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I force a smile. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you need a doctor?” she asks, standing up, hand on her hip. She’s so freaking adorable standing there, with her bow-shaped lips in a full pout.
Since I’m not getting anywhere with my coursework, I put the paper and laptop aside and indulge her.
“I think I do.” I fake cough. “We don’t have one in the house, though, do we?” I ask with wide eyes, fake coughing.
“I’m a doctor,” she states proudly, standing up a little taller.
“Really?” I ask, scrunching my eyes up at her, running my gaze up and down her body.
She nods furiously, a solemn expression on her face. “Yes. Let me get my equipment. I’ll be five minutes,” she promises, holding up five fingers at me, her expression stern and serious.
She runs from the room, and five minutes later, she’s running back down the stairs, sounding like an elephant. She rushes into the front room wearing a doctor’s costume, and I have to bite back laughter. In her hand is a doctor’s bag, and she tips the contents of it all over the sofa.
The first thing she grabs is the plastic thermometer, holding it up to my mouth. “Open wide for me, please,” she sings. I have to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep myself from smiling at how cute and professional she’s being.
I nod, pretending to feel ill, a small pout on my lips. My mouth opens, and I nearly gag when she forcefully pushes the instrument into my mouth, nearly hitting my tonsils.
“Sorry,” she mumbles, and counts to three, pulling it back out. “You’re really hot,” she tells me, shoving the toy in my face. I only get a glimpse of the arrow pointing to red before she’s throwing it back in her bag.
Next, she picks up a stethoscope, and I bite my lip. “Where did you get that from?” I ask her, noting it’s real.
“Mummy said if I wanted to become a doctor, I needed to practise,” she tells me, and places them in her ears. “I’m going to listen to your heart, but you have to keep really, really still.”
“Okay,” I tell her, but her head snaps up, her eyes narrowed.
“Shush, I can’t hear your heart,” she scolds me, and I zip my lips, gesturing to her that I’ve locked it and thrown away the key.
She nods before placing the stethoscope over my heart, moving it until she finds what she’s looking for. She listens for a few minutes, obviously lost in the sound of my heart thumping.
“It’s really, really fast,” she notes, shaking her head. “Oh no! I need to write this all down,” she tells me with a pout, looking around the room. Once she finds what she wants, she crosses the room, picking up her crayons and a piece of paper. I can’t help but watch on with amusement.
“Okay, so my temperature was red and my heartrate was fast,” I remind her, not liking the thought of having the thermometer stuck down my throat again.
She nods, and I chuckle when I see her drawing pictures, not writing words. For my temperature, she’s drawn the thermometer with a red crayon next to it. For my heart, she has drawn a heart and then written the word ‘fast’ next to it.
“What’s next?” I ask her, and she taps her chin, her little tongue sticking out of her mouth.
“We need to check your ears,” she says after a minute of looking through her toys.
I let her go on, checking my ears and taking my blood pressure. I even go so far as to let her bandage my arm. When she finishes all her checks, she gives me a spoon of medicine and an injection or three. I stay sitting still, wanting to be a good patient, and I’m rewarded with a sticker for it at the end.
“You’re a brave girl,” she tells me, her voice sweet and serious.
“Thank you. You’ve been a great doctor. I feel all better,” I declare, smiling wide.
“So no more heavy breathing?” she asks, referring to my heavy sighs earlier.
“Nope, none.”
“Then you’re all better.” She grins, jumping up and down whilst clapping her hands.
“Who’s all better?” Jackie asks, making me jump.
“Oh my gosh, you scared me,” I breathe out, holding my hand over my heart.
“Sorry.” She grimaces but doesn’t have time to say anything else as Mia runs into her legs, knocking her back a step.