Something Else Entirely

19 - Of course she knows how to speak 'parent.'

I've never been a fan of doctors' offices, hospitals, dentists or any other medical facility of any kind. I never had too much experience in them growing up, Axel and Kora Wesley being the more suck-it-up-and-deal-with-it kind of parents.

Sadie, alternatively, has had plenty of experience with doctors and hospitals, that daredevil little brother of mine giving her many an opportunity to familiarise herself with the process of sitting impatiently in waiting rooms to treat various different ailments. From broken wrists to sprained ankles while skateboarding, to pulled hamstrings and shin splints from footy, and plenty of colds and flus and other general illnesses in between.

You wouldn't pick it by looking at her now.

Her leg is tapping at a thousand beats per minute, lending me to the believe she might actually make a decent drummer in a metal band if she were ever inclined to pursue a musical career. She definitely listens to enough music from that genre anyway. She was also flipping through the decade-old issue of Better Homes and Gardens faster than I knew she could read it, and she is an absolute freak when it comes to speed reading—a well-honed craft from her lifelong love of books. And I can't be sure, but I'm almost entirely convinced that the oxygen she is inhaling isn't dipping that far down into her lungs by the way she is hurriedly breathing in and out, her chest barely rising at all with her sharp inhales.

"I know it's pointless for me to tell you to relax, but I really need you to try, because you're freaking me the fuck out and I'm feeling like the worst son ever because I know I'm here to support you, and I can already see that I'm failing," I said, watching as her breathing almost immediately deepen again, and her frantic page flipping slowed down to a mainstream reading pace again.

"I'm sorry, baby. I know. I'm just so nervous," she sighed, trying to regain her composure. No matter how stressed she might be feeling, if she knew it was negatively affecting Dad, Madden or myself, she would find a way to calm down somehow.

"I need you to keep cooking that baby brother of mine, and I doubt he'll be enjoying all that tension you're carrying either," I smiled at her, reaching out to hold her hand again.

"You're absolutely right," she squeezed my hand back, resolved. "Thank you, Jetty."

"You're welcome."

"Sadie?" our family doctor called out to the waiting room.

I let go of Sadie's hand, ready to let her go into her appointment on her own, but she gripped onto me tightly and dragged me up with her. "I need you with me, Jetty."

I smiled down at her considering I was a good foot taller than her already, snickering at how this woman, who is single-handedly the most fierce and brave and resilient person I know on account of everything she has lived through in life, is basically begging me to come with her into her doctor's appointment.

"I already know I'm never living this down, Jet. You don't need to make it any worse," she smiled back, rolling her eyes at me. "Hi, Dr. Rathnayake," she said, greeting our doctor whose surname I am never able to remember or pronounce. She is always just Dr. Jenitta when I'm talking with her.

"How are you, Sadie? You're coming in too, Jet?" asked Dr. Jenitta, looking between us with curiosity.

"My presence is apparently a necessity today," I grinned at her, feeling Sadie's hand tighten around mine, and hearing a curse of "fucking smartass" escape under her breath.

Dr. Jenitta laughed as she ushered us into her office. It looked the same as it did when I was in last, needing a tetanus shot following a cut I received thanks to a rusty nail on a job site.

"So, what can I help you with today, Sadie? By the way, I assume it's okay to speak in front of Jet?" Dr. Jenitta asked Sadie, who nodded in response. "You seem a little anxious, Sadie. What's going on?"