If I had known getting into college would be so involved, I probably would have joined the Army. Mom had told me, just this morning that I needed a physical for the insurance company since I was moving away but staying on the policy.
Then she looked at me that way again.
I understood that Mom was lonely. I had been eleven when Dad died and Mom had apparently decided not to remarry. As I got older I couldn’t help noticing how much I looked like him in his younger years. We were both tall, dark skinned, with thick black hair and bottomless brown eyes. His old photo’s suggested that I might be a little more muscular than he, a little more ‘cut.’ I also wore my hair a little longer.
So when she looked at me like that, I figured Mom was thinking about him. Of course, I could respect the fact that my mother was still a good-looking woman. Hell, I’d had fantasies about some of her girlfriends who weren’t as attractive as she was. After all, she was in her mid-thirties, long red hair, pale skin and green eyes. She still had the body of a twenty year old, looked awesome in a bikini and kept all my buddies drooling whenever they came over to hang out.
Okay, so my mom’s a babe, but to think of her as anything other than ‘Mom,’ especially when she looked at me like that was just… weird!
"So am I gonna, y’know, have to get undressed and stuff?" I guess that was the part that was bugging me. Mom had been sitting in the examining room with me my whole life. Having her see me now would make me uncomfortable to say the least.
Mom finished checking her makeup and turned to me. She offered me a resigned look. "Most likely," she replied. "It
is
supposed to be a full physical. Feeling a little self-conscious?"
"Yeah, a little, I guess," I looked away as her eyes began wandering downward.
"Well, don’t be," she admonished gently. "You’re a very attractive young man. You should be proud of your looks. Besides the doctor is a professional. She does this all the time."
"
She
?"
"Yes," she smiled knowingly, "she. Relax, it’ll be fine." She turned back to the mirror and touched up her lipstick. "Why don’t you wear your black jeans and that silk shirt Aunt Deirdre got you?"
"Yeah, okay." I headed back to my room to change. As I laid out my black 501’s and the black silk button-down that I had gotten for my birthday, I started to wonder what was going on. My black jeans were getting a little tight on me and the shirt had been a blatant overture by Deirdre. She had insisted I try it on when she gave it to me. I had to admit it was flattering. The thin silk draped nicely over my shoulders and chest, bagging slightly at my stomach. Deirdre was twenty-six and gorgeous – basically a younger, shorter version of Mom – and had no reservations about making a play for her eighteen year old nephew. Worse still, Mom didn’t seem to care. Sometimes I think she encouraged it.
So here I was, getting into my prowling outfit to see a female doctor for a routine exam. I had no idea what I was in for, but I was having some pretty heavy misgivings.
In the car, Mom asked me what kind of cologne I was wearing.
"Um, Irish Spring," I laughed.
She gave me an amused grin. "Good healthy, clean scent. Good for you."
Checking in at the doctor’s office, the secretary gave me a curious look, then handed me two lab request slips, pointing me down the hall. I waited with two pregnant women and a quietly arguing mother-daughter duet. Each took the opportunity too give me the same questioning look.
My name was called and I stepped into the lab area where I gave blood and urine. The stark white, antiseptic facility made me feel like a giant ink stain on a linen napkin. When I was finished, the technician marked a spot on her clipboard.
"Okay," she said. "You’re all done. I’ll send the results over to Doctor…." She did a double take at the lab slips. "Doctor Fischer?"
"Problem?"
"Uh, no," she stammered. "I’ll get those results over to her immediately." She ushered me out in silence.
As I re-entered Doctor Fischer’s office, my mother took my arm, walking easily beside me. A few people glanced up, but no one gave me any more funny looks.
The nurse introduced herself as Tina, then asked me to strip down to my underwear. I caught her arm and confided that I didn’t wear underwear. She raised an eyebrow, apparently intrigued.
"Well, I guess this will be a pretty interesting exam," she purred, running one hand absently down my ribs, then left the room.