Payne in New Mexico
My doctor asked me how I was feeling and I told him I was still using my hands. He said, "No, I mean how do you feel inside?" I told him that inside, I kind of felt like a mouse at a cat convention. He said, "No, I mean your state." I said, "Right here, Oklahoma." He asked if I had any Paynes and I told him, "Sure, whole bunch of them." He asked me where and I told him mostly in New Mexico. He said, "You have Paynes in New Mexico?" I told him that I did. He asked if I still had them when I wasn't in New Mexico and told him yes, they're still there, even when I'm not in New Mexico. "Especially in Santa Fe" I told him. "Curious" he said. "Anywhere else." "Yep," I said, Albuquerque too." "It's funny that they occur in Santa Fe and Albuquerque and nowhere else." "Oh no," I told him. There's some Paynes in Farmington too, and Taos and Angel Fire." He said, "Have you ever considered just not going to New Mexico?" I told him, "Well, no, I haven't but I've been asked by a lot of them not to come back." He said, "And you continue to visit there?" "Well, of course," I told him. "How else am I going to get to know the Paynes if I don't go to New Mexico?" "It's curious that you want to know the Paynes. That's very unusual as most people seem to want to avoid Paynes." I told him I had noticed that too but I thought it was genetic, just something we had inherited from our grandparents since they had had a lot of Paynes too." He asked if I had ever sought psychological help for all of this. I told him not for this but I had met with a couple of psychiatrists. He was shocked when I said a couple and he asked if it might have been at a clinic and I asked him, "How did you guess that?" He just smiled then. He pulled out his pen and notebook and asked me if I remembered the name of the clinic and I told him "Sure, because you don't spend that much money on new clubs and golf lessons at a clinic without remembering the name of it." He seemed puzzled, confused, then I guess the next question he thought of came out because he asked me how much sleep I got a day. I told him I got about 5-6 hours sleep a day. He asked me why I got so little sleep a day and I told him that they always woke me up at the end of my shift and told me it was time to go home. They just don't make doctors like they used to. This one was crying when I left and that after he had been asking me if I knew any good psychiatrists. Last thing I said to him as I left was that the red-headed one with the black beard told us that he had a six handicap. I think he was lying though because he walked as well as any of the other golfers who were with us. I was thinking maybe I should look for a new doctor but after I got his letter on Saturday, it turns out he's going to find one for me, which I thought was just awfully nice after the way he had broken into tears like he had. I guess he got attached to me pretty quickly because even my mom didn't cry that hard when I left to go in the navy. Funny though, my recruiter was so happy to get me that he started crying. I wish I could remember the name of that red headed golfer with the black beard so I could pair them up.
