Chapter 3

“Ahh, back for more, huh?” The receptionist at the front desk gave me a teasing grin.

“Yah,” I shrugged, “guess I enjoy a little torture first thing in the morning.”

“Haha, just take this sheet down to admitting and they’ll get you started.” She smiled sweetly as she handed me a sheet of paper.

“Thanks.”

I wandered through the corridor of the University passing several students along the way. Each smiled warmly at me as we passed one another.

“Friendly bunch.” I mumbled as I walked to the admitting booth.

“Hi there.” A bubbly young woman greeted me.

“Hi.” I replied as I handed her the sheet.

“Wonderful, just head down to X-ray and they’ll get you prepped for the mammogram.”

“What?!” I’d heard those were terribly painful, what was I getting myself into?

Cringing as I walked down the hallway toward X-ray, I imagined my poor breasts being squashed between two metal plates that slowly moved closer and closer together like a present day torture device.

“Money for my tuition…money for my tuition.” I reminded myself, gritting my teeth.

Turning into the lab, I walked up to a young woman dressed in a lab coat. Cheerily, she nodded as she greeted me hello. “I’m Deborah, do you have your waiver with you?” Handing her the paper that would give her permission to inflict pain and suffering upon me, she guided me to the back to change.

Slipping once again into a gown and tying it in the back, I wandered out into the waiting area. Spotting me, Deborah walked quickly to retrieve me.

“Follow me, please.” She smiled and directed me with her pointer finger as she led me down a hallway. Turning into a dimly lit room, she instructed me to have a seat near an enormous piece of technology.

Warily, I searched for the little window that the students usually stood behind and watched their specimens from. Exhaling a sigh of relief as I didn’t see one, I could feel my shoulders relax a little.

“Please remove your gown and place your left breast on the plate.” The young student asked politely. Standing beside me as I took off my gown, I heard a quiet gasp escape her. Looking at her face, I saw that her eyes were firmly focused on the anomaly between my breasts. “What…?” She began with a bizarre mixture of fascination and disbelief painted on her face.

“It’s a birthmark, weird huh?” I could feel the burn of embarrassment reach the tips of my ears. Making a mental note to have my freakish birthmark covered over with a garish tattoo after all of this, I sharply turned my front torso away from her gawking stare and placed my left breast onto the cold plate of the mammogram machine.

Silently, Deborah turned and walked to the control room to begin the test.

After twenty minutes of torture and having my breasts squashed like pancakes, I wandered back to the change room. Closing the curtain behind me, I massaged my aching chest and then proceeded to get dressed.

“Thanks again.” The happy receptionist handed me my money and I left the building clutching my throbbing bosom.

“This had better be worth it!” I muttered to myself as I headed back to my dorm room.

***

The hard noodles clinked against the sides of the pot of boiling water as I built myself a bowl of macaroni and cheese. As steam rose above the pot, I was reminded of the smoke that swirled up into the sky from the huge bonfires on the reservation.

I missed my home. Well, my foster home anyways. No one, not even the Hopi elders, seemed to know where I came from. My So’o, adopted grandmother, raised me from infancy after she found me abandoned in a cave near the village.

Closing my eyes, I could almost feel the heat of the Sedona sun kiss my face and warm my chest. Opening my eyes, however, I realized it was only the steam from my boiling pot of noodles.

Sighing as I poured the el dente noodles into a colander and drained the hot water away, I wondered if I was ever going to see my home in the desert again. I could barely afford to eat and put myself through college let alone fly over eight states to see my family.

Thank heavens for Amy; I wouldn’t have lasted this long out here if it weren’t for her. People just weren’t as friendly as I’d hoped they’d be when I moved away to go to school. Well, most people, the students that had been using me as a living Petri dish for the last two days were exceptionally nice which made it a little easier to endure the life of a guinea pig. Except for the pain, I almost looked forward to my last day of testing, I was getting used to the royal treatment.

Smiling as I settled down with my meager dinner, I winced as my arm brushed up against my swollen left breast. After being smashed in the Mammogram, it was screaming in protest.

“Just one more day…then I don’t have to endure any more tests.” I shrugged as I loaded my fork full of cheesy pasta.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.