I come to this crowded place and sit waiting, so many people and we are all alone.

All of us harboring concern over life's most recent issue of decay blended with neglect such that it can no longer be ignored.

We try not to look at each other, they have theirs and I have mine, reasons for being there, and wishes to be anywhere else.

So we attend with our hopes installed but our faces reveal the fear we thought we had hidden so well.

In her tiny white cap, she approaches with her professional smile, others must wait longer, my turn has come.

She bids me follow to the inner sanctum for my audience with he whom I trust is the purveyor of relief.

It is a sterile place, brightly lit, walls adorned with certificates boasting qualifications. I find the physician presents as a friend.

I feel some comfort and can lower my guard and allow this stranger privy to what infirmity interrupts my humdrum life.

White cap leaves the room to allow my awkward admission that yet another part of my body has malfunctioned sufficiently that I must seek a medical intervention.

Explaining in my uneducated way of symptoms that I hope are clear enough that he will be able to interpret correctly using his acquired expertise.

Thus a diagnosis is made and a plan of action discussed whereupon the venerable doctor proceeds to dispense the magic to banish that which afflicts me.

Mission completed and I emerge with fears abated but not dismissed, and hopes enhanced but not realized.

White cap reappears smiling optimism that deft application of panacea will issue remission and bids me follow for summation

Behind the counter another professional smile but no white cap, this is the commercial reckoning that supports the facility and those who dedicate themselves to helping others.

I exchange some button pushing for a tiny slip of paper that indicates both parties have what they need.

Is it a lasting fix from this establishment of science? White cap smiles a smile that says "Just go and try to be happy, this is as good as it gets."

Of all the other people similarly seeking relief... do I care? I suggest about as much as they do for me as I walk away.

And at the end of it all, one certainty becomes clear - I will be back!