Inexperienced Heart

Chapter 11: The Doctor, Again

"Why not drive to his office right now?" suggested Goldtin.

Logan felt really awkward. He was the center of attention and worst of all, it was his ugly, swollen hand that was no longer usable that was getting all the attention.

Mrs. Polymer seemed to like the idea, so they all decided to go. All five of them got buckled in a red Ford mini-van. The drive was quiet. You could only hear the whirring of the engine and the swish of other passing cars zooming by. Logan wondered why all of a sudden they had noticed his hand. It was obvious before. Why hadn't they realized it earlier? His conclusion was they were too busy and worried with Landa.

Soon, they arrived at their destination. The building, in front of which they parked, looked like it was ten stories high. When they entered the building, there were bells jingling on the side of the door, which brought a young lady to the front desk to help them.

"How may I help you?" she asked sweetly. Her name tag revealed her name to be Tiana. While Mrs. and Mr. Polymer arranged an appointment with Dr. Expodore, with Goldtin by their side, Landa and Logan talked to each other. Logan was staring at Tiana. She had curly red hair and a sweet smile.

"What are you staring at, Logan?" demanded Landa sharply.

"Her. She's so beautiful," he answered dreamily.

"Oh, not really." That seemed to make Logan come back to reality as he slowly turned to face Landa, incredulity written all over his face.

"What do you mean 'not really'?" he asked.

"Just that. She's really not that beautiful. Besides, she's much older than you," said Landa in a know-it-all manner.

"How do you-" started Logan, but was pushed to the front by Landa, who hissed mockingly, "The pretty girl wants to know who's here for an appointment."

Just at that moment, Dr. Expodore entered the room and invited the five to follow him. Landa's parents and Goldtin followed immediately. Logan was behind on what was happening, so Landa shoved him forward. Logan saw an opportunity to find out Tiana's age out of earshot of everyone, except Landa, but he decided to take a shot and be bold. He asked her.

"Twenty," she answered in her sweet voice.

"Cool! I'm twenty-one," Logan said, trying to sound cool. To his pleasure, the girl giggled and waved to him.

"Hmph," Landa uttered angrily. Then, she took Logan by his shirt and led him into an empty room, closing the door behind her. She held his shirt and faced him.

"How dare you?" she whispered angrily and shook Logan by his collar. "You lied to her! Why?" Then, she let go of Logan and sobbed, dropping down to a sitting position and placing her arms and head on the top of the drawer near her.

"You're not here to flirt with girls. It was I who tried to help you by telling my parents about your hand, but you don't even care. I thought you were my friend," Landa said in between sobs.

"Landa!" Logan cried, surprised. He rushed to her and placed a consoling hand on her shoulder. Landa moved her shoulders, trying to shrug off his hand. Logan got the clue and removed his hand.

"I am your friend," stated Logan. "Let's catch up with the others now."

"No. You can go," she said.

"What do I tell the others?"

"I don't care. Tell them I'm using the bathroom or something."

"Landa, I'm sorry," Logan apologized. Landa heard his footsteps going farther away until she couldn't hear them anymore. Slowly, she stood up and went to the bathroom to wash her face and comb her disheveled hair. After she was done, she found the others sitting comfortably and talking about Logan's hand. She stepped into the room and closed the door. She sat as far as she could from Logan. She avoided eye contact with him and even looking at him at all. She looked everywhere, but at him. She could tell he was looking at her. She could feel his stare on her, but she just ignored him.

Dr. Expodore listened carefully to Logan as he related how he hurt his hand, grasping all his words. The doctor then asked Landa for her version of what happened.

"I've never seen anything like it," said Dr. Expodore honestly as he got up.

"But did you see anything weird after I said the signal?" asked Logan.

"No, I can't say I did. I was in my office at that time and I didn't notice anything strange."

After a pause, the doctor asked Logan, "You said your hand is numb and lifeless?" Logan nodded solemnly. The doctor got out a metal spoon from his tools' kit and tapped it against Logan's hand softly several times. Then, he hit it as hard as he could a few times. Logan assured the doctor he could feel nothing, not even the feel of metal against his hand. The doctor put that tool away and got a long, sharp needle out.

"I'm going to try to get the liquid out of your hand, so it's less swollen," he explained. He cleaned the sharp part of the needle and tried to inject it into Logan's hand, but it wouldn't go in. Logan squirmed as the doctor kept trying and trying to force the needle in. He succeeded on the twentieth try, but as soon as the needle had punctured and entered Logan's hand, Logan screamed in agony. Landa jumped up, startled, and looked at him in solitude.

"Oh dear, what have I done?" Dr. Expodore muttered fiercely to himself as he quickly pulled out the blood-covered needle. He threw it carelessly into the sink and snatched a wet cloth, which he applied to the bleeding hand. Logan had stopped screaming, but his breath came in deep gasps. He said his hand was still hurting and throbbing with pain.

"It doesn't make sense. I thought it was lifeless. I guess it's not completely lifeless," responded the doctor, his brow raised in confusion. Nobody had an answer to the strange occurrence.

"Your hand bleeds, but it's not any less swollen," said Landa, making eye contact with Logan for the first time since she entered the room.

"This is strange. I'm sorry, but I can't help you. And I don't know who I can suggest who would know what to do. I'm sorry is all I can say." Dr. Expodore bandaged Logan's hand and led them out of his office without another word, leaving them confused and lost in thought.

Tiana smiled and waved to Logan on their way out. She said, "Bye, twenty-one-year-old." But Logan ignored her. Her face showed confusion and bitterness, but Logan didn't even turn his face. He followed Landa.