Melanie glanced to the rearview and saw the cloud pass over Davey’s face. She regretted her question. Her son had been happy and smiling, asking her intelligent questions about her job and now he sat tight-lipped and upset. Her well-intentioned query had caused him to drop into the condition she was worried about.
She attempted to changed the subject. “How’s Paul doing?”
“He’s still grou…” he cut himself off. After the hospital, Davey had never been punished for sneaking out of school. Paul hadn’t been so lucky. He had been denied television and video games for a week, and fully blamed Davey. “He’s fine,” Davey said.
“Wait a sec. Didn’t you bring anything to do in the waiting room?”
“I’ve got ‘The Hobbit,’” he said.
“What’s that, a game?”
“No,” he said, giggling. “The book?”
“Oh, good for you!”
“ANY HEADACHES?” DR. STUART FINISHED his examination of Davey with a look in his ears.
“Nuh-uh,” Davey shook his head.
“You’d tell me if you did, right?” asked the doctor.
“Sure,” said Davey. He shot a sideways glance over to his mother.
Dr. Stuart nodded and turned to address Melanie. “Oh, I forgot to ask. Ms. Hunter, did you get all the insurance forms to the front desk?”
“Yes,” she said. “I filled out all the paperwork while we waited.”
He turned his head away from Davey, and raised his eyebrows at her.
Melanie clued-in all at once. “Oh, no I didn’t. I forgot to give them something. Would you mind if I went and did that now?”
“Sure, that’s no problem,” said Dr. Stuart. “We’re just wrapping up here.”
When he turned back to Davey, the boy scrutinized him closely.
“You know I was just trying to get rid of your mother, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” said Davey.
“Do lots of people underestimate how much you understand?” asked Dr. Stuart.
“I guess,” said Davey, looking down at the floor.
“Not to worry.” Dr. Stuart sat down in the chair that Davey’s mom had vacated. “Everyone grows up at different rates. You’re a little early, some will be late. Everyone catches up in the end. Well, most everybody catches up.” Dr. Stuart smiled.
Davey smiled back.
“Do you know what doctor-patient privilege is, Davey?” asked Dr. Stuart.
Davey shook his head.
“That means that if you want to tell me something, I can never be compelled to repeat it. Well, at least in Maine,” he amended. He knew that kids this age could be like little human lie-detectors. The only way to gain their trust was to be completely honest. “They could bring me in to court and threaten me, but I would never repeat something you said in confidence because then you could sue the heck out of me. Now if I find anything medical, I’m probably going to tell your mom, but that’s mostly so she can help you get better. But I think there’s something else wrong. Am I right?”
Davey considered the question, wrinkling his brow and trying to decide which issue, if any, he thought the doctor might be able to help with. He decided to start with a test, to see if the doctor was truly trustworthy. “Is there something wrong with me?”
“Well,” Dr. Stuart sighed. “That’s a pretty hard one. We’re doing a lot of tests to figure that out, but it’s mostly because if we could find something early it would be a lot easier to deal with. Do you know what I mean?”
Davey nodded.
“Your last doctor, Chisholm, he figured that given the fact that you stumble sometimes, and your early development, maybe you had inherited a condition. So, we’re going to do some more tests on all the blood we took and see if there’s anything we can find. That’s not what you’re really worried about, is it?”
“No,” Davey admitted. He bunched his shoulders up and lowered his head.
Dr. Stuart suppressed the urge to prod him further, and just waited for a response.
“Sometimes I have dreams, but I’m afraid to talk about them,” said Davey.
“Why’s that?”
“‘Cuz What if then they come true?”
Dr. Stuart nodded and frowned. “That’s a perfectly reasonable thing to be afraid of, Davey. Lots of people have that exact same fear, and it’s okay to be careful about what you say. But can I tell you something else? Sometimes dreams get a lot less scary when you tell them to someone else. I had to study a lot of science to become a doctor and we learned that nobody has ever shown any causal link between telling a dream and it coming true.”
Davey nodded.
“My dad understood how these things work. He was telling me about everything, but then he died,” said Davey.
“Would you like to have someone else to talk to? There are people who specialize in just that—they’re really good listeners and they make a job of helping people understand their thoughts and dreams and stuff,” said Dr. Stuart.
“Like a shrink?”
Dr. Stuart laughed. “Yeah. Exactly like that.”
“I don’t know,” said Davey. “I’ve heard they’re expensive.”
“Don’t worry about that,” said the doctor. “If I can prescribe it, most of the cost will be covered by the insurance company. If we have a problem with getting the money, then we won’t do it. Do you want me to do that?”
“I guess,” said Davey, rubbing his neck.
“Now, is there anything else you can tell me about physically?” asked Dr. Stuart. “Any aches, pains, balance problems, anything?”
“My chest still hurts when I move too fast,” said Davey.
Dr. Stuart nodded vigorously. “Yup, you can expect that for at least another couple of weeks. I think you’ll be ready to go back to school by next week though. You can play just as hard as you want, but you let me know if you have any more pain after,” he said and looked up at the calendar, “let’s say April first. If you feel any more pains after then, tell your mom and ask her to let me know.”
“Okay,” said Davey.
“What else?”
“I don’t like the way I smell,” said Davey.
“Okay, good. That’s normal for a boy your age. You might be a tiny bit ahead of the curve on that one, but everyone is different. I’m going to ask your mom to pick you up some special deodorant if you don’t mind. I just want you to make sure you stay away from antiperspirant for now, okay?”
“Sure,” Davey said.
“What else?” Dr. Stuart prompted again.
Davey shrugged and held up his hands.
“Okay, great!” The doctor slapped his knee and stood up. I’m going to talk to your mom for a couple of minutes about the blood tests and everything. I’ll also tell her that I would like you to have someone to talk to, is that okay?”
“Sure,” said Davey.
Dr. Stuart led Davey out to the waiting room and waved Melanie towards his office.
“How’s he doing? Sorry I was so dense,” said Melanie.
“Don’t worry about it,” the doctor said, smiling. “He’s good. Very smart boy, but you know that. I didn’t really get a chance to know him last time with all that hospital stuff going on.”
“Is there something he’s not telling me?”
“Well,” said the doctor. “I think he needs someone to talk to. Honestly, he still misses Dad, which is perfectly normal. It’s also normal for him to have some feelings about Dad that he can’t talk to Mom about. I’m going to write down a couple of names of colleagues I trust. Insurance can be tricky on this. I can write it up as necessary based on his injury, or any conditions we might find, but if you’re planning on switching carriers at any time, it might alert as a pre-existing condition. You might just want to consider on a couple hours a month out of pocket, depending on how much it costs and how much you have to spare.”