I think doctors should have a course in waiting room reading material before they graduate from medical school. Usually I take some reading material along with me to the doctor’s office, but today I forgot. The magazines were a range of pathetic choices. I settled for Food and Wine—a magazine with triple chocolate brownie and decadent truffle recipes. Just right for January when everyone is trying to lose the extra weight gained from eating such stuff all during December. As I wiped my drool off the page, I decided I wouldn’t copy the recipes down in my pocket calendar in case I got called into see the doctor and I would never know if the truffles used one cup of cream or two.

Someone tossed a People magazine down just as I finished reading all the chocolate recipes for the fourth time. I grabbed it before anyone else did. I decided that looking at all the stars in their worst-dressed outfits was by far much more entertaining than Food and Wine. I fantasized that George Clooney winked and smiled at me as he said, “Dr. McLoughlin isn’t in today. I’m taking her place.” 

I was rudely jerked back to reality when the nurse in the baggy pants and oversized print smock called me into the examining room. After the nurse left after taking my temperature and blood pressure, I realized I’d left my magazine and George Clooney out in the waiting room. I looked around. The room was void of any reading material except a chart on the back of the door called 20 Rules for Success. I read that through two or three times before the doctor arrived. It was Dr. McLoughlin after all—not George Clooney. Oh well. I’m not sure George Clooney would know what to prescribe for me. I really want to get well, after all.