Mandy was pissed. She was tired. Tired of waiting, tired of being jerked around. She just wanted to get to her bunk so she could get some sleep. She followed the nurse to the examination room and plopped down on the examination table, crossing her arms and sulking like a petulant child.
Dr. Johnson was surprised by the size of the girl. He had expected the younger sister to be smaller, not bigger. He understood why the mother wanted to get both of her children here so urgently. This one obviously had some type of growth disorder.
"And how are you today, young lady?" said Dr. Johnson.
"I'm tired and I just wanna get some sleep," said Mandy.
Dr. Johnson nodded. "I understand. Today must have been exhausting for a young girl like you. We just need to do a few tests, then we'll have you in your bunk. Then maybe you could have a nice nap. How does that sound?"
Mandy pouted. Once again, the adults were treating her like a child just because she was small. It was really pissing her off. She just glared silently at the doctor.
Doctor Johnson sighed. These young ones were always a mixed bag. They could be incredibly sweet or act like terrible brats. After seeing Cindy he hoped for the former, but now was obviously in the presence of the latter. It was going to be a long examination.
After a thorough examination, he sat down next to Mandy.
"Mandy, is the information on this chart right? Are you really this tall?" asked Dr. Johnson. There was no way she was just 4'5". He could tell she was at least six inches taller just by looking at her.
Mandy flashed beet red with embarrassment. "It's close enough."
The doctor scoffed. "Come now. How tall are you really?"
"4'11"," said Mandy angrily, frustrated to be found out and embarrassed.
"Really? That tall?" said the doctor with genuine surprise.
Mandy jumped off the table and walked up to the tape measure on the wall. "Here. See. 4'11". Are you happy now?" said Mandy, as she stomped back to the table, sat down and resumed pouting. She fumed, angered at the quack for humiliating her. Bad enough at school, but now her whole camp experience was ruined.
The doctor noticed that Mandy was actually closer to 5 feet, and made some notes in his chart.
"Okay, Mandy. Just wait here for minute. Nurse Harris needs to give you a shot before you leave," said Dr. Johnson.
"A shot? No way! What for?" said Mandy angrily.
"Just a precaution against disease. Lots of mosquitos, you know. But if you are good, maybe Nurse Harris will give you a treat," said Dr. Johnson.
Mandy scowled, beet red. Furious at being treated like a child and humiliated for her height. Dr. Johnson left the room to discuss her treatment.
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"Okay Nurse Harris. First things first. I want to administer a growth hormone inhibitor stat. A strong one. One that will last at least a month," said Dr. Johnson.
"Really? A whole month? Are you sure Doctor?" asked Nurse Harris. "She seems pretty short already."
"Nurse, that girl is only nine years old and she is already almost 5 feet tall. Can you imagine how tall she will get in her teens? No, we need to slow that growth down immediately. Theoretically, she should be about the same size as her sister when they reach the same age. But her sister was twice as old and was actually 7 inches shorter! She obviously has some kind of growth hormone disorder, probably an excess of growth hormone. We need to investigate the cause, but in the meantime, I don't want her getting any taller. I don't want her to grow an inch taller this summer!"
"Are you sure doctor? You don't want her to grow?" asked the nurse.
"Actually, I want the opposite. We are going to give her the regression compound. It will stimulate the osteoclasts in her bones to resorb some of her bone tissue, making her shrink a little," said the doctor.
"Shrink? Are you sure that's safe? " asked the nurse.
"Relax, " said the doctor. "She is only nine. She has many more years to grow. And at the rate she is growing, she will make up for what she lost in just a few months."
Nurse Harris nodded, and prepared the syringes.
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Mandy rubbed her sore bottom. The nurse had pulled down her pants and administered two shots to her ass just like she was a little kid. She cursed the nurse and fought her. She did not get a treat.
Miss Smith led her to her new cabin. She was surprised to see it filled with short girls.
Have they separated us by size? she wondered. Was that why they were measuring heights so closely?
Mandy was ecstatic. Not only would she not be the shortest, it looked like she would be the tallest in her group. All of the other girls were much shorter than her. She decided to mark her territory. She walked over to a bunk she liked and dumped the other girl's stuff on the floor.
"Get lost, this is my bunk now," said Mandy, glaring down at the girl. All the other girls looked up at her with a mixture of shock and fear. She loved it. She had a whole cabin of Cindys to push around this summer. "You got a problem with that, shorty?"
The girl looked up at her with teary eyes. Looking closely, Mandy now realized the girl was much younger than her. She felt a little guilty, but she couldn't look weak in front of the others. She looked around the room, and all she saw was young faces staring back at her. What was going on?
She suddenly felt very tired, and laid down on the bunk. Her eyes were heavy, and she started to drift off to sleep. Maybe all the other cabins were full, and they stuck her here because there were no other open spots. That stupid doctor had wasted her time and she ended up bunking with some kids. Or maybe they bunked some of the older kids with the younger ones to watch out for them. Sort of act like junior counselors or something.
Yeah, that must be it, she thought happily. Maybe this wont be so bad. I can boss them around, act like a Queen. This might not be such a bad summer after all.