not to get lost. After parking, I sat in my car deciding whether or not I really needed to go in. The only thing that made me get out of the car was the fact that Gabe would check up on me. Plus, Kate had made herself in charge of filling my prescriptions. She probably wouldn’t buy that he didn’t write for any medicine, with how I looked.
The office was crowded. People were coughing. I could just picture their germ droplets landing on my face which made me queasy. The chairs were made of fake tan leather slings and were extremely uncomfortable. I signed in and took the only seat left. I was sandwiched between two men. One was wearing a bottle of cologne and the other kept sneezing. I quickly filled out the three pages of paperwork, hoping that it would expedite my exodus into the promised land of the back office. The doctor now knew everything about me that I did. I returned the clip board and was about to collapse in the chair when the nurse called my name.
She led me to a room and instructed me to put on a gown and get on the examining table. I didn’t. I couldn’t see the point of removing my clothes when I was already freezing. I laid it back on the table and sat in the chair against the wall. She returned to take my vital signs and gave me that look. I had joined the ranks of the other sick and uncooperative patients making her job a nightmare. After jamming a long cotton ball on a stick down my throat, she regurgitated the answers I had written down on the questionnaire. She gave me a cup for a urine sample, instructed me where to leave it, showed me to the restroom, and told me to go back to the exam room when the task was completed. It was a lot of information to remember, but I complied, hoping to make it on the good patients’