A Human Face

Am abelle Braxton broke the first rule of doctor-patient relationships when she did not meet the girl's eyes. The girl was sixteen, and she reminded Annabelle of herself at that age, quiet and focused on her own thoughts. Annabelle was twenty-six years old, a doctor for only a year and not old enough, she felt, to say anything that would comfort the girl, whose name was Laura. Nor could she stand up to the girl's mother, who was ready to take her agitation out an anyone. "The pregnancy test is positive," Annabelle announced. "Are you sure?" the girl's mother asked sharply. Annabelle was in the middle of taking off her glasses and removing a sleeper from the comer of her eye. It saved her from having to look at the mother, Mrs. Fields. "Y es," Annabelle replied. She put her glasses back on to find Laura just raising her eyes. "I'm pregnant?" the girl whispered. Her eyes fastened on Annabelle's and held them for a moment. Annabelle wanted to talk to her like that, eye to eye, but again the doctor found she had to look away in order to speak. "I'm afraid so," Annabelle said. "W hat if there's been a mistake?" Mrs. Fields asked. "It's an accurate test." "W ell, maybe we should schedule another one, just in case. I told you, Laura is often irregular, and she's prone to the flu." Annabelle didn't answer; she was preoccupied with watching Laura herself who sat with her head down, clasping and unclasping her hands. Annabelle had the routine things to say, but she could not find the correct tone of voice. It was not her first encounter with teen pregnancy. Annabelle had worked in an emergency room and family planning clinic as a resident, but these places were different. They moved quickly, and most of the people who came in, the girls, were underprivileged and remote from Annabelle. If Annabelle had gotten pregnant at sixteen, she would not have gone to such a place. She would have come here with her own mother, as Laura did, to a quiet obstetrics and gynecology office where most of the patients were older and hoping for babies (or if they were not, sighed and said it was a pleasant surprise). "Excuse me, I'd like to schedule another test," Mrs. Fields repeated, louder.