Dr. Stephens grabbed the rolling chair that was in the room, and and pulled it over to the side of the bed, and sat down. He took a stethoscope out of his pocket.

"Sit up, Marija"

She sat up on the bed, with her legs still stretched out in front of her, supporting herself with her hands. There was a small mirror on the wall she was facing, and a somewhat larger one on the wall behind her. In the little mirror, she could see a reflection of a reflection of her back. Her hair had been untied from its pony tail by her caretakers, and it was now falling down past her shoulders. Dr. Stephens' hand gathered her hair up, and placed it over her right shoulder, uncovering her white neck and top of the back of the gown. The gown was tied closed at the top, and in the middle, with strings like shoelaces.

The doctor placed one hand on her left shoulder, and with his other hand, pulled at the end of the string. What is he doing now, she wondered. The knot gently, slowly unraveled, the strings fell to the side, and the top of the gown opened under its own weight, revealing her bare freckled back.

She shivered, but not from cold.

The doctor took a stethoscope, and placed the earpieces in his ears, and tapped on the diaphragm to ensure it was in working order. He pulled the gown open as wide as it would go, as it was still held by yet another set of laces, and placed the hard metal stethoscope between her shoulders. The thing felt like ice, and she shivered again, this time from actual cold.

"Inhale", he ordered. "Exhale". She did as she was told, silently.

He moved the stethoscope to a different part of her back, and repeated.

He took the instrument off her back momentarily, and she wondered if he was finished?

But... no. Oh, what now. She could see him tug at the lower shoelace string in the middle of her back. He grabbed it so lightly that if not for the mirror, she would not have known at all. Yet, it came undone quickly. He pulled the gown open down to the middle of her back, and placed the stethoscope again. How, she wondered, did it seem even colder this time?

"Inhale... exhale".

He took the scope off of her skin again, and she assumed he was done, and started to move her hands to retie the laces.

"I did not tell you to move. Leave those alone! However, if you are tired if sitting up like that, you may lay back down"

She did so, eager to get her bare back out of his view. Again, her hands reflexively went to the bottom of the gown to ensure it kept its place.

He grabbed her left hand. He pulled her arm up into the sleeve of the gown, inside the gown, and then back down again. Now the left side of the front of her gown was not attached to her arm at all, but just sort of draped over her by gravity. She dared not move any more. She became conscious of the heaving motion of her chest as she breathed, and that the thin cloth was moving up and down and sliding on her skin with the slightest motion.

He folded the edge of the gown down, uncovering her breast down almost to the nipple. Oh holy fuck, she thought.

He placed the stethoscope on the left side of her chest, and and told her to breathe. She inhaled slightly, trying not to move.

"Deeper, Marija. Relax and breathe like normal".

She did as she was told, and to her horror she could see her left nipple poking out from the edge of the cloth. It was rock hard.

Without mentioning it, the doctor pulled the gown back up to her shoulder. "You may put your arm back in now".

She quickly put her arm through the sleeve, and put it back down by her side.

Without getting out of the chair, he rolled it down to the foot of the bed, near her nervous bare feet. Her toenails were painted a light shade of pink, one of her few nods to conventional attempts to look pretty. She enjoyed wearing nice shoes, including open toed ones.

He took a pallpoint pen out of his pocket, but did not remove the cap. He grabbed her milk-white right foot, and dragged it across the sole.

It tickled. Bad. She squirmed, and jerked her foot away.

"Just checking your nerves and reflexes. Hold still".

She reluctantly re-extended her leg. He held her foot firmly this time, and repeated his previous action. This time she only spread her toes involuntarily, as she held her breath to avoid laughing.

"Hmm..", he said. He poked the cap of the pen between her toes.

"Whoah!", she kicked her foot up, almost hitting him in the face.

"I see", he remarked with a slight smile. He took the cap off the pen, and holding her foot down, *wrote* something she could not see on the sole!

She could not help herself and giggled out loud. "Are you finished with that?"

"We have to do the other foot too".

He did the same thing to the left foot. This time, after poking between the toes without breaking her resolve to hold still, he dragged the cap down both edges of the sides of the sole, and when it was about halfway down the inner side she couldn't stand it. She kicked, hard, but he was holding her better this time. He took the cap off the pen and again wrote something on the sole.

"Now, Marija, you are going to need to do a better job of doing as I tell you. So far it has been just warnings, but from now on every time you cause me any trouble, there is going to be punishment. Is that clear?"

"WHat... what kind of punishment?"

"If it comes to that, I will decide".

"Ok, Doctor"

"Now, hold perfectly still"

Dr. Stephens grabbed her right leg, and pulled it straight up into the air. Then holding her thigh upright, forcibly bent the knee. He seemed to be checking the flexibility of her joints. She was terrified of what this was doing to the bottom of her gown, but he didn't seem to be looking down there. Thank God! He repeated the same awful procedure with the other leg.

"Sit up", he commanded.

She sat up, and he carefully retied the laces on the back of the gown. Finally! she thought.

"Stand up, and follow me", he said grabbing her hand.

"B.. but I can't go anywhere like this! Get me my clothes. Get me a robe or something"

"Stand up!" he said again. "The gown is fine".

She obeyed.

"We need to check your eyes, to see if eyestrain is contributing to your problems, but I don't have what I need in here. We need to go down to the ophthalmology department. "

"Is... it far?"

"No. Just at the other end of the hall, and down the elevator. I'll be with you all the way".

"Ok, Doctor. Whatever you say..", she intoned nervously.

"Now, remember what I told you about punishment?"

"Y..y.. yes"

"I warned you, and to show you I was serious..."

He untied the top lace of her gown!

"... I am going to have to give you a very minor punishment.."

He untied the bottom lace! The gown started to flop open, but she immediately put both hands behind her back to close it over her lower back and buttocks.

"Those stay untied until we get to ophthalmology. You seem overly concerned about them anyway. Future punishments will be more severe. Do you get it now?"

"Yes, Doctor".

"Ok, let's go".

He put his hand between her shoulders, and pushed her gently towards the door and out into the hall.