Clinic

He rested his crossed arms over the desk and leaned forward, “I’ve got an itch down there,” he said. The woman behind the reception table handed him a clipboard with a form attached.

“Just fill in the parts you can and bring it back. Don’t forget the pen too.” She smiled, and he nodded in reply before going to the waiting area where a dozen other men sat. Some of them were reading through magazines, while others were on their phones or sitting back with their arms folded.

An hour later a nurse called him. He stood up and followed her down a corridor until she stopped at the door of a room. She opened it, smiled at him and gestured for him to enter, but he stood without moving and only smiled. “Go on,” she said. He walked in and sat down while she filled the chair opposite him. After taking his details she asked him, “Have you ever slept with a man? Have you ever slept with someone overseas? Have you ever paid for sex?” He sat back with his arms folded and in-between laughs gave his answers. Afterwards, she took him to the bed beside the wall of the room and told him to lie down before placing a sheet that had a hole in its center over his groin. “You’ll have to take your jeans off,” she said. He chuckled and then pulled them down until they reached his knees. He began tapping his thighs with his fingers and gave her a smile when he looked up. She returned the expression. “It’s alright,” she added. He watched her smile fade as she wriggled her fingers into a glove. “I see plenty of these every day.”