What will they find...

I took a deep breath as I entered the building and made my way to the reception desk. I announced myself as being the one the lifeguard GP had referred.

She looked at her screen and said, “Gaby, right. The doctor will receive you in a minute or so. Please take a seat in the waiting room”.

And so after a few minutes, I saw the familiar face of the skin-doc appearing as he stood in the doorway, “Gaby” he said, “Come along. Let's go to my office”.

Once we were inside, we took our places at his desk. “So, Gaby, what seems to be the problem?” he asked. For the first time since I left home, I pulled off the shirt and bared my arms. “That is quite a rash you have there,” he said frowning.

“I know. They barred me from beach duty and sent me to you,” I answered.

“Ok, let's take a closer look,” he said, reaching over to grab my arms, turning them this way and then that, stroking them and finally zooming in on them with a magnifying glass. He let go of my arms and made a humming sound while he leaned back in his chair stroking his chin. All the while his eyebrows made an intricate dance and I could almost see him think, "Could it be?"

After some time I coughed a polite cough, bringing him out of his reverie, and asked, “Well, Doc, any idea what is happening to me?” because I couldn’t take it anymore just sitting there.

“Gaby,” he said with his hands folded together, morphing to a triangle as he rested his elbows on the armrests of his chair, giving off a very pondering vibe like he dreaded to go to a place where he would have to be mindful of every step he took all the while still leaned back in his chair. “Can I ask you a few questions?”

I had no idea where this was going I think, but I was determined like hell to get to the bottom of this, so I just said, “Shoot.”

“You just turned 18, right?”

“Uhm yeah,” I replied looking a little confused.

“How do you feel lately?”

“How you think I feel? I‘m turning in to a fucking Gaby the neon-girl,” I replied more harshly than I intended.

He stayed calm and asked me again and clarified he meant how do you feel emotionally. Seeing him stay calm, I calmed down myself and apologized that I hadn't intended to come that way.

Now that I had calmed down, I tried to look at how I had been feeling lately as objectively as I could. I sat there for some time reviewing how I had been feeling. He just sat there and waited. Finally, I spoke up and said, “Now that you mention it, I have been in a bit of an emotional flux lately, but I put it down to being excited about going to college, leaving Cerulean Beach, starting a new phase in my life, maybe feeling a bit nostalgic seeing as this was going to be my last summer as a lifeguard at Cerulean Beach." I sighed. “Do I make any sense?” I asked.

“Oh, quite,” he said seeming to have reached some conclusion.