A nurse in a white gown called out my name. She was wearing a mask and sounded like she swallowed the last few words in her sentence. I stood up and walked towards the metal door. I looked at it as I grasped the white handle. There was a glass in the middle and had the name of the doctor stickered to it in large red letters. The door squeaked open.
“When was the last time I visited a doctor? Was it two years ago when I cracked my toe?” I whispered to myself.
“Sit down, son. What’s the problem” said the doctor, I stared at his long nose. His specs were hanging there mid-way like a carelessly parked car.
“oh, hi. hm… When I climb stairs, I run out of breath” I started looking up at the whitewashed ceiling and yellow light. There was a picture of the doctor on the wall, he was holding up a trophy. “Also, when I wake up in the morning, I feel so tired and dizzy and what not”
“Ah, well, I see” He put the end of his stethoscope on my back. The thing was so cold to the touch. “Breathe boy, breathe fully” he instructed me.
I tried my best to fill my lung sac, but he wasn’t satisfied. “Is that all you’ve got?”
I tried again, with another deep breath this time, devouring the chill air and along with it, the smell of the jasmine-scented floor cleaner, a faint odor of anesthetic, the freshly painted wall, and even the cologne the doctor was wearing… and then… and then I coughed uncontrollably from the acrobatics.
“hm.. that’s bad”
The doctor walked back to his seat, picked up his ball pen, and started scribbling on his notepad. He then tore off the piece of paper with red squiggly sentences on it.
“That would be 500 for consultation. You can pay it at the reception outside”
I smiled, wished the doctor a good day, and walked out of the door. My specs fogged up as if I just ventured out of a refrigerator.
I unfolded the piece of paper.
“Exercise daily. Meet me again next month”
A Lonely Fish BLog 