Jenny was drumming her fingers nervously on the edge of the table waiting for her daughter Susie to arrive. Out of her three daughters, Susie was the one least likely to break down if the lump in Jenny's breast proved to be cancerous. She would be her rock and help her to deal with whatever life had to throw at her; she had proven herself in the past and Jenny had absolute confidence that she would help her through this.
The doorbell rang and Jenny got up to answer the door; as soon as Susie walked in, Jenny gave her an enormous hug and started to cry.
"Come on mum," said Susie, "we don't know what it is yet; you might be crying over nothing," as she stroked her mum's back soothingly. "Let's get in the car; we'll know more once you've had your examination."
They drove in relative silence as Jenny let her mind fear the worst; Susie's attempts at small talk fell on deaf ears as Jenny's mind was transfixed on the lump in her breast and the impending moment of truth. As they parked in the medical centre's car park, Jenny checked her watch; ten minutes till her appointment. She looked anxiously at Susie, who stroked her arm, saying, "Come on mum, the sooner we know the truth, the sooner we know what we are dealing with."
They exited the car and made their way into the reception area; the receptionist greeted them, checked them in and asked them to take a seat in the waiting area until they were called.
After fifteen minutes of fretful waiting, Jenny was called into Mr Grainger's consultation room. After checking that it was okay, Susie accompanied her and sat next to her whilst the surgeon asked a number of preliminary questions before asking Jenny to sign an examination consent form.
Once the form was signed, Mr Grainger, or Danny as he asked to be called, indicated a screen and instructed Jenny to remove her upper clothing and to lie on the examination table. Once she was lying semi-naked on the examination table Jenny let Danny know that she was ready, and he left his desk and went to the side of where Jenny lay.
"Nice pair for an older broad," he thought to himself. He proceeded to feel her breasts and located the lump which was the cause of Jenny's concern. "I'll just set the X-Ray up for the mammogram." After checking the images on the screen in front of him he said, "There appears to be just the one. I won't be able to tell if it's malignant or not until it's been removed, and we can run some tests on it."
"How soon can you do it?" enquired Jenny.
"Well, if you go private I can fit you in on Wednesday; if not, it could be four to six weeks." replied Danny, "Why don't you get your clothes back on while I discuss the options with your daughter."
Danny led Susie back to his desk. "Obviously, if the lump is malignant it is best to remove it as soon as possible," said Danny.
"Yes, I can appreciate that, but we don't have medical insurance. How much does the private treatment cost?"
"Well," said Danny, "if there are no complications we are looking at something in the region of £5,500. If the lump is cancerous then further treatment will be needed and that will increase the cost."
"The reason we came to your clinic," said Susie, "is that we heard that you take some cases on as pro-bono. Is there any chance that my mother could be considered as a possibility for this?"
Danny looked over at Susie. She was a shapely woman, early thirties he guessed, black shoulder length hair, blue eyes, pretty -- not a beauty by any means -- but there was something captivating about her face. The wedding ring on her finger was glaringly obvious but Danny never let small matters such as husbands deter him.
"You must be aware of the saying there is no such thing as a free lunch," he said to Susie "I can treat your mother without seeking financial reward but that would depend on you providing me with another form of compensation, if you know what I mean." As he was saying this he had risen from his chair and walked around to stand behind Susie; as he said the final words his right hand reached around from behind her and gently cupped her right breast.
Susie gulped; "I am a married woman," she stated.
"Don't worry your pretty head about that," said Danny, "just think of the good that you will be doing your mother."
Just then Jenny emerged from behind the screen, "Is everything okay?" she enquired.
Danny had removed his hand from Susie's breast just in time; he turned and smiled at Jenny. "Your daughter and I were just discussing your options," he said, smiling at Susie as he did so, "I believe she is going to go away and think them over."
Then addressing Susie, he said, "My schedule is getting quite full, so I will need to know your decision by end of business today; why don't you pop back after my last patient at five-thirty and let me know what you've decided."
Danny helped Jenny on with her coat and as he was showing them to the door he whispered to Susie, "If it's a yes, wear something sexy this evening."
As they walked to the car Jenny could see that something was troubling Susie. Assuming that it was the possibility that she had cancer, she said, "Don't worry honey, the sooner it's removed the sooner we'll know."
"It's not that mum," said Susie, "I'm just wondering if there is any way we can raise five and a half grand in the next six hours."
"I can't imagine that will be possible," said Jenny, "so no-go with the pro bono option then?"
"It's possible," replied Susie, "just complicated. Leave the arrangements to me, I'll let you know what's happening tonight."
"Okay Susie, love. You're such a good daughter, taking all this strain off me."
Their drive home took place in complete silence as they each contemplated the respective problems lying ahead of them. When they got to Jenny's house, she got out of the car, kissed Susie goodbye and Susie said, "We'll talk later."
When Susie arrived home, she went into her husband's study and logged onto the laptop, accessing details of their bank accounts. As she thought, there was little to be seen in the way of readies; they were in the process of having an extension built and all their savings were now with the builders. She tried several on-line loan companies but, due to existing financial commitments kept getting rejected. She knew her brother-in-law, Sebastian, would have the funds available but he had been trying to get into her knickers for years and she guessed that would be the price she would have to pay to get his help; she couldn't do that to her sister.
