After a conversation with Optimus; Ron, I mean Ratchet took me into the examining room.
"Follow me, " he said shortly, leading me to the examining room; once it's there he activated his hologram and approached me.
"Alright, Miss. Jones I will need you to dress in this gown," he said, pulling a white hospital gown from a drawer and handing it to me.
"Why?" I asked confused, as I accepted the gown.
He looked at me surprised. "Well, how I will examine you if you are fully clothed hm?" Ratchet said. "I mean, I can scan you, but you humans prefer normal exam like you have with your human doctors," he said. "The hospital bed side curtain is behind you; you can change in their," he said, as he pulled out my chart and looked at it.
"Is this really necessary?" I asked him.
"Of course, I have to see in what health condition you're."
I took the gown and went behind the curtain and began to undress.
"How are we doing Miss. Jones?" he asked me.
"Good," I said, as I stepped out dressed in a hospital gown.
"Have a seat, " he directed me to the table, as he pulled his rolling chair in front of the table and took a seat. "Now, let's start your check up," he said. "First, I will measure your weight and height; please step on the scale."
I had no choice but to obey him; I stepped out of my shoes, and stepped up on the scale.
"133 pounds," he said, as he wrote that down. "Height 5 feet 7 inches, your weight is perfectly normal for your height; let's check out your blood pressure," he said, wrapping the cuff around my upper arm. A few seconds later he removed the cuff. "120/80 that's normal too," he said, writing it down. "Now, to listen to your lungs" he said, putting the stethoscope into his ears and began listening; going from left to right side to side to compare them. "HM…." he said as he took the stethoscope out of his ears, "Do you smoke?" he asked narrowing his eyes at me.
"Well, here and there," I said.
Of course, I lied and before you say anything I know it's a nasty habit.
"Miss. Jones I'm a medic and according to your lungs, it's more than here and there, " he said, in a serious tone.
I lowered my head; I couldn't look him in the eyes.
"Are you aware which diseases, smoking causes?"
"Yes."
"I don't think so; so I 'am going to refresh your memory, " he said. "Lung cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, bladder cancer, cancer of the kidneys, cancer of the pancreas, cervical cancer, " he began to list. "High blood pleasure, cardiovascular diseases, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, coronary thrombosis, asthma, bad breath, bad teeth, headaches, tiredness and many, many more," he said.
Finally, he finished.
"Do you wish me to show you some pictures of the diseases caused by smoking?" he asked, as he took out some of the pictures of the desk drawer.
"NO!" I screamed.
But he didn't hear me or he pretended not to hear me.
"Alright, here we have mouth cancer, " he said, showing me the picture. "And here we have the lung cancer."
Twenty minutes later I was no longer able to look at the pictures and I shouted: "I'll stop smoking I swear!"
"Good in the next three days take plenty of fluids to remove toxins from the body," he said, "You can dress now."
When I finally left the exam room, I was pale as death; I didn't even notice Ironhide standing a few feet from me waiting to take me home.
"Are you alright femme?" he asked me, his voice startling me from my thoughts.
"Just take me home" I barely, managed to say.
At that moment Ratchet stepped out.
"What did you do to her in there?" Ironhide asked.
"Nothing," Ratchet replied, smiling, "Just an ordinary exam," he said walking away.
000
When we left the hangar the sun began to retreat across the horizon coloring the sky and earth in a reddish- orange color; as we drove down on the highway, the only thing on my mind was my bathtub. With the day I just have had, I couldn't wait to sink into warm water and relax. As Ironhide turned into my street I saw firefighters, police and ambulances; there were people standing in front of their homes and some of them had gathered on the street.
What's going on? I thought to myself as Ironhide parked, and I stepped out.
I approached an old woman and asked her:
"Excuse me Mrs. Carter?" I said. "Can you tell me what happened here?"
The old woman turned slowly and looked me. "Sandra you are alright thank God," she said, hugging me and starting to cry.
"Calm down Mrs. Carter I'm alright" I said, trying to calm her down.
"Sweetie your house…." she stated, as she grabbed both of my hands.
"Yes, what about it?"
"Your house is no more."
"WHAT?!" I said, in disbelief.
"Your house is destroyed; we thought you were dead."
"No," I said, making a step back.
"I'm so sorry sweetie, " she said. "But, you're welcome to stay in my house until you find another place to live."
"My house…. " I whispered sadly, dropping to my knees. "It's destroyed" I said, in tears.
I felt a hand on my shoulder; I looked up to see Ironhide looking down at me.
"Come on, we have to go. It's not safe for you here," he said, gently helping me to get up.
Who could have done this ? I wondered, while tears went down my cheeks.
"Do you have anywhere to go?" He asked me.
I nodded. "Take me to Monica's place," I quietly said.