Lindsey Schaffer
INTAKE
After “The Session” by Jeanann Verlee
Say constipation. Fourteen times. Take Miralax. Forever. She says. Maybe your period is
coming. Some things get worse on rainy days. She says. You don’t need additional tests.
Tell me. How is school going? I say. Cross country is going well. We are going to state.
Parents still happy? Yes. Getting sleep? Yes. That will change when you have kids.
Not sure I even want kids. A confused look. You seem perfectly healthy.
But what about the pain? You live in America. More questions.
I think about the highway. How it spreads unquestioned. On the price we pay
for this freedom. She says, You are good to go.
I think about living this way forever— driving to my next appointment. Rehearsing what I
should have said seven years ago.