Often in life, the greatest pleasures aren't found in predictable moments, rather from those chaotic situations we never anticipated...
The storm had been raging for nearly two hours. With the first radio alert, the cancellation calls to notify the last patients of the day their appointments would be rescheduled at no charge -- the nurse was encouraged to leave ahead of the storm and had left a voice mail to let the doctor be advised of her safe arrival, just as the latest radio alert advised roads were officially closed by highway patrol.
With the spare time provided by the first snowfall, the doctor who stoked the fires to heat up the cozy old building that served as both office and home in the new medical practice in the sleepy rural town; having begun dishing out the crock pot roast while sipping on a second hot buttered toddy and eyed the stack of medical journals on the end table beside the sofa -- was understandably startled when the bell on the entry chimed and amid a cloud of wind and snow, in tumbled Bobbi-Gene Gentry!
Roberta Eugenia Gentry, so christened for two older brothers lost in a war long over, and named by a woman she never knew -- for the young mother died only moments after naming her wee daughter. Bobbi-Gene was a quiet unassuming girl home-schooled by her over-protective father until she began high school, but for that reason, was a bit behind the other students and at nineteen, had two years of age on her fellow classmates whose average age was seventeen.
The doctor flew across the room to shut out the cold and threw a blanket over the shivering girl. With teeth chattering, Bobbi-Gene apologized for being late for her appointment and promptly burst into tears explaining she had missed her bus having no way to get home and still really needed to see the doctor, when the doctor advised that all the patients were cancelled and the roads closed due to the storm.
The doctor smiled, grabbed a hankie to dry the girl's tears and sent the soaked Bobbi-Gene for a hot shower to warm up, agreeing to honor the girl's appointment once she was dry and fed! Bobbi-Gene blew her nose and headed to the bathroom, hanging her sopping clothes, only when the hot shower had worked its magic and she's taken the time to wash every nook and cranny of her young body, did she return to join the doctor at the dinner table. The shy girl, wearing the doctor's soft warm terry robe eyed the pot roast and potatoes only for a moment before taking a bite at the doctor's insistence -- the meal and accompanying hot toddy was delicious, warming her all the way to her toes.
Once the quiet meal was done, doctor and patient headed through the exam room door. The doctor reached for the girl's chart, telling Bobbi-Gene to take a seat on the table and asked her about the urgency for requested exam. The girl blushed a deep scarlet red and struggling to find the words, explained that she had an itch inside that just wouldn't go away and she'd been afraid to tell her daddy 'cause he might not understand.