Amy sat on a cold hard plastic chair, her clothing piled neatly beside her on another chair, her eyes locked on the clock that hung just above the door. Based on the placement of the chair in the room and that clock she guessed a lot of people held continuous staring contests with its ironically shaped hands and smiley-faced back plate. Curiously, there were no other posters or advertisements on the wall, a rare thing for a doctor’s examination room. Didn’t he get those annoying medical company reps flogging the next best thing in medications, treatments, or supplements? Even her vet had those kinds of posters hung on the walls.
Finally, a gentle knock sounded on the door before it swung open to reveal a petite woman in a crisp white lab coat, stethoscope hung jauntily about her neck, and graying hair pulled back into a loose bun. Gentle tendrils of hair escaped the confines of her hairclip to dance merrily about her face. Had she not known the truth, Amy would have wondered if this woman was even old enough to be a doctor, the youth and vitality about her contradicting what the eye could see.
“I must say, I was quite surprised to see your name show up on my schedule today, Amy. Just last week I was talking to your mother about how well you were doing in the city and how she didn’t even expect you home for holidays!”
“Kristina begged me to come home this weekend to attend her bachelorette party and you know as well as I do that you can’t say ‘no’ to Kristina, “Amy explained. Looking at her watch she wondered how much longer she would have to make small talk before she could escape. Maybe she could just make an excuse, sorry terrible mistake I must be running now, and forget about this whole thing.
“Now, let’s get to why you came to see me so suddenly. Overall, you look perfectly healthy. Perhaps a bit pale…are you getting enough sleep?”
Quietly, Amy groaned. Really? Sleep issues are the best you can think of off the bat?
“That’s probably not a factor at this time, “Amy mumbled, regretting this visit more and more.
“Unless you tell me exactly what the symptoms are, dear, I won’t be much of a help. Very few medical complaints are diagnosed purely by eye-rolling and deep sighs.”
Wincing at the rebuke Amy made a decision to be completely honest and tell Dr. Anderson everything.
“Xanax, “ Dr. Anderson said when she was finished listing all the symptoms and background history. “Yes, definitely a case for Xanax.”
“Zealot, “Amy muttered angrily, suddenly losing all respect for her childhood physician.
This post is part of the Red Writing Hood Meme. This week the ladies there decided to TORTURE us with this crazy prompt: write something (fiction, non-fiction, poem, whatever) using the alphabet for the first letter of each line. The result: a crazy 26 line story.
I think this was the most difficult prompt I have ever participated in. You start off fine and then you get to the end and you have to deal with W, X, Y, and Z!! Argh.
So yeah, if the story feels ‘off’ that’s why. Enjoy it anyway. And thanks Cheryl and Nichole, you made my brain hurt LOL
Popped in from Lady Bloggers! What a challenging exercise! I think X and Z would be really hard.
Thank you for your kind words.
This flowed so naturally. You came up with the perfect words to end it as well. Well done, Carrie. I so enjoy your stories.
LOVED THE XANAX! Brilliant use of X!
Z was the hardest for me, which letter was the hardest for you?
definitely Z. It took me forever to think of a word that worked with the story!
It doesn’t appear you struggled at all! it flowed seamlessly and I loved the detail about the clock.
Loved the line about eye rolling and deep sighs. Great story!
)
I loved her hostility, it seemed as if she knew from the start that she was going to the wrong place for the help she needed. I laughed at her last second thought of “I must be running now’ once the doctor was in the room with her, because I’ve had that thought more than once.
What a great job you did of making me forget about the formula for this post!
I love Amy’s subtle animosity!
Am I the only one who jumped at the chance to do a gimmicky prompt? I guess so.
I love what you did with this.
Interesting prompt, love where it took you!
Very intriguing. I think it flowed very well and I couldn’t tell you struggled at the end at all! Would love to know what happens next – so many different directions to go.
Yeah this time the prompt was tough, those ladies have a laugh at our expense.. hehehe
Coming to your story, I enjoyed the suspense through it, like until the end the suspense built and the ending still left so many questions unanswered but I think, I will give you that…. because this way, I can think of so many stories to wrap it up with.
Enjoy your weekend
You did an excellent job of handling the XYZ part here–truly the most challenging portion of the challenge.
Stopping by from the red dress club.