First Day of April.

So I’m at the Health Services Unit of the University of the West Indies, awaiting my turn to get me my somewhat annual HIV test. There are six other people in the room with me, including what appears to be a couple and five of them (including the couple) look worried. I’m wondering if I’m the only person here for an HIV test.

A name is called and the female half of the couple scurries to an area which is hidden by a partition plastered with tips on preventing the influenza. She doesn’t stay long – comes back smiling and they both leave. Before long there are just four of us; one of which has just come through the door. We all follow the unspoken rule of no contact in medical offices. I am tempted to make conversation with the chick sitting one seat away from me, but I organise the pamphlets and brochures on the coffee table that is in the middle of the room instead. My fellow patients all look at me. I can feel – literally feel – them wondering if I’m Obsessive Compulsive. I’m just fucking bored. If it weren’t for Monk, OCD would have never made it into our local day-to-day lexicon. I wish I had brought along my most recent library acquisition – a collection of Jonathan Swift’s works.

I am surprised at the amount of people who are visiting here. The majority of them come for vaccines though. I wonder if HSU carries the HPV vaccine. Acknowledgement of sexualities is still quite taboo, even on the university’s campus. I think of how when the nurse/receptionist asked me my reason for the HSU visit, I couldn’t bring myself to say it’s for an HIV test. Not in front those six people who I don’t know and will most probably have limited interactions with. I just told her I had an appointment. I laugh at this, but I don’t find it funny.

My name is called. I follow the nurse/receptionist to a room at the back of the most informational partition. There, I tell her the purpose of my appointment. She is apologetic for the time I have spent waiting, but the nurse who deals with that is not in. I briefly wonder if this is an April Fool’s Day joke, then I remember today is the last working day before the long Easter weekend. My plans have been thwarted by the notorious Trini work ethic. The nurse/receptionist leaves a note for the nurse to call me on Tuesday to set another appointment. In the lobby area, a chick has selected a brochure from the order I have bestowed upon the coffee table. I am gratified.

Outside is blazing hot. There is a palpable haze about. Hellloo global warming. My next class is at 5pm. It is now 1:32pm. I have time. I also have homework which is due at 5pm. I head to the library.