The Dome Chronicles: Lies

Seven

"Fr-aya! Fr-aya! You home! You home!" I hear Abby excitedly screaming as I walk in the door. Mason comes up right behind her and starts yelling, too. I smile and respond, "Hey guys. You ready to go?"

"Yeah!" They shout in unison. They think they're going to the ice cream parlor, but they're really going to a routine doctors appointment to check their developmental progress. The rest of us have only one appointment per year, but since Abby and Mason have special needs and stunted growth, they need appointments more often.

Even though we're not going to the ice cream parlor right away, I'll probably end up going there afterward. They can be pretty persuasive when they add waterworks into the equation, especially Mason.

"Okay, time to go!" I shout enthusiastically to get them pumped up. They both cheer and run out to my car, where they proceed to jiggle the handle until I get out there and unlock it.

This is going to be one long afternoon.

"Settle down guys, settle down," I tell them as I make my way out to my car and unlock it. Abby yanks the door open and climbs in, Mason right behind her. I hear two clicks and make sure they're buckled, then take off.

I can see through the rear view mirror that their continuous bouncing gets less frequent as we pass the ice cream place. They're starting to get suspicious.

I try to act calm for Abby and Mason's sake. It seems to help as I pull into the doctor's office parking lot and park. I take the keys out of the ignition and excitedly yell "we're here!" They look confused as I get out of the car and open the back left door.

"Come on guys, we're gonna be late. Let's go."

I can tell that they've caught on to my trick when Abby asks "Why we at the doctor? We get ice cream?"

"Yes, but just relax. I'll get you ice cream after your appointment I pro-"

"WHY NO ICE CREAM?" Mason shouts.

"Mason Michael Johnson, listen to me. We will get ice cream after your appointment, do you understand?"

"NO!" He screams. "WANT ICE CREAM NOW!"

I let out a deep sigh and I pick Mason up, who is now putting on quite a show.

I motion for Abby to follow me. She's clearly upset, but not as upset as her twin brother.

"ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM!" Mason screams all the way inside the clinic. At this point, we're getting strange looks from people coming in and out of the doors. One Good Samaritan holds open the door for me and I thank them.

"It's no problem." The lady responds. "I know exactly what you're going through. I have a little one at home."

She pauses. "This is your brother and sister, I assume? They're very cute." She smiles.

"Oh, thank you. Yes, they can be a bit of a handful sometimes." I laugh a little as the lady walks away and we proceed in through the front doors.

It must've been really quiet before we came because people waiting for their appointments jerk their heads up at the sight of us.

"I'm so sorry." I apologize.

I set Mason down and call Abby, who had wandered over to the fish tank, over to me.

"Guys, I know I tricked you but we have to do this, ok? I promise that I will buy you ice cream as soon as we are done with this. They're just going to measure your height and your weight and a couple other things to see how fast you're growing, because you guys are big kids now, right?"

"Yeah!" Abby yells enthusiastically.

"No. I don't wanna," Mason pouts.

"You have to, Mason. Don't you wanna be a big boy?" I ask him.

"Yes." He mumbles.

"Ok, now come over to the desk with me and I'll get you checked in."

We walk over to the front desk and a nurse with a name tag reading Patricia greets us.

"Hello, how may I help you?" She smiles at the sight of my brother and sister.

"Yes, I have an appointment for Abigail and Mason Johnson."

"Ah, yes. Two of my favorite patients! Would you guys like a lollipop?" She asks.

"Yeah!" They shout in unison. She holds out a bucket filled with suckers and they each take one. I help them open their treats as she prints some paperwork for me to fill out.

"And you're all set," she smiles. "Good luck."

"Thank you," I reply as I take the clipboard from her hand and bring it over to the couches.

I start to fill out the paper as Abby and Mason are sitting beside me, slurping on their lollipops. They seem content...

For now.

15 minutes later, a nurse wearing a shirt with Winnie the Pooh characters all over it walks out. Her name tag says Aliyah, pediatric nurse.

"Abigail and Mason?" She scans the waiting room until she sees us and smiles. "We're ready for you."

"Alright guys, let's go. They're ready for us." I coax them. They're still slurping on their suckers.

"Is it ok if they bring these back?" I ask. "Otherwise it's going to be a long hour and a half." I let out a stifled laugh.

"Totally fine. I get it." She replies.

"Come on, guys let's go." I take one of each of their hands and walk them back into the hallway with rooms branching off of it. Right away, she measures their height and weight, which are healthy for 8-year-olds with their condition.

Next comes the hard part.

Routine shots.

I have to admit, I was scared when my mom told me what this appointment entailed because getting shots with these two is a nightmare and a half.

Ten minutes after Aliyah leaves the room, Doctor Longe comes in with a big goofy grin on his face. I've always admired how good he is with kids, especially 8-year-old twins with special needs. He's truly fantastic at what he does.

"Alright, how are my two favorite patients today?" He asks as he walks over to his computer and sits down. He begins typing some things in as he asks me more questions.

"Ok, that should do. So," he turns to face me. "We'll be getting two routine shots today, the influenza vaccine and the DTaP, which protects them from tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis." I nod even though I don't understand a word he says.

"Aliyah will be back in a minute, along with a couple other nurses to help hold them down." Dr. Longe smiles.

"Thank you," I say. "My family appreciates you a lot." He exits the room and I think to myself, we're gonna need a lot of extra nurses. Lord knows how hard it is getting shots with these two.

Ten minutes later, 5 nurses waltz in the tiny, postage stamp-sized room with two carts full of needles, wipes, and lollipops. I'm tempted to laugh when I see the suckers because I know they're not gonna help.

They start with Abby first because hands down, she's the easier of the two.

Aliyah starts to wipe her down with the sanitary wipes and talk to her calmly.

Once she's done wiping the area, she turns to the other nurses and says, "Alright, gang. Let's do this."

I stand back and watch as they tell Abby to lay back on the bed. One of the other nurses preps the first needle and Aliyah tells Abby to close her eyes and think about the two scoops of ice cream she'll be getting after this.

Hey, I think to myself. I never promised them double scoops.

I watch as they stick the needle in her arm and she starts to whimper a little.

All of the nurses comment on how good she's being compared to past visits and that she's a big girl now.

Abby smiles and forgets all about the shot as they take the needle out and put a band-aid on the little drop of blood that's formed.

Aliyah starts to wipe a spot on her other arm and Abby seems to know what's coming. She closes her eyes tight and starts to cry a little but they've already put the needle in before she realizes what's happening.

She opens her eyes and realizes it's over, then stops crying.

Once they put the second band-aid on, she sits up and shrugs. "That not bad," Abby states as they give her a second lollipop for her good behavior.

Now for the hard part.

"It's your turn, Mason." Aliyah coaxes as the rest of the nurses prepare his vaccinations.

He looks up from the game he's been playing on my phone and starts to cry once he realizes what's going on.

I pick him up and put him on the table as me and three other nurses hold each of his limbs down.

Aliyah starts talking to him about the ice cream but his continuous screaming only gets worse. She starts to wipe off the area with the wet wipe but he flinches due to the coldness of the wipe.

It only makes him scream harder.

"You have to calm him down!" Aliyah yells over his screaming. "If we inject him while he's tense it could hurt him!"

"Okay everyone quiet!" I yell. I go right up to his ear and whisper "Hey, buddy I know that it hurts but we need you to calm down or else they can't do the shot."

"NO!" He screams and carries on with the crying.

"It's not working," I tell Aliyah. "We just have to do it."

"Okay, here we go." She wipes his arm again and takes the needle from another nurse, while the rest of us continue to hold him down. She pushes it into his arm and he screams harder when he feels it. Before I know it, they've injected him with the other vaccination and we're all done.

Now I finally get to relax. I'm actually sweating because he resisted so much that it was hard to hold him down.

"Thank you so much...really. It means a lot." I tell all the nurses and doctor that helped us. They wave as I take the twins out of the hot room and back out to the car.

As I pull up to the ice cream place and we walk inside to take our orders, the twins are bouncing up and down, pulling on my arms and begging for double scoops.

I give in, thinking about everything that went on at the doctors' office. We get our ice cream and then walk outside and sit on the curb, watching all the cars drive by. They're both completely content, licking their double scoops off the cone and catching the drips.

At that moment, I can't help but think "Man, I got really lucky. These are great kids."