These Are The Days of our Lives
Marlena: I don't deserve it. I have killed 9 people, all friends and family.I am watching soap opera in the waiting room of an STD clinic where I have been for 3 hours already. They have just called number forty-two. My number is fifty-one.
Crystal: I guess we all have bad days...
I don't mind waiting, it's a free clinic. What appals me is that none of the staff functions in real time. They drag through the hallways. They are heavy.
All four doctors have popped in and out several times, like doc-in-a-box, calling non-responsive numbers, and walked away, disappearing for long periods of time. I guess everybody has their tricks to slack off work.
I'm not complaining. My balls will be in their hands someday. Maybe today...
Dr. C, my physician (who passed away unexpectedly this past February) (well, I was told 'by-the way' matter-of-factually, at a party, he had died. Recently I thought that was impossible - doctors are not supposed to have sudden heart attacks. Went to his office so we could have a laugh. It's true.) (my friends say I jump from story to story without finishing any - an obvious exaggeration.) (they also say I spill and that in itself needs to be addressed in a separate post) sent me here a few years ago and I try to get back every six months for, not only HIV testing but a complete STD screening. (Syphilis is back, how scary is that?). Everybody owes it to the world to keep track of their sexual health.
This is the only way one can get an anonymous HIV test here. Unless you thrust those OTC tests. Actually we all do. As long as the result is "negative". If you do it through a regular clinic they are obligated by law to report it to the government. There are negative consequences to it but I am not fully aware of them all.
First World Class. Two worlds away, Brazil has one of the best HIV programs anywhere. BTW: First World. Third World. Who are the Second World countries? But I digress...
The doctor just came back and called number forty who - guess what - was not here. And he left.
I am still number fifty-one.