Rules Get Broken Read Online Free

herself in an attempt to stay warm in the air-conditioned room.
    He walked over to her, gave her a quick smile and took her hands in his. He looked at the top side of each of them, then turned them over and looked at her palms and wrists. He felt her neck under each side of her jaw and down her neck on either side of her throat. He slid the gown off of her shoulders, allowing it to fall to her waist, lifted each of her arms and ran his fingers under her armpits and around and under her breasts. He placed his stethoscope on her chest and back and listened to her breathe and tapped on her back in several spots. He asked her to lie down, and he pushed and prodded her stomach and abdomen and ran his fingers up and down the inside of her thighs. He told her she could slide her arms back into the gown, and when she had and was once again covered, he took her pulse and looked in her ears and her mouth. His manner was unhurried but efficient, without wasted motion or effort, and his skilled hands gave him the information he sought.
    When he was done, he sat down on the chair at the foot of the examining table, folded his arms across his chest and looked directly at Peg for several seconds, as if he were reviewing in his mind one more time everything his examination had revealed to him.
    “Well, two things are very apparent. First, judging from your color and your fatigue, I think you’re suffering from anemia, so I want you to make an appointment with the lab for a blood test. Second, a number of the lymph nodes in your neck and under your arms are swollen. We need to find out why. But we’ll start with the blood test. Okay?”
    “Of course,” Peg replied, as Dr. Edwards began to fill out a form for the lab detailing the tests he wanted done. “Then what?”
    “That’s going to depend on the results of your blood test,” he said when he was finished, and he handed the form to her.
    Peg gave a little shrug and looked down at the form in her hand, not overly comfortable with his answer.
    “I suggest you go to the lab when you leave here,” he continued. “If you do, we’ll have the results by tomorrow morning. Then give us a call some time after ten o’clock, and my nurse will let you know what we need to do next. Okay?”
    “I guess so,” Peg replied.
    Dr. Edwards gave her a warm smile and stood up. Then he wished her a good day, shook her hand and left the examination room on his way to his next patient.

Eight
    Wednesday morning, July 30th, eight minutes after ten.
    I’ve been here before , Peg thought. The phone in Dr. Edwards’ office rang for what had to be the twenty-fifth time. Finally a voice on the other end of the line. “Good morning. Dr. Edwards’ office.”
    “Yes. Good morning. My name is Peggy Herbert, and I had a blood test taken yesterday afternoon at Dr. Edwards’ request. He told me to call you this morning and said you’d be able to let me know what I’m supposed to do next. Based on the results of the blood test.”
    “Let me check, Mrs. Herbert. I’ll be right back to you.”
    A minute passed, then another.
    “Yes, Mrs. Herbert,” the voice on the other end of the line suddenly said. “We have the report from the lab, Dr. Edwards has looked at it, and he does want to see you today. Can you make a three-thirty appointment?”
    “Yes, I can do that,” Peg replied without hesitation. “Did Dr. Edwards say anything else? About the report, I mean?”
    “No, I’m sorry, he didn’t.”
    There was silence on both ends of the line for several seconds.
    “Is there anything else I can do for you, Mrs. Herbert?” the voice asked.
    “No. Nothing at all. I’ll see Dr. Edwards this afternoon at three- thirty.”
    “Have a nice day, Mrs. Herbert.”
    “You too.”
    The voice hung up, and Peg stood in the kitchen looking at the receiver in her hand.

Nine
    She arrived early for her Wednesday afternoon appointment, at three-twenty to be exact, to be absolutely certain that when her name was