Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Exam (09/12/13)
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TITLE: Who's the doctor, and who's the patient? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Karen Milkiewicz
09/16/13 -
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Ralph Cunningham was at the breakfast table checking his blackberry while drinking his coffee. Their teenage son Charlie came barreling down the stairs, grabbed a bagel and headed for the door.
“Now wait a minute, young man,” Claire stopped him in his tracks with her tone. “You were home way past curfew last night. Don’t think we didn’t notice.” A car honked outside.
“Mom, I’m gonna be late. I gotta go.” Charlie hoisted his backpack and headed out, with Claire calling after him.
“We’ll talk about this tonight!”
Thirteen-year-old Amanda then started. “Mom, where’s my cheerleading shirt? I can’t find it. Plus, I need my permission slip signed for the field trip.” She thrust a paper into Claire’s face.
Claire, still reeling from Charlie’s whirlwind, grabbed the slip of paper and scribbled a signature on it. “I don’t know where your shirt is. Did you put it in the laundry?”
“Mom, I needed it for today! Nobody in this family cares about me!” She ran upstairs and slammed her door.
Claire stood in the kitchen, staring at her husband. Ralph looked up.
“What?”
“You could help out, you know,” she snapped accusingly.
“What did I do?”
“It’s what you don’t do. If you were home more, maybe we wouldn’t have all these problems. When you are here, all you do is check that stupid blackberry.”
“Look, don’t blame the kids’ problems on me. I don’t have time for this.” With that, Ralph dumped his coffee in the sink, grabbed his briefcase, and walked out.
The jingling of the bell on the office door brought Claire back to the present. She watched as a young mom staggered in with a baby, a toddler, and a young girl in tow. She remembered those days. Nobody ever told her how much harder it would get once the kids developed attitudes.
The young mother approached the desk. She introduced her oldest child, a cherub-faced little girl in pigtails. “This is Emily. She’s been having trouble seeing the board in school.”
Looking down at her, Claire offered her a weak smile. “Well, we’ll see what we can do to fix that, shall we?”
While Emily’s mother stayed in the waiting room with the other two children, Claire took Emily into the exam room. Projecting the eye chart onto the wall, she asked “Emily, what do you see?”
“I see that you look sad,” the six-year-old told her, her pigtails swaying as she spoke.
Claire was taken aback. “No, I meant on the eye chart. What do you see there?”
Emily was persistent. “But you do look sad. And worried. You don’t have to be worried, you know. Jesus can take all your worrying away from you.”
Claire stared at the little girl. “Just how do you know so much?”
“I know it in my heart. My mommy was worried when my daddy’s job got taken away. Then we prayed to Jesus and some nice ladies from church brought us food. Now I’m praying my daddy can find a new job soon.”
Claire was amazed at this little girl’s attitude. Her own troubles didn’t compare to what this family was going through.
“Anyway,” Emily continued, “my mommy says that when you’re sad, the best thing to do is to hug someone and tell them that you love them. That should make you feel better.”
Tears came to Claire’s eyes. When was the last time she had pulled someone in her family close and told them she loved them? When was the last time she even prayed? She vowed then and there to make some changes in her life.
“You’re right, Emily. I was sad and worried, but I’m not anymore. Thank you.”
She finished the exam and brought Emily back to her mother.
“Mrs. Johnson, Emily does need glasses to read words. But her ability to read people is 20/20.”
As she handed her the prescription, she added, “Thank you for bringing her in today. There will be no charge for the exam.” At the look of gratitude in the mother’s eyes, Claire genuinely smiled for the first time that day.
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