Faith was fed and given water by Julie, and given a bedpan to go to the bathroom by Dr. Jen. About a week after reporting that the prototype MASS thermometer had passed inspection, the first batch of MASS thermometers arrived for testing.

That morning, Julie came to the room to find Faith asleep. “Wake up, sunshine. I’ve got news for you.”

Faith was awake almost immediately. “What? What is it? Am I free to go home?”

“No, not yet,” replied Julie “but you are one step closer. We got in the first batch of MASS thermometers to be tested.”

“Oh,” Faith said, unenthusiastically.

“Dr. Jen and I have determined that this batch has about 50 thermometers in it. We will get as many as we can tested today. Those that we don’t get to today, we can do tomorrow, and so on.”

At that moment, Dr. Jen came in the room, carrying a container about the size of a large shoebox. She also had two bins – a green one marked “Passed inspection” and a red one marked “Failed inspection.” She put the container on the floor underneath the tray that she had left there from the prototype thermometer a week ago, and the two bins on either side of the container.

“Good morning, Faith. I trust that Nurse Julie has already told you the news?”

“Yeah, she did.”

“Well then, shall we get started?”

“I-I guess s-so.”

Dr. Jen then sat down on the stool that was still between faith’s legs and opened up the container. Inside were the thermometers, separated by diameter, into five compartments: 0.2 inches, 0.4 inches, 0.6 inches, 0.8 inches, and 1-inch.

“Okay, Faith. We have ten thermometers each of five different diameters. I am going to go ahead and start with the ten with the largest diameter, which is 1 inch. Then I will move to the 0.8 inch ten, then the 0.6 inch ten, 0.4 inch ten, and finally the smallest, 0.2 inch ten.”

Julie took up her position on the stool beside Faith’s head and began to stroke it. Dr. Jen snapped on a pair of gloves, took out the ten thermometers from the 1-inch diameter compartment of the container, and lined them up on the tray. She then dipped her finger into the jar of Vaseline.

“Wait. How big was the prototype? Faith asked, to which Julie responded, “It was about half-an-inch thick.”

“You mean these next ten thermometers are going to be DOUBLE the thickness of THAT horrid thing?”

“We are going to have to test them out at some point; so we figured we would do them first in order to get them out of the way,” explained Julie.

“Who on EARTH is going to need, or even want, a thermometer that BIG?”

“Now, Faith,” said Dr. Jen. “You are already restrained to the table on your back with your arms up over your head and your legs up and spread apart…I certainly don’t want to have to gag and blindfold you, as well. Here comes the finger…”

Dr. Jen put her finger in her anus, then after about two minutes withdrew it, saying, “Nothing in there. The next thing you are going to feel is the first 1-inch thermometer.”

The fear in Faith’s face was evident to Julie. “She’s really, really scared,” Julie commented, still stroking Faith’s forehead. Dr. Jen stopped what she was doing and come up beside Julie again and tried to make eye contact with Faith; however, she refused to look at her, focusing on Julie.

“Faith, look me in the eyes.” Faith kept her eyes on Julie. “Do as she says, Faith,” whispered Julie. She slowly took her gaze off Julie and began to focus it on Dr. Jen, eventually making eye contact.

“Faith, don’t be afraid,” Dr. Jen said. “It will likely hurt, but I will be extremely gentle.”

Faith took her eyes off Dr. Jen and put them back on Julie. “You obviously trust Nurse Julie,” noted Dr. Jen. “You know, she knows how to take rectal temperatures, as well. Would it make you feel better if she takes my place and I sit by your head for this one?”

After a moment’s silence, Faith softly stuttered, “Y-ye-es.”

“Okay, then. Nurse Julie, will you please go down to the stool in front of Faith’s bottom? I will stay up here at her head.”

“Alright. Oh, and one of the things I have learned that Faith likes is to be reassured verbally, and to be stroked on the head and forehead, like this…” Julie quickly showed Dr. Jen how she had been stroking Faith. “Got it,” she told Julie.

Julie sat down on the stool in between Faith’s legs, snapped on some gloves, put some Vaseline on her finger, and parted Faith’s cheeks. “I’m going to insert my finger now.”

Dr. Jen started stroking Faith like Julie had showed her. Julie slowly inserted her finger into Faith’s anal hole, up her anal canal, and into her rectum. When it finally reached her rectum, she kept it there for about thirty seconds, moving it back and forth, and then withdrew it.

She then picked up a thermometer off the tray and lubed it generously with Vaseline. “Okay, Faith, I’m going to insert the first thermometer on the count of three. One...two…three.”

As Julie gently pushed the thermometer past Faith’s anal sphincter, Faith started to cry.

At that moment, Julie realized something. “Dr. Jen, do you think we should start with the 0.2 inch thermometers and let her cry and move when is in, then take it out and see if it still registered?”

“That’s a really good idea, except I have been assured that the batches that are sent to us have already been tested for crying and movement sensitivity by the 5-year-old daughter of one of MedVent’s employees. They are sanitizing the ones that work and sending them to us to check and see if they work on a quiet and still patient.” explained Dr. Jen. “I’m sorry; I forgot to tell you that.”

“Oh, Faith, I’m so sorry. Are we tempting you by talking to one another?” Dr. Jen asked apologetically. Crying, Faith nodded.

“Nurse Julie and I will try to refrain from engaging in conversation while we are testing the MASS products in your bottom.”

Dr. Jen started to stroke her forehead. Faith started to calm down a little bit. She was still crying, but not nearly as loud. She looked up at Dr. Jen, who was gazing down at her face. Julie was absolutely right about one thing: she did like to be stroked on the head and forehead. Somehow, the stroking action made her feel safe.

“That’s it, Faith. Calm down…” Dr. Jen told her, as she continued to stroke her forehead. “It’s going to be okay.” The reassurance, along with the stroking of her forehead, was starting to earn Dr. Jen her trust. Faith finally stopped crying. Her face grimaced, because her butt hurt so bad with the thermometer in it.

“Good girl.” Dr. Jen was still stroking Faith’s forehead. A couple minutes later, without taking her eyes off Faith and continuing to stroke her forehead, she asked Julie, “How’s it looking?”

“It’s been about two minutes since she stopped crying,” answered Julie

“You’re doing great, Faith. Only a few more minutes, and we’ll be done.”

Faith closed her eyes, trying to focus on the gentle stroking of her forehead and how good that felt.

Before she knew it, she felt the thermometer gently being removed from her backside. Julie looked at it and announced, satisfied, “99.6. this one passed.” She got up and took it over to the counter, sanitized it and then put it in the green bin.

“Faith, you did great,” praised Dr. Jen “Now, do you trust me enough to insert the rest of the thermometers? Or do you want Nurse Julie to continue to do it?”

Faith answered meekly, “I guess I trust you.”

“Okay. I promise I will be extremely gentle, and will not blindfold or gag you like I threatened to do.” Dr. Jen suddenly realized her wrongdoing. “Oh, Faith, I threatened you. THAT’S why you were so scared earlier. You were afraid that if I put the thermometer in your butt that you would get the gag and the blindfold.”

Dr. Jen regretted threatening Faith, and told her, “I now know that you are very emotionally sensitive, which also explains why nurse Julie said that one of the things that you like is to be reassured verbally. I do have one question, though, if you don’t mind me asking. I’m sure Nurse Julie would like to know, too.”

Faith looked at her expectantly.

“Why do you like being stroked on the head – the forehead, in particular?”

“It makes me feel safe. Like a baby when its mother strokes its forehead to make it feel safe and loved.”

“That makes sense.” Dr. Jen and Julie switched places. When she got herself situated on the stool, Julie whispered to Faith, “Just so you know, I am willing to stroke your forehead the entire time we are testing, even if you take a nap at some point.”

“Thank you,” Faith whispered back.

Dr. Jen snapped on some gloves and put her finger in the jar of Vaseline “Okay, Faith, here comes my finger...”

Julie started stroking Faith’s forehead, just like she had promised.

Dr. Jen withdrew her finger, and picked up the second thermometer. She costed it with Vaseline, then told Faith, “Now, I’m going to insert the thermometer. One...two…three.”

Faith took a deep breath as the thermometer was slowly and gently inserted. She was too tired to cry; the last thermometer session had taken it all out of her. She looked up at Julie, her eyelids fluttering to stay awake.

“It’s okay, Faith,” assured Julie. “You can close your eyes.”

Faith did just that. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew, she had a very small foreign object in her butt.

“Well, look who finally woke up,” Julie commented. “We are almost finished with the entire batch. The thermometer that is in right now is the last of the 50.”

“I’m going to remove it now,” said Dr. Jen.

She removed the last thermometer of the batch, and read it. “This one didn’t even register,” she announced, putting it the red bin, which only had one of each diameter in it.

“That’s it for today,” said Dr. Jen. “We did get in a batch of 250 thermometers, 50 of each diameter, while you were snoozing, Faith, and I received a text from MedVent, saying to expect a batch of 500, 100 of each diameter, tomorrow. I do have an idea of how to tackle them all; however, I can see that you are still tired, so I will let you sleep for tonight. “