Chloe rushed through the doors of the office building and pressed the button for the elevator nervously. She hoped that she wasn't going to be late for her appointment with Mr. Taylor. When he phoned her from the employment agency to say that he thought he could offer her the job as the summer receptionist for the clinic, she was thrilled. At 18, she hadn't had a real job before, and the money would go a long way to help pay for her tuition in the fall. It had taken her awhile to get downtown in afternoon rush hour, she knew the agency would be closing soon, and that the clinic wanted someone to start the next day. Breathlessly, she arrived at the 7th floor and walked into the employment agency lobby, hoping that she wasn't too late.
Bill Taylor picked up the phone before he went to get Chloe from the waiting area.
"Alex, she's arrived," he said to the man at the other end of the phone. "Give me ten minutes and I'll make the call."
Bill ushered Chloe into his modest office. She sat perched at the end of her chair, still catching her breath from the rush through city traffic.
"Chloe, I'm pleased to be able to offer you this position. The clinic desperately needs someone to start tomorrow morning and they want me to phone them within the hour with the name of the candidate we've selected. There's another girl who I was just about to phone, but then I remembered how much you needed the job, so I thought I'd offer it to you."
"Oh thank you so much, Mr. Taylor," Chloe smiled, "I'm so happy about this."
"We just have a little paperwork to complete and then I'll give them a call." Bill flipped through Chloe's file and then made a bit of a surprised sound. "Wait a minute. Chloe, we don't seem to have the results of your physical on file."
"My what, Mr. Taylor?"
"Your complete physical exam with a doctor. All the other candidates have completed one. The clinic requires it of all employees. You're dealing in the health care field, my dear."
"But nobody ever told me..." Chloe said faintly.
"Chloe, when was the last time you had a complete physical? Maybe we can get a report from your doctor."
"I'm very healthy. I don't remember when that would have been. Maybe as a kid."
Bill Taylor shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Chloe. The clinic is very particular and they require a total body physical exam before they'll let you work for them. Since they need someone so soon, I'll have to call the other candidate and offer the job to them." Chloe's lip was trembling and, despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop a tear from rolling down her cheek.
Bill sighed. "I can't stand to see a girl cry. Maybe I can ask a favor on your behalf. I have a doctor friend, Alex Harrison, who has a practice down the hall. Let me call and see if he's still in the office."
"Oh would you do that?" Chloe brightened up and started stammering. "I can go over right now and have that all taken care of and then you can phone the clinic and tell them that I qualify."
Bill picked up the phone. "Alex? Hi, it's Bill. Listen, I have a favor to ask you. I have a girl in my office who needs a complete physical on a quick basis. Needs it for a job which starts tomorrow. Can you squeeze her in?...You are?... Yeah, but this won't take too long... I'd really appreciate that...Okay, thanks buddy. She'll be right there."
Bill put down the phone and smiled at Chloe. "You're one lucky lady. Alex is finished for the day. His office is closed and he's just catching up on some paperwork. As a favor to me, he agreed to perform the examination, but you'd better hurry. He's a busy guy and the clinic is waiting to hear from me."
Chloe thanked Bill profusely and ran down the hall until she found the office which said Dr. Alex Harrison. She walked in. It was very quiet. A young man came to greet her.
"Are you Dr. Harrison?"Chloe asked.
"No, I'm Ron Stewart, a medical student observing with Dr. Harrison. You must be Chloe. Please follow me."
Chloe followed Ron into an examination room. Ron said "Dr, Harrison is very busy. He told me that you should sit on the table, remove your top and your bra, and he'll be with you as soon as he can." Before Chloe could ask any further questions, Ron had left the room.
Chloe looked around, a bit confused. She had never had a complete physical as an adult. She thought that she'd be wearing a gown or something. She hadn't really thought about taking off any clothes and it made her a bit uncomfortable. Still, this Dr, Harrison was doing her a favor and she wanted to cooperate. She hesitated, then took a deep breath, crossed her arms and pulled off her T shirt. She looked around again, got up her nerve, reached around her back and unclasped her bra. She put both items of clothing beside her on the table.