THE WAITING ROOM

9 am Saturday morning: Walked into the clinic/hospital, spoke to the receptionist who politely directed me to the radiologist’s office.
I walk into the cold, forsaken room – there is no one in sight. I stand there for about 5 minutes before a young man leisurely walks in and requests me to take a sit.
He casually says, “The radiologist will be here at 10am”. I called the previous day and was told I could come in at any time, “the radiologist is always available”, and it’s a hospital after all. To keep me occupied I read ‘Beloved’ by Tony Morrison.

9:50 am: Two men walk in. They are curly haired and mango tanned, they speak to each other in a foreign language. The tall skinny red eyed one comes up to me and gets a hold of my necklace. “Where did you get this? The African market?” they are clearly out to have fun, but I cut them off by sinking my eyes into my novel.

10:00 am: A lady wrapped in religious attire walks in with an old man. He is in his early 70’s, his tall frail body is hidden under a striped shirt, dirty-black trousers and he has the most interesting white hat sitting firmly over his grey hair. His face is masked in pain. After an hour of waiting, it’s clear that his patience is waning. He hasn’t eaten since last night - a prerequisite to seeing the radiologist. He has two strong stress lines right between his eye brows. He grips his walking stick between his hands and relieves some of his fragile weight onto it. Then he pulls out his cell phone and looks at it intently like he expects it to come to life.

10: 50am: I’m growing extremely impatient. Man at the counter informs us the radiologist just called to say she will arrive at 11:30 grrrr! I nearly break out in a sweat, but I have to wait.
11:00am: An old woman dressed in traditional silk waddles in and sits next to me. Her body odor could send a dog whimpering in the opposite direction. I hold my breath but can only do it for long. She gets up several times to fill her water can and each time the whiff of her odor is refreshed. I turn the other side with the hope that it will keep the smell at bay, to no avail. She is fascinated by the woman on the TV screen who is smoking a cigarette, she mumbles to herself in shock and amusement.

11:45am: The radiologist struts in. I’m only too glad to be the first to walk into her office and leave the waiting area for good.