Well at least someone in the family knew what she wanted. “That’s great, Mom. Julie must be psyched.” My big sister was a public health crusader. She was the good daughter, the one who had always done as she was told. And now she spent all her time doing nice, important things for other people from dawn until dusk. Sometimes even on weekends.
“She’s over the moon. Be sure to call her to give her your congratulations.”
I tried to keep the irritation out of my tone. “Of course I will.” Jesus. My mother’s opinion of me could not be any clearer.
“She’ll be delighted to hear from you,” my mother said a little too firmly. “Also, I need you to come into the city on the night of Saturday, November seventh.”
“Why?” I asked, feeling wary. “I’ll have to look at the hockey schedule,” I lied. The regular season did not start until the following weekend. Lucky me.
“There’s an awards banquet. It’s a big deal for her. The whole family should be there together.”
Shit. The whole family included one person I tried always to avoid. “Things get pretty busy here,” I hedged.
“This is nonnegotiable,” my mother said. “You’ll want to wear a dress.”
“To a banquet? You think?” Annnnnd now I was snapping at my mother like a teenager. Awesome.
“I do think.” My mother sighed. “Cocktails at six-thirty. Dancing and dinner at seven-thirty.”
Dancing! Ugh. Well at least I could blow off the cocktail hour without anyone getting tetchy. “Wait. I can bring a date to this thing, right?” A human buffer would make this whole idea far more palatable. My parents were too polite to chew me out in front of strangers.
My mother hesitated. “This will be a family evening.”
That was ridiculous, because there would be four hundred people at a charity banquet. “Mom, those tables always seat ten. And I know you bought a table for this thing.” That was how my mother worked. She loved her charitable causes. “And you can bet that Julie will bring a date.”
“Your sister has a husband, Bella. That’s hardly the same thing.”
In a remarkable show of restraint, I did not reply in any of the first dozen ways that leapt to mind. I didn’t have any words for Julie’s husband that wouldn’t set my mother’s temper aflame. “I want to bring someone, too,” I argued. “It’s only fair.” Fair being a stupid, meaningless word that I only used because I couldn’t think of anything better.
“Fine,” my mother capitulated. “I’ll put you down as plus one.”
“That would be lovely,” I said as graciously as possible.
“Saturday the seventh.”
“Got it.”
“And call Julie today.”
“Okay.” Jeez.
After we disconnected, I ducked into the women’s bathroom at the bottom of the stairs. All day I’d felt a little… off. My stomach was achy, for starters. But just to make things extra fun, I seemed to be coming down with a yeast infection.
And as long as I was tallying up all the worst things about today, I now owed my sister a phone call — my sister who could not stand me. Furthermore, I needed to find a date to suffer through a few hours of a stuffy banquet in Manhattan in a couple weeks.
Awesome.
In ten minutes I was due to the psych seminar that I took on Tuesday afternoons. But first, a quick pit stop.
After ten seconds in the bathroom stall, I was sorry I’d ever gone in there. “Jesus Fuck!” I shrieked. Because oh my freaking God it hurt when I peed. I was alone in that bathroom, thank goodness. Because… damn. I felt tears spring into my eyes.
After an excruciating thirty seconds, I zipped up, washed up and got the hell out of there.
Two hours later, and feeling no better, I dragged myself through the front door of the Student Health Services building and up to the second floor gynecology department. When I asked at the desk if my favorite nurse practitioner could squeeze me in, the receptionist shook her little freckled nose. “Ms. Ogden is off this week. But if you’re having an emergency, I can get you in to see Dr. Peterson.”
That was a bummer, because Ms. Ogden was amazing. The first time I came in for a pelvic exam, she’d held a hand mirror out to me. “Would you like to see your cervix?” she asked, with the same happy tone as if she were offering to show me a funny cat video. It was hard to feel awkward with Ms. Ogden in the room. Even naked from the waist down, with my feet in the stirrups.
I waited with an outdated copy of Sports Illustrated until my name was called. I followed a nurse down the little hallway and into an exam room. “Please undress from the waist down, then hop up on the table. I’ll leave a sheet right here.”