Magnolia

The Outside

Josh pulled into the doctor's office parking lot and got Maggie out of her seat right away.

"See?  Got you out right away as promised. Now, can you also be good for the doctor?  Papa Josh is going to be there the whole time, okay?" 

Maggie put her head on his shoulder and her thumb in her mouth.

Josh went in and got Maggie registered. He filled in the forms as best as he could, making sure to list the social worker's name and number as another contact, since Maggie was technically a ward of the state.

He sat down with Maggie on his lap and they looked at one of the picture books that was in the waiting room. Josh pointed out the animals and would make the appropriate noises. Maggie would look up at him and put her hand on his mouth as he made sounds.

"You don't like my barnyard sounds?" He smiled at her.

Maggie pointed at the dog in the book.

"He looks a little like Jim, doesn't he?" Josh said. Maggie pet the picture.

They were then called in so Josh put the book down and followed the nurse into the exam room.

"Okay, first we need to get her weight. Can you stand her up here on the scale?" She asked.

"I don't think she can stand," Josh said. "She doesn't walk and she did pull herself up on her knees yesterday, but she hasn't stood."

The nurse looked at him warily.

"If you look in her chart, there should be a note that she's my foster child and what I know about her. Which isn't much."

The nurse flipped through the notes.

"Oh!  Okay. Got it. Can you sit her on the scale?"

"Okay Maggie, I'm going to put you down here for a minute. Then I'll pick you right back up, okay?"

Josh put her down and immediately she put her hands up for him to pick her up.

The nurse worked as quickly as she could to get Maggie's weight. Once she had it, she told Josh he could pick Maggie up again. As soon as he did, her thumb went into her mouth and her head went onto his shoulder.

"I need to get her height. Can you lay her down here on the table?"

"I can try," Josh said and explained to Maggie what he was doing and why. She wasn't thrilled, but she lay still, looking up at Josh.

"Good girl," Josh said, smiling.

"She's still in a diaper?" The nurse asked.

"She's not toilet trained yet. That's what the children's home told me."

The nurse nodded.

"Okay sweetheart," the nurse said to Maggie with a pleasant smile on her face. "Can we change you into this?"  She pulled out a cloth gown with cartoon characters on it.

"She has burn scars all over her body," Josh said to the nurse. "I saw them last night when I gave her a bath. Just so you know."

"Okay. I'd need to see those anyway, so we can document them."

With a little coaxing, Josh and the nurse got Maggie undressed. The nurse looked at the scars and noted them on the chart. They then got her into the little gown.

"She has some on the soles of her feet, too," Josh said. The nurse sighed.

"Poor kiddo," she said.  "How is she eating and drinking?"

"She eats with her hands. I tried a spoon and that was a bit of a disaster. But she can pick up food and eat it. She likes strawberries and yogourt. She's not sure about cucumber and she likes dipping carrots in ranch dressing. She had some macaroni and cheese for lunch yesterday and mashed potatoes, chicken and peas for dinner last night. She can't use a cup by herself. She spilled it on herself."