And then we were three

There we sat, like four kids waiting to talk to the principal. Lined up in black plastic chairs against the wall, faces serious and silent, wearing our uniforms of blue paper hats, blue paper booties over our shoes, and gigantic paper name tags taped to our chests.

We were marked. Truly. We each had a blue x over one of our eyes.

There was nothing to do but stare at the semi-circle of bizarre chairs facing us. Large reclining chairs with odd shaped head rests, all covered in sheets, that looked like gigantic chess pieces - Bishops - waiting for their turn to go on the board.

A very tall man came in and sat in one of those chairs, his back to us as women covered him up, arranged his head, and inserted a needle into his arm. The tension began to build, but just then a nurse called out a name and the woman sitting next to me got up and trundled into the room beyond the door.

And then we were three.

A moment later my name was called and I rose from my black plastic chair and went through the door too. There I sat in another chair, this time in the corner. Waiting for my turn.

Finally, the other woman came out of the inner room and I was sent in. The man behind the machine motioned for me to sit down and place my head in the metal frame, but my feet couldn't reach the floor so I couldn't slide forward without scooting down and when I did, the chair still wanted to roll back so I held onto the handles on the machine.

Two little red dots full of floating black dots appeared and then I was done. The scar tissue from my cataract was gone. My sight was perfect!

And I was sent home as if from a geriatric preschool, only I had to drive myself.