Thursday, 4th of Fall

Alma hummed a happy tune while she finished watering her fall crops, and when she turned to go take care of the animals, she saw that her oak tree's tapper was full of sticky, golden resin. She bottled it up and put it in her bag before heading on to tend to the animals. Inside the barn, she was happy to see that the goat milk made a nice cheese that she could take to the community center. Before she went into town, she made sure she had the necessary supplies for the silo so she could finally order one from Robin. She looked up from her chests and just noticed she had some mail in the mailbox. She was a bit surprised to see it was from Mr. Mullner:

"Figured I'd give you this recipe I had laying around. Try not to burn it.

- George"

Attached was the recipe for fried eel, scrawled in his handwriting. She smirked, knowing this was a big sign of friendship for him. She folded up the recipe and the letter and put them in her pocket before heading down the road into town.

Near the bus stop, Alma was happy to find a wild plum - the final addition to the fall foraging bundle. She picked it up and put it in her bag before continuing down the road. She went first to Pierre's to sell her produce, then she went north to the community center to drop off the goat cheese and the wild plum. A present appeared, and inside were several fall seeds. These would be good additions to her crops, she thought. Then she went next to Robin's shop and ordered the silo. "Great! I'll get started working on your silo first thing tomorrow morning!"

"Thanks so much, Robin," Alma said with a nod before heading back out. She went through the mountains back to the farm to plant and water the new seeds. By the time she finished, she was surprised to see the sun was starting to set. She checked the time; it was after five o'clock! How had that happened?! It was too late to get the geodes processed, too late to see Willy and ask about when and where to get fall fish, too late to visit Harvey at the clinic or about town …. She wondered what she could do. She decided to get her fishing rod and go south to the river by Cindersap Forest.

Alma cast out her line and waited, and she figured today must have been a bad day for the spirits; nothing was biting. She had pulled up some trash, driftwood, and a few chubs. By ten o'clock, she sighed and pulled in her line, deciding to call it a night. On her way home, she reminded herself that some days were just like this. Still, she was proud of the work she had done today. She went to bed, curled up under the sheets, and let out a long sigh of rest.

CW: medical exams, nudity, breast cancer

Alma sat in the waiting room, awkwardly silent with Maru standing behind the desk. Finally, Dr. Harvey stepped through the door. "Ms. Alma?" Alma stood, and he smiled as she came toward the door. "Follow me please." She passed through toward the exam rooms, and he led her to the room in the back of the clinic. As Alma got settled on the hospital bed, the doctor looked over his notes. "It's been a year since your last gynecological checkup, is that right?"

"Yes."

"Any abnormalities then?"

"No, everything was normal."

"All right." He put down the clipboard and rummaged through the cabinet, pulling out a few sheets and handing them to her. "Go ahead and change into this please, open to the front. You can use the other to cover up too, if you like. I'll be right back."

He left the room, and Alma unfolded the paper robe. She sighed, looking it over. She'd always hated this thing. She unbuckled her overalls and stepped out of them, folding them by the wall of the room. She took off her shirt, bra, and underwear, placed them under the overalls, and slipped on the crunchy paper gown. When she sat back on the bed, she tried to cover herself as best as she could, draping the sheet over her lap and pulling the open flaps as close over her chest as she could. She sat there for what felt like forever until finally, there was a small knock on the door. Dr. Harvey and Maru both stepped in.

"All right, Ms. Alma, we're going to start with just a few general checkup procedures first before we move to the gynecological exam, and my nurse, Maru, will be here to assist me. Are you ready?"

"Uh … sure, I guess."

He went through all the normal steps of a checkup, checking her pulse, heart rate, breath, eyes, ears, etc. But as he was working, she was growing increasingly concerned with some of the comments and murmurs he was making, saying things like "Oh, it's a mess in there," or "That doesn't sound so good." When he looked down her throat, he said, "Ms. Alma, are you aware that you have bronchitis?"

"Oh! No?"

"We'll need to make sure you leave with an antibiotic for that. Okay, now," he said, putting his stethoscope around his neck, "please lie down, and we'll move on with a breast exam." Alma lay back on the hospital bed, and Dr. Harvey carefully opened the paper gown and palpated around the breast. "Does it hurt anywhere when I push?"

"No."

He pushed on the other side. "Do you have family history of breast cancer?"

"Uh … yes, my mother died from it."

He folded the gown over her again and said, "Maru, prepare the mammogram machine for me please."

"Yes, Doctor," and Maru was quickly out of the room.

"Was there - Was there something abnormal?"

"Nothing to worry about," he said, making some notes. "I'd just like to have a more thorough exam done." Maru returned with something that looked like a rolling waffle maker. "Okay, sit up for me please, and place your breast between these two plates."

"That's for a mammogram?" They both looked at her as if confused that she would even ask such a thing. She took a deep breath and awkwardly lifted one breast between the plates. Maru pressed down on it until there was a beep, and then they did the other side.

Dr. Harvey looked at his clipboard as if he was looking at the imagery there and said, "Mm, yes, it appears you have mastitis."

"Mastitis?! But I - I've never breastfed! Or even lactated!"

He looked at her and said matter-of-factly, "It can happen at any time; it's just an infection of the breast tissue."

"But - I really don't think - ?"

"We'll also give you that antibiotic for bronchitis, as well as one for sinusitis, acute otitis media, keratitis, endocarditis, pneumonia, sepsis, and peritonitis," he said with a nod to Maru, as if she should take note of all the medications needed.

"So, does that mean I have infections … practically everywhere?!"

"Yes, it appears that way. You must have a very high pain tolerance." He washed his hands and held the clipboard under his arm as he turned and said, "If you don't have any further questions, you're free to go."

Alma looked at him with shock. "I can't believe I'm suggesting this, but … don't you also need to do a - a pap smear? A cervical exam?"

"Oh! Yes! Right, that, of course." He chuckled a little and put his clipboard back down. "Lie back and put your feet in the stirrups please." Maru turned and gathered some supplies from the cabinet. Alma lay back and did as he said, carefully looking only up at the ceiling. "Oh my," he said. "You have quite a yeast infection down here. But let's carry on with the cervical exam. This might hurt, all right?"

"Okayyow!" Alma pulled back and winced in pain when she could feel the tools inserted.

"Yes, sorry," Dr. Harvey said, "the yeast infection does not help, I'm sure." He came to her side and held out his hand to help her sit up again. "We will send this off to the lab, but I can already tell you, it looks pretty bad down there. Probably cervicitis." He handed her the box of tissues. "Anything else we can help with today?"

"No, uh, I guess that's it."

"All right, well," he said, turning to wash his hands again, "take your time to clean up and get dressed, and Maru will provide you with those prescriptions on your way out of the office." He turned to shake her hand and said, "See you next time."