Jumpy Girl and Trance Woman

Posted on | July 24, 2009 | No Comments

On Wednesday, I participated in the 20-something Bloggers Blog Swap. Justin from Freshest Oats posted here, while I posted on his site. In case you missed it, here was my experience in people watching.

Whenever you go to the doctor’s office, the odds of running into certifiably crazy people increase exponentially. On Monday afternoon, I had an appointment with my doctor for a quick check-up. I arrived at the office early, so I hid behind an old copy of Newsweek and spent some time surreptitiously watching the other people in the office.

There were the requisite “normal” people, idly reading a magazine or watching the TV on the wall. And then there were the crazy people.

One woman sitting to the left of me looked as if she were frozen in time. Her eyes were fixed on the TV screen, probably making a casual observer think she was completely enthralled with Lou Dobbs. But when I snuck a quick peek, I realized her eyes were dull and glazed over, almost as if she had fallen asleep without closing them. She seemed as if she was in some kind of stupor or trance and I wondered if that was some kind of contagious medical condition. Every now and then, she would mumble something unintelligible, but her eyes never left the TV screen. Maybe she really was entranced by Lou, but it’s also possible she just spends too much time in doctors’ waiting rooms.

On the other side of the room, there was Trance Woman’s opposite. This woman was all nerves and emotion. She wouldn’t sit still. She would plop down in a chair, only to get up 20 seconds later and pace around the room. She kept wringing her hands and shaking them out, like you do when there are no more paper towels in the bathroom. Her actions were jerky and edgy, making me think that maybe she had Tourette’s or some kind of spasm disorder. At one point in her up-and-down routine, Jumpy Girl grabbed a brochure from a shelf on the wall. She sat down and started poring over the brochure, as if it contained the secret to life and would answer all of her questions. Then, just as abruptly, she put it back and resumed her pacing, then sitting, then pacing choreography.

When a nurse came into the room and called my name, Jumpy Girl leapt out of her seat and rushed towards the door.

“Did you call Sally?” she asked, sounding out of breath.

(My name is not Sally. It’s not even close to Sally.)

The nurse, amused, said no. Jumpy Girl looked genuinely disappointed as I passed her to enter the office. As we walked down the hallway to the exam room, the nurse glanced back and peered at me through her glasses.

“You meet the most interesting people working here,” she said.

That, I thought, was an understatement.

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