“Do you need an English-speaking doctor?” the nurse asks N, in Russian. N looks to me.
“Preferably,” I tell him.
He tells the nurse. She directs us to wait. The waiting room is the size of a church; high ceilings and a lot of glass.
“This is a nice hospital.”
“Mm,” N says.
We wait. In the ugly light of the hall I can see the red rash down my arm. It is an evil thing. It doesn’t itch. I hold my arm up to N. He nods, “you might be dying.”
“I might be dying!”
I sulk while N nods off. Eventually the nurse comes to lead us down the hall and into a small office, there we wait, again.
The door opens. A boy of about nine years old enters. He is wearing a doctor’s coat and a stern look. He shakes my hand. He sits at the desk. I look to N, N shrugs.
“What is wrong?” the boy asks, he lays his arms, one over the other, on the desk. I stare at his tiny hands.
“Well?”
I meet his eyes. “Uh—I am sick.”
He smiles, “of course.”
“I have a rash, and I had something like the flu on Tuesday—no, Monday. On Tuesday I woke up with this rash, and the flu symptoms went away, but the rash and my body hurts and…” I trail off. The boy looks at my arm, he nods.
“Is it on your head?” he asks.
I nod, “yes.”
“You’re shoulders?”
“Yes.”
“Knees?”
“Yes.”
“Toes?”
“Yes, everywhere, the rash is everywhere.”
I unzip my sweatshirt, I am not wearing a T-shirt and he can see how the rash is covering every inch of my body, fighting the hair for dominance.
He nods, doctor-like. He holds up a finger and pulls his cellphone from a big white pocket. We wait. Someone answers on the other end and the boy begins talking fast, in Russian. I don’t catch much. I hear the word “syphilis” and turn to N. N is listening closely and doesn’t acknowledge me. So, I try to translate for myself. As the conversation winds down. I hear the boy say “I don’t know. I haven’t seen anything like this in fifteen years.” After that the boy says “mhm, yes, mhm, super, okay,” before hanging up the phone. He spins his chair to me and places both of his tiny hands on each of his tiny knees and sighs.
“I am 95% sure, you are okay.”
He smiles.
I don’t.
“It is a flu. I am 98% sure, it is only flu. It comes from your nose, boop.” He taps his own nose.
I frown. “What?”
“Nose.” The boy touches his own nose, and then whispers, “boop.”
I frown.
“Did you—”
“You need to clear your nose, boop,” the boy says. He pokes his own nose. “Boop,” he whispers. “I will prescribe you some nasal spray and you need to go for walks and you should get better soon. But, just in case I am wrong. I am 97% sure—only flu. But I don’t want to miss something, so you wait for specialist?”
N says, “yes,” before I can respond. The boy stands up and nods. He walks out of the door. When it is shut, I zip up my sweatshirt.
“What the fuck was that?” I ask N.
He looks as confused as me. “We need to wait for the specialist, I guess.”
“Shit.”
“Mhm.”
Twenty minutes later, the door opens. The boy has returned, a girl is with him. She can’t be older than 8. Her hair is cut short, framing a set of narrow glasses.
“Up,” she tells me. She motions for me to unzip my sweatshirt. I do. She walks around me, poking, moving her glasses up, and then down her nose. She pokes my belly button, professionally. She giggles.
“Did he check your eyes?” she asks up at me.
I look down. “Yes.”
“You’re ears?”
“Yes.”
“Mouth?”
“Yes.”
“And nose?”
From behind me I catch a half-hearted “boop.”
“Yes.”
“Hm,” she ponders. “Okay.”
She mimes zipping my sweatshirt up. I do. I sit. She turns to the other doctor, the boy. They speak in Russian. I try to listen. Again, I hear the word, “syphilis.”
“Did she just say syphilis?”
“Yes,” N tells me.
I throw up my arms. “How the fuck would I get syphilis. I don’t even have the time or energy to get syphilis!”
N nods, “I know.”
“Excuse me, I am sorry I don’t have the time to go out getting syphilis, so unless my girlfriend has more time on her hands than me, it’s not that.”
Both doctors turn to N. N translates. They begin to look even more concerned. They speak to N now. They speak for a while. I wait.
Finally, he turns to me. “They think you might have measles.”
They let me have an oh-fuck moment before continuing.
“You shouldn’t leave the hospital until another specialist arrives.”
“Mhm.”
“Shouldn’t?”
“Ehh,” N says.
“Can’t?”
“Warmer.”
“Great.”
I look to the child doctors and give them a thumbs-up.
They mime it back, with their tiny little hands.
**my whole doctor’s visit was longer than this. If you like this story and want me to write a part two, let me know in the comments below**
I’m not sure about this, Is this a satirical poke at doctors, after all it takes a minimum of eight years training and you get a prescription for paracetamol for everything. then if the condition persists its off for a deeper consultation, perhaps eight weeks later, then a prescription for Iron tablets. so on goes the cycle until you have a shelf full of pills and addicted, then you get ill.
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Funny enough, the doctors were russian and didn’t speak english very well which made them come off like children because of the simple language and they were very shy. So Nikita mentioned that and it got in my head and so I wrote this story with that in mind. I can see how it could be interpreted in different ways but it just comes from that.
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It’s weird and I like it – would definitely read a second part! 😀
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Glad you liked it. I’ll start working on part 2 soon
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I would like to read the second part . No one likes to go to the doctor. The older we get, the more often we have to go and the more younger the doctor becomes, in relation to us….😟
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very true. people usually have to drag me to the doctor. I hate going. I’ll write the second part soon.
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Of course you need to write a second part! What does he have? Why do the doctors have tiny hands? I need to know.
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Haha alright I will. Their hands are just tiny because they are children.
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I kinda thought so but was not 100% sure. I have quite been enjoying your stories.
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I have to know what happened…
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Alright, I’ll work on it this weekend. Thank you for reading.
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look forward to the sequel…
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Please write it ……..
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Looking forward to a conclusion of some sort. I know measles smell, so boop!
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alright, I will get to it asap, promise.
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Yeah I had been sick so I think smelly would have accompanied any disease. I will get to part two soon.
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Part 2! Part 2!
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Yes yes part 2 please! And thank you!
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I love how I need to figure out your stories. I sometimes cheat and scan the comments section.
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