The Professor - Ch. 9.2

After school, Aurelia went with Bambi to an orthopedic doctor’s appointment in Friendly. Usually she steered clear of the city where Dingo’s club was, but since Bambi volunteered to take her to dinner afterwards, she saw no just cause to refuse.

The less Aurelia had to pay for her own food, the better off her budget was. The better off her budget was, the more money she could send home to help her family.

“Can my friend come to the back with me, Aunt Mai Ly?” Bambi asked the pleasant receptionist when her name was called. Incidentally, that receptionist really was her biological aunt on her mother’s side.

“Sure thing,” Mai Ly replied with a smile. “Dr. Johansson won’t mind since it’s just a routine consult.”

“Great.” Bambi grinned, showing pearly white teeth that had been straightened with braces as a child. “Are you riding this chariot to the back? Or are you Ike and Miking it?” she turned to ask her classmate, careful not to bump either of her thoroughly signed leg casts against anything.

“Who wants to walk when they can ride in style?” Aurelia chuckled, immediately positioning herself on the back of Bambi’s wheelchair for the second time that day.

Mai Ly simply laughed at them and buzzed the automatic doors open to allow them entry to the back examination rooms. She waved goodbye to the jovial friends as they passed by.

Although Aurelia didn’t seek out a close friendship with anyone in light of the Roxy situation, Bambi was so personable that it was hard not to get attached to her once you spent any significant amount of time in her presence. They might have been close friends sooner had Aurelia been more of a party animal like Bambi was…or rather used to be before her accident. The fact that Aurelia had a contagious smile and was very personable herself caused their previous casual friendship to deepen very fast over the last few weeks.

Incidentally, the old Bambi would have fit right in on the Virgin Islands, despite the fact that she was from a different cultural background. Islanders loved to party and knew how to do it well. Aurelia liked a good party as well as the next islander, but when she went off to college, she curtailed her partying ways and became a serious student. She barely attended social functions around campus these days.

Aurelia and Bambi’s mirth continued well into the examining room they were shown to by a white uniformed nurse. They even had the nurse laughing before she left to retrieve the doctor.

Aurelia’s laughter abruptly stopped when Dr. William Johansson walked into the room a few minutes later. Instant recognition bounced between them.

See that’s why I stay out of this city, Aurelia mused, having come face to face with one of her regulars from the club – Willy as he liked to be called.

© 2009 by Mi’Chelle Dodson/Suprina Frazier