Megan smiled and blew her a kiss. Her mother’s support left her feeling a little less rotten about what happened and she found herself able to move on. With a mixture of disgust and regret, she peeled off her thoroughly drenched panties and discarded them. She then hopped in the shower and rinsed for a very long time.
“Good news,” Nancy said after she had dressed. “Dr. Hardy’s 2:00 cancelled and he can see you today.”
“Great,” Megan answered, but she was hesitant. What if they did find something wrong?
At twenty after two, Megan found herself sitting in just her underwear on an examination table waiting for the doctor to arrive. It was a warm spring day, but inside the sterilized, air-cooled room with no clothes on, she found herself shivering badly. At least part of the reason for her shivering was fear. She would have preferred a female physician, but Doc Hardy dealt with the entire family and had known her for years. She supposed she trusted him and knew, at least, that he would treat her with courtesy and respect as opposed to looking at her as just more money in the bank.
Hardy finally arrived and apologized for the wait. He talked to Megan as he gave her a physical, asked her how school was, made her feel relaxed. It was almost more like an interview than an examination.
“Your mother told me you had a little incident this morning,” he said delicately, after going through all the items on his list.
“I…um…wet the bed,” she quietly replied.
“Well…that’s probably nothing to worry about,” he told her, echoing her mother’s words. “Have you had this condition previously?”
“No. Not since I was little.”
“Does bedwetting run in your family?”
Megan shrugged.
“Hmm…I’ll have to ask your mother about that. Have there been any recent changes in your routine? Your diet?”
“Well…I just got back from college,” she explained. “But I don’t get it. I’ve been sleeping more and doing less.”
“My daughter is the same way. It could just be the adjustment to living at home again.”
“Maybe.”
“Is there something else?”
“I…well…something happened and I’m feeling pretty bad about it.”
“I see.”
“So is there anything wrong with me?”
“Physically, no. You do seem a little on the fatigued side…”
“But I’ve been sleeping more!” she protested.
“I know. But it hasn’t been an easy sleep.”
“That’s funny. I don’t remember any nightmares or anything.”
“I could write you a scrip for something. But it would keep you up, possibly even cause you to lose even more sleep.”
“I don’t care. I just want this to go away.”
Hardy sucked his teeth and stroked his chin. Something was up with this girl, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Tell you what,” he said. “I’ll write you the scrip and we’ll see if it helps. In the meantime, try to take it easy. Do you have anyone you can talk to? Family? Friends? A counselor perhaps.”
“I don’t need a shrink,” she snapped. “Sorry…I’m just a bit bothered by all this. But yeah, I have people to talk to.”
“That’s great. You might also want to think about protection, for the bed…or yourself.”
Megan looked at him strangely. For herself? What in the hell did that mean? When she had a brief bout with bedwetting at a younger age, her parents had given her GoodNites to wear. They weren’t so bad and the whole episode lasted only a few weeks. But now she was too big for GoodNites and this looked as if it could last longer. Did that mean she would have to wear diapers? She shuddered to think.
“Like I said,” he concluded. “Probably nothing. But we’ll wait and see.”
The bedwetting incident was still on her mind when she arrived at Bledsoe’s Pharmacy. She started working there her junior year of high school and saw no reason to quit. Some of the customers were annoying, but her coworkers were a delight. They even promised to hold her position for her while she was away at school.
Megan had been in the store all of two seconds when familiar eyes fell upon her.
“Hiya Meg,” greeted Josh, the tall and lanky twenty-two year old assistant manager. “I see you’ve rejoined us.”
“Yup yup…. I’m back. Is Vern around? I should probably go tell him.”
“In the back,” Josh directed.