Tom sits across from Roberta Mckee--Dr. Bobbie to her patients--in exam room 12. Despite his nerves, he's ready to be forthright. The best way to be with a doctor. Though he's not here for medical treatment per say. He's here out of guilt and revenge.
"What brings you in today, Tom? Becky said you were evasive on the phone," asks Dr. Bobbie. She is a plain woman. Mid-30s with dirty blonde hair pulled tightly back into a bun. She wears a formless white lab coat over blue scrubs.
When he called to schedule, Tom told the receptionist he wanted a routine checkup. Must've let on there was more to it, somehow. Tone of voice or word choice. Apparently Becky can read between lines.
"Um, well, I have something to confess, actually," Tom stammered. He has always been shy in front of Dr. Bobbie. "Last week, on my trip to New York, I cheat...uh, cheated on Stella."
"With a prostitute?" No recrimination in her tone. Tom's wife Stella and Dr. Bobbie are old college friends, but Dr. Bobbie is a professional. She doesn't jump down Tom's throat or ask "How could you?" She is clinical. Only interested in what's medically relevant.
"No, just a girl," Tom lies. It was, in fact, with a prostitute. Briefly, he wonders why Dr. Bobbie assumes he must have paid for it.
"You're worried about social disease, then?" She cuts to the chase. "Did you wear protection?"
"Yes of course!"
"Are you experiencing burning or itching?"
"No."
"Painful urination?"
"Nuh-uh."
"Any spots or discoloration on your genitals?"
"I don't think so." Genitals. Tom notices she says that word detachedly. He wonders if that's because Dr. Bobbie is a doctor or because she's in a committed relationship with a woman. Stella told him years ago she was bisexual. He had never seen her with a man in all the years he's known her. During which his wife has invited her to countless dinners and parties.
For the past two years Dr. Bobbie has dated her receptionist, Becky. She's a true lesbian. The sexual politics involved are beyond Tom. His company wouldn't allow employees with such a large power imbalance to fraternize. Not only is Becky Bobbie's employee. Becky is at least a decade her junior. Yet no one gossips about them. It's socially acceptable.
"Is there discharge?" Dr. Bobbie continues.
"No. Nothing like that."
"I wouldn't be overly concerned, Tom. We'll run tests, and best not to sleep with Stella in the meantime...if you haven't already."
"No, we haven't been intimate since." Tom intends to segue into a prepared speech, but Dr. Bobbie cuts him off before he begins.
"Okay. Why don't I have a look? Take off your pants." She wheels her chair over to a box of disposable gloves on the wall. Tom was unprepared for this. She must have noticed his reluctance, because she adds, "It's okay, Tommy. I see them all the time." Tommy? She has literally never called him Tommy before.
As his hands fumble with his belt buckle, Tom's mind drifts back to the incident which brought him here today.
-----
Through a chain link fence from across the court, Tom spied them. Sharing secrets, perhaps. Like little girls. Only they weren't girls.
One was Stella, his middle-aged wife. Tall, blonde. Broad of shoulder, narrow of waist, medium of breast. Her small C-cups noticeably sag without a bra, but today's she's supported under a clean, white tennis outfit. Her game is twice as fierce as her husband's. Unsurprising, since she visits the club five times as frequently. Often with Becky. Half of the club's only lesbian couple.