Disclaimer:
This story is a work of fiction. If you cannot discern fact from fiction and fantasy from reality, do not read this story. Views and opinions expressed in this work of fiction belong to their respective in-universe characters and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author. The author is not condoning the actions or attitudes of fictional characters for the real world.
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"Dammit Craig, I warned you those DUIs would catch up with you. I don't have time to come get you. I just left work and driving across town to get to my appointment; my doctor's last appointment of the day. I NEED to get this physical or I can't get my new life insurance policy. Call your dad."
Craig's voice boomed from every speaker throughout the car via its Bluetooth connection to her cellular phone. "I did. He told me to call you."
"And there's no one else you can ride with?"
"Not now, they've all left."
"Shit." Maria rubbed her forehead while driving with one hand on the steering wheel. "Okay, wait inside until I get there. It's like a hundred and five outside so stay indoors. But as soon as I pull up at the curb, come out. I can't be late for this appointment. I already had to postpone last month. if they don't see me today there won't be time to reschedule again and the insurance company will drop my application." She ended the call without waiting for his response.
Maria's stepson, Craig, gigged as a session musician--getting paid only when they needed him--at a small recording studio on the outskirts of town, but he thought he was destined to be the next big name in music. At twenty-one he still lived at home and two weeks prior he had lost his license and had his car impounded. Since then, she was driving Craig to work and his father was picking him up in the afternoon but evidently had something more important to do that day. "The one goddamn day he knows I can't," she seethed out loud to no one as she turned off the main boulevard and put her high heeled foot down hard on the accelerator.
As she'd been heading to the clinic straight from her job as a bank teller, she was smartly dressed, wearing black heels and dark silk stockings, a white blouse with a long, narrow navy blue skirt and matching blue suit jacket. Her medium length sandy brown hair (chemically lightened) was tied into a tight bun and she had just swapped her normal prescription eyeglasses for prescription sunglasses for the drive.
Maria had remarried at thirty-four, following the death of her previous husband. Now six years later, she still enjoyed married life but her stepson was a frequent aggravation. Loud parties with drunken friends well into the night or coming home in the small hours of the morning after drinking at one of their homes and setting off the burglar alarm, which scared the living shit out of her, were only some of her issues with Craig.
She actually hit several traffic lights green and reached the recording studio with around eighteen minutes to make her appointment. She pulled to the curb and honked the horn. Several seconds later she honked again. The door of the little warehouse-style building swung open and out he stepped, his ruddy face down while tapping away on the screen of his cell phone with both thumbs. Maria blew the horn again and hollered, "Β‘CΓ³rrele, mi hijo!", even though all her windows were rolled up and the air conditioner was blasting full force inside the car so it was likely he couldn't hear her. Still, it felt good to shout just then.
Craig was on the shortish side for a full grown man, standing around five feet eight inches when not hunched over his screen, with curly chestnut brown hair, light blue eyes and several days' stubble beginning to form into a passable mustache although he kept his chin and cheeks shaved clean. He was toned and lean and on that afternoon wore a tight tee shirt which showed off his six pack abs, though his lack of muscle bulk in his upper arms and chest just made him appear skinny.
He got into the car and was still putting on his seat belt when Maria stepped on the gas to exploit a gap in traffic. Without looking in his direction, she snarled, "I swear to God, if I don't get in today because of you, I'm gonna rip you a new one."
"Blame dad, he's the one who didn't come get me."
Her response dripped contempt. "Neither one of us would have to come get you if you learned responsibility." They drove the rest of the way without speaking.
Ever since her bank had been taken over by another three years before, Maria's health insurance coverage had gone to Hell and she could only see in-network doctors. The group clinic where she now had her gynecology exams stood just across a three lane street from a half deserted boarded up shopping center and a couple of short blocks from a park known for drug deals and gang fights. They arrived to find the parking lot still mostly full with only a few free spaces near the rear of the building, farthest from the entry doors.
"Come in and sit in the waiting room until I finish," she ordered flatly. He declined, which led to a brief but energetic argument in the car until she glanced at her wristwatch and told him there wasn't time for his bullshit and that he could not stay out there alone since it wasn't safe.
"Then why do you come here?"
She faced him and shouted, "Because I HAVE to, Craig. I HAVE to. Some day when you learn to be responsible and you have a real job with benefits, you'll find out how insurance works. THIS is where I have to go, I have to be inside RIGHT now, and YOU ARE coming with me! Now move your ass." Craig grumbled but stepped out and followed her.
The interior was divided into several office suites, each with its own waiting area, reception desk and private examination rooms. The doors from the main hall all had safety windows for visibility and it seemed that every waiting room they passed was full or nearly full.
Craig asked with a furrowed brow, "Didn't you say you were the last appointment?"