My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction. Available at: NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazon<\/p>\n
After I made the big decision to go to college, after I\u2019d found a
\nplace to borrow money to help with college expenses, after I\u2019d talked
\nmy father into co-signing for the education loan, I found there was an
\neven larger hurdle ahead.\u00a0 I had to have a complete physical.\u00a0 It\u2019s so
\nmany years ago, I\u2019m unclear as to exactly what the pertinent letter
\nfrom Berry said, but whatever the wording, I was sure it meant I\u2019d
\nhave to strip and allow a man–I\u2019d never heard of a woman doctor–to
\nsee me naked.<\/p>\n
No way!\u00a0 I was too timid to wear a swimsuit.<\/p>\n
I would have expected my mother to take advantage of my dilemma.
\nAfter all, she had fought me all the way on my college plans.\u00a0 She had
\ntold me how foolish It was to waste borrowed money on more education
\nwhen anybody could get a perfectly good job at the mill with less
\neducation than I already had. Maybe she did use my hesitation, at
\nfirst, but she finally got so tired of my worrying about the physical
\nthat she said, \u201cGo to old Doc English.\u00a0 The man must be nearly a
\nhundred.\u00a0 He won\u2019t have you strip, and he couldn\u2019t see you if you
\ndid.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took some convincing, but finally I went.\u00a0 His office was on main
\nstreet in Dalton.\u00a0 I walked in and told the nurse what I was there
\nfor.\u00a0 She motioned me to a seat next to an old woman and man I took to
\nbe her son.\u00a0 I waited and all too soon, it was my time to to be
\nushered to the back room, which was the one and only exam room.\u00a0 There
\nI saw a withered up fossil of a man who looked more than a century
\nold.\u00a0 He wore a suit and a vest that might be even older than he was.
\nHere and there small moth holes dotted the fabric.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is your problem?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
The nurse handed him the forms from Berry.\u00a0 \u201cThis is Faye Junkins and
\nshe has to have a physical.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctor looked at the papers so long, I was afraid he might have
\nfallen asleep.\u00a0 Then the nurse spoke.\u00a0 \u201cDo we weigh and measure?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he answered, and gestured toward the scales.<\/p>\n
I stepped up on them but kept my eyes on the wall beyond while the
\ndoctor fiddled with the weight and height mechanisms.\u00a0 \u201cOne hundred
\nand twenty-five pounds,\u201d\u00a0 he declared and the nurse wrote it down.<\/p>\n
A hundred twenty-five!\u00a0 I had\u2019t weighed that since fifth grade.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive feet, five inches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
I was five foot, eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeart,\u201d said the doctor and lifted the cup-like device and pressed it
\nwell above my left breast.\u00a0 \u201cNormal,\u201d he said.\u00a0 He pressed the device
\nabove my right breast.\u00a0 \u201cLungs, normal.\u201d\u00a0 He lifted my right arm and
\nthen my left and bent them at the elbow.\u00a0 \u201cReflexes, normal.\u201d\u00a0 He
\nstared into my eyes and asked what I saw out the window on the back
\nwall.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe railroad overpass and a smokestack.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVision, normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The doctor turned and walked a few slow steps away.\u00a0 Then, with his
\nback turned, he asked, in a low voice, \u201cCan you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHearing, normal,\u201d\u00a0 he said, taking the paper and signing.\u00a0 \u201cYou fill
\nout the rest,\u201d he told the nurse before turning to me.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019ll be
\n$5.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was so relieved I practically flew home.\u00a0 No more physicals, ever.<\/p>\n
Then two weeks into my first semester at Berry College, the Dean of
\nWomen told us that a team of interns from Emory Medical School would
\nbe conducting full physicals on all students!<\/p>\n
The funny thing is that I don\u2019t even recall any details of that check-up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction. Available at: NewSouth Books:\u00a0www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazon After I made the big decision to go to college, after I\u2019d found a place to borrow money to help with college … Continue reading