PART TWENTY ONE: Playing Doctor
CHAPTER ONE, Turn Your Head and Cough
Five-thirty was definitely the last appointment time of the day. Danny pulled into the lot of the clinic noting that there were very few cars there now, and staff members were leaving holding their coats shut over their medical garb. He guessed that the doctor was just eager to get to the bottom of their family dynamic as soon as possible.
When he got to the desk, a young nurse looked over the schedule and said, "I don't see your name here."
"I guess you'll have to ask the doctor," he said. He shrugged, thinking that maybe they should pay better attention. The nurse stepped away from the desk a moment, and then returned saying, "It was last minute, I guess. Follow me."
She took Danny back to an exam room and left him, saying, "The doctor will be with you soon."
#
Dr. Gail Perkins had finished with her last patient about ten minutes before her nurse came to her small office to announce Danny's arrival. "It's just a quick check up for his mother. A friend of mine," she told the nurse. "Go on home."
The nurse never thought that a woman like Dr. Perkins would give under the counter medical care, but she couldn't say that she minded if it was the case. Somebody should get a break on a bill sometime.
"Okay, I'll, scoot out of here." she said. "Good night."
"Good night." She took her pen to finish the paperwork she'd been doing, hoping that her trembling fingers wouldn't give her away. She waited another ten minutes before she left her office and strolled down the hall between examination rooms and to the lobby. The lobby lights were cut down to just a few to let the cleaning crew find their way in when they came at eight. Her reception area was dark.
Gail was still marveling at how quickly she had made her decision and acted upon it yesterday. She'd been confronted with an awkward situation and had handled it by seeking to create a situation of her own. Obviously, the Porters weren't a very moral family. And it was just as obvious that their future was in her hands. She knew that what ever happened, the Porters wouldn't tell anyone about it. They wouldn't dare.
Gail Perkins wasn't one to tell people about her fantasies. Fantasies weren't public things, after all. But she had many fantasies of a sexual nature, and every time she failed to achieve orgasm with her husband she seemed to come up with a couple more.
Doctor and patient. Now, that was a Grade A fantasy.
#
Danny waited, and waited, and, though the clock only indicated that twenty minutes had passed, it felt like hours as he sat in the sterile exam room. Finally, a slim, attractive woman of medium height with nearly black hair, a round, inviting face and skin that might well be described as alabaster entered the room.
"Mr. Porter?" she said, closing the door.
"Yes. Danny," he said awkwardly.
"I'm Doctor Perkins. Gail Perkins."
She extended her hand and Danny grasped it in a careful handshake. Her hand, when she extended it, seemed to be trembling just a bit, and it was slightly moist, and quite warm.
"Glad to meet you," Danny said, though they both knew that was stretching the truth.
"So, you're about to be a father," the doctor said, picking up a blood pressure cuff.
"Yeah, I guess so," Danny said, trying to sound clean cut and normal. His mother had said to just go along with whatever she wanted, and he intended to do just that.
"What sort of arrangements are you planning to make for the baby?" She said, as she took his pressure.
"I, well, I guess we're all just going to pitch in."
"Sounds fair," she said. She inserted a thermometer into his ear and took his temperature.
"What plans do you have for raising a child?"
Gail sat back and watched Danny. He was a good looking, well muscled boy of nineteen, and he seemed intelligent. She wasn't sure what she had expected him to be like, but she knew what she was hoping for. She was hoping for a boy just like him.
"Plans? Don't people normally just take care of things as needed?"
"Yes, I guess so." Gail found that she had been staring at him, her mind wandering just a bit. He was the same build as her husband, with nearly the same hair color. Much better looking than she'd expected.
"Do you love your sister?"
"Of course."
"Would you marry her if it were legal?"
Danny paused, very much unsure of what would be the right answer. "No," he said at last. "I guess it would a friends with benefits sort of thing."
"You plan to continue having sex with her? With your mother?"
"Of course," he said. "No point in stopping now."
No, there certainly wasn't. Gail liked his answers. He was being honest. And she liked the small smile he was wearing just then. She liked the way he tipped his head just a bit to the side when he thought.
Gail Perkins was getting warm, and her face felt flushed. When she tried to pick up her pen, she found that her hand was trembling even more than before. The supposed need for secrecy was the perfect excuse for an appointment so late in the day. She was hoping, just hoping, that he was as handsome as his mother made him sound. And, if genetics held sway at all, she expected that a boy born of Emily Porter and her husband, the rather formal man at her bank, would be good looking. Now that she'd seen him, she knew that a long savored fantasy was about to come true.
"Stand up and drop your pants and shorts," she said.
