BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Shadows Of A Perfect Life

e's

as more anxious about going to the doctor's and hopefully getting something that was going to clear up what I hoped was just a run-of-the-mill UTI. It's n

older than I was, gave me a clipbo

my new job, and I haven't received my card in the mail. I did

rd with you the next time you come into the office. You can

ad been a city office, I would have been sitting here waiting for at least 15 minutes,

that led out of the waiting room and into a hallway; to the left was the receptionist's office, and to the ri

ng with Dr. Becker." She secured the blood pressure cuff around my upper

e fewer people in the room when my feet were up in the stirr

snap my arm in half, the pressure was released,

you can change into that gown and the doctor will be right in to see you. And if you c

nder my tongue. Once she was done, she smiled and t

exam table, the paper crinkling underneath me. I sat there and looked around at the off-white walls, the glossy poster with graphics showing the female menstrual cycle, and then another showing a fetus progressing through the months of pregnancy.

gentle tap

throat. "Come

h khaki pants. He had a stethoscope hung sideways around his neck. I couldn't tell if he was surprised to

at I was sitting here

here. I mean, I know you said that you were a doctor, but I didn't

occurred to me suddenly what would be happening in a few

d. He smiled. "But you'd

trusting mys

see someone else. However, I can also assure you that I will be completely professional

know him. I didn't want him to think that I was the sort of girl who would run away from an appointment like this just because the person doing it happened to be g

fine,"

o you want Kathy

What I wanted now was to get th

ant to talk to me about after, you can. When you're ready, you can lie back and then

nd pulled on a pair of gloves

which was about to undergo an exam at the hands of Dr. Cole Becker, a neighbor of