The Waiting Room

Honor walked into the surgery and signed in using the touch screen by the door. She entered the waiting room and quickly found a seat in the far corner of the room by the window, picking up the first crumpled magazine she found on her way.

Honor glanced up and wondered which one of the elderly Indian couple sitting opposite her was here to see the Doctor. Was it the lady here to get a minor symptom analysed, fearing some sort of dreaded but unlikely cancer? Or was it him, dragged here by his wife having ignored his symptoms for months?

As she alternated between mindlessly flicking through the magazine and observing her fellow patients, Honor’s thoughts started circling around her head. The suspicion she was now entertaining had only just crept into her thoughts. Her symptoms were so vague Honor felt that she was almost certainly wasting the doctor’s time.

The double-doors swung open and a short, stocky, bald man stepped out and shouted, “Miss Preston, please?”
A young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, stood up and started towards him with a smile. She looked too happy to have something seriously troubling her. Turning her attention away from Miss Preston, Honor caught a glimpse of a very small baby being rocked in its mother’s arms. He must smell so wonderfully sweet.

The double-doors suddenly swung open again and Honor’s heart fluttered as she saw Dr Wilson emerge. Her heart started to beat faster and harder in her chest.
“Mrs Shah?”

Relief flooded through Honor’s body, and as her breathing steadied she quickly turned her thoughts to Mr and Mrs Shah to distract herself. Will their lives be turned upside down with a diagnosis nobody wants to hear? Or will she get sent home with a miracle medication to wipe away her discomfort?

Honor found herself watching the baby being rocked to sleep. She took a deep breath and turned her head to look out of the window, forcing herself to look away from the baby. She could hear her Mum now, “You two have been married three years now. It’s about time!”
It’s not that they didn’t want a baby, but they didn’t think they could have any.  The doctor had already told them that Steve was infertile.

There it was again. The nausea washed over her like a tidal wave, bringing with it feelings of dread and anguish as it engulfed her and sweeping away all the feelings of stability and freedom her life had.

After a while, the double doors jolted open. Mr and Mrs Shah walked out smiling and Dr Wilson called Honor in. Honor walked towards Dr Wilson stealing a final glance at the baby. Her feelings of uncertainty were pierced by stabs of intense feelings of contentment at the thought of having her own baby, sending her deeper into confusion as the double-doors closed behind her and her life as she knew it.