the doctor directs a woman, 53, to lie down so that he can examine her painful abdomen. she does so and rolls her shirt up to above her navel so that her belly becomes a hill above her jeans and shirt.

'what a stomach!' says the doctor to the woman, he looks at me and says, 'isn't that a big stomach?'

'no yes i mean yes sure yes doctor, sir.' i say, not knowing how much i have to kiss up to the doctor that has taken me under his wing like a frightened first year resident in any of those american medical shows on television.

he quickly moves on by prodding her stomach in several places and explaining the six different sections of the belly, 'hiper-gastronimo, meta-gastronimo, hipo-gastronimo...' the patient looks awkward and he finds exactly the points to push to make her squirm in pain. he pushes them while explaining to me what happens to a post-menopausal woman.

he walks back to the desk without a word and the patient assumes she can cover herself up again and takes a seat in front of his desk. he diagnoses her, gives her a prescription for calcium-something-or-other and every other sentence says, very sternly like a principal, 'understand?'

my third co-patient leaves.


as i watch my mom cook and eat the food, it kind of, almost, makes me want to learn how to cook and eat delicious food all the time. meals at home are one of the things i look forward to everyday, where i wonder what will be served and how much of it i can eat.

good times.