"And Doc, what do I have"

He stood up, came over to me, laid a hand on my shoulder and said “Just wait here, I will ask a nurse to take some blood samples for the lab for some blood work” and left the room.

By now I was pretty certain he was suspecting something and I felt it in the pit of my stomach that just a skin lotion certainly will not cut it.

After a few minutes, a nurse enters the room with a little basket full of vacuum tubes and made a beeline for my arm and while she prepared my arm for the blood collection she uttered a “Hi” as if she only now registered the rest of me and I could just hear her mumble to herself “used the unaffected parts, just be sure the doc said”.

Now I was certain beyond any doubt the good doc knew something he was not telling me.

Any minute now I was about to say “leave some blood will you” when she shoved the last tube in the blood collecting syringe, her basket finally full with tubes of my blood

After that, she gave me some cotton wool to press on the place she extracted the blood collecting syringe from and left the room.

While I was still pressing down on the cotton wool the skin-doc reentered the room. When he saw me still pressing down on the cotton wool he went to a cabinet and retrieved a band-aid. With the band-aid handy he came to my arm and said “you can let go now” as he applied the band-aid.

Just a moment before he left my side I looked him straight in the eyes and asked as sweetly as possible “Ok doc, what do I have?”

Mumbling something he tried to make a get-away, but I upped the ante with puppy-eyes, and then he finally gave in and admitted he suspected something.

He retreated to his chair and assumed the same position as when he started asking me questions and said “Gaby, I, we, suspect you are entering pet-puberty but we have some issues with that theory. First, you do not show any sign of the affinity-process that you normally would expect from a pet because by now it should be clear to which animal your affinity goes. Secondly, there is that rash on your arms, I am not willing to bet my medical carrier on it just yet, but they look like scales. So I ask you to be patient while we get to the bottom of this”.

Awestruck I sunk in my chair, two words ringing through my head “pet” and “scales”.

So my phenotype test due at the end of summer had just become redundant popped into my mind, surprising myself I had the clarity of mind to think about it now.

Then the phone on the skin-doc’s desk rang, breaking me out of my reverie and I heard him say “Some good news, preliminary tests are negative for all know diseases, so there is no acute threat. I suggest you go home and await the final results.”

More or less on auto-pilot I got dressed and went home.

As I pushed the door of my parent shop open, they had a big aquarium and fish shop, my father looked at me with a big question mark written all over his face.

All I said was “Is mum inside?”.

He nodded.

“Good,” I said, “ I will tell both of you at the same time”.

I entered and said “Hi” to mum tailed by my father.

Now that both stood before me, they simultaneously asked “And?”

“They are suspecting pet-puberty, “ I said, “but I am not showing any of the usual signs”.

When my mother asked about the rash I said, "The jury is still out on that," in an attempt to lighten the conversation.

“And now ? “ my father asked

“ They did not find any diseases, so I am clear on that account, we will just have to wait for the final result. The clinic said they will call in a couple of days.” I replied.