THE ATONEMENTS OF JOANIE: JOANIE'S SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY BY PENT Part 9 Our biggest track event of the summer was against River Valley Girls' School: it was the last event of the season, just a week before the end of the summer term. Excitement on the day was tense. I was best at hurdles so I'd been entered for that race. I heard they had a really good hurdler - Jennifer. With me at fifteen, she was a year older, and the other two in the race were both seventeen - I was to be the youngest competitor . . . Hundred meters, 500 meters, long jump, high jump, . . . . all the other events had been completed - only the hurdle race was left. Two of us were running from Miss Potter's and two from River Valley. We got ready on the starting line - the pistol went . . . But it was a false start - someone had jumped the gun. Again we got ready at the starting line and the pistol went -and we were off . . . Jennifer and I soon left the other two behind and went neck and neck throwing ourselves over one hurdle after another. I felt I was flying - with feet barely touching the ground as I skimmed each hurdle in turn. We must have been only a split second apart as Jennifer and I came to the final hurdle, and both schools had gone mad with their cheering: "Go it Jennifer! Jennifer!! Jennifer!!! Jennifer!!!! "Joanie! Joanie!! Joanie!!! Well Done Joanie!!!!" and I took that last hurdle as though I was lifted and propelled by the will of all my friends - cheering . . . But I hardly got over it -I wondered the bar hadn't fallen -I felt it hit me hard and sore right on my pussy as I leaped over it . . . That stinging blow galvanized me to a last desperate effort . . . and I broke the tape just a hairsbreadth ahead of Jennifer - AND I HAD WON!! I staggered and fell flat on the grass, exhausted, and rolled over on my back . . . I heard a gasp go up from the spectators near me -one girl shrieked -Matron Dibbs rushed up and threw a towel over me -Two men put a stretcher down on the grass . . . . I couldn't figure what the fuss was about - Matron said: "It's always the hurdles that does it!! . . Now don't you worry Joan. This just happens once in a girl's life, and it's quite normal! You're going to be fine! "Roll over onto the stretcher then the men will carry you into the First Aid tent and you can just lie still in there and rest . . ." and she helped me to roll over to be face- down on the stretcher. She thanked the men and closed the tent doors behind them. When Matron helped me roll over on my back and lifted the towel off me, I saw - the whole front of my running shorts was soaked in blood . . . I went rigid in fear - while Matron said: "That's all right, Joan! That's all right! It's quite normal!" and calmly cut away my shorts with scissors and cleaned me up with warm water. The blood was all over my tummy and down between my legs. . . but she just gave me a quick wipe and said: "Lie very still and don't move! You're a healthy girl and the bleeding has stopped already -lie still here for an hour, and it won't begin again! "You've just torn some skin that doesn't usually get torn until a girl's wedding night! It's all that stretching to go over the hurdles - "I know -it always happens to someone so I'm ready every sports day waiting for it in that hurdles race!" That made me feel better and I lay still, there on the camp bed . . . and I must have dropped off to sleep because the next thing Matron Dibbs was shaking me: "You can get up - carefully now - Joan! I will take you home in my car . . . there . . . wrap this bath towel round your middle . . . "Miss Potter came to see you, then your Uncle Embury, but you had dropped off to sleep. "I told them that you should stay home and rest tomorrow, so don't come into school -Just lie on a couch for the day!!" Somehow it didn't matter much: I had won the silver medal for the inter-school hurdles race - and I was still only fifteen ! ! When we reached home, Uncle Penty and Blossom came out on the driveway and he opened the car door. I was glad Matron had wrapped the towel to make me decent. Uncle Penty thanked her and said: "Yes, could you perhaps come round about nine in the morning and check that Joan is all right? Thank you, Matron!" Uncle Penty bent over and slid his arms underneath and picking me up very gently with me hanging onto his neck. He carried me carefully in and straight up the stairs to my bed. Blossom had put a plastic sheet under the bedclothes, she said, "Just to make sure!". He laid me gently down on my back and kissed me, then left Blossom to help me get into pajamas. Blossom brought me juicy chicken sandwiches for supper - but I could only eat a little and drank some of the milk, then just went to sleep again, propped up on pillows behind my back. Uncle Penty came before breakfast to see me next morning. He was so glad when I told him I'd already been to the bathroom on my own - so we knew I could do that safely . . . Then he said the same as Matron Dibbs - "This happens to every girl sometime in her life!". He had an anatomy book with him and showed in a picture where the skin had torn . . . while I won the inter-school hurdle race - AND a silver medal!! He asked if I'd ever felt in there with a finger (I had!) and found the way was blocked - "Well", he said, "It isn't blocked any longer!" "But don't try again for a week or two, to let it heal completely!" Blossom came with a breakfast tray and I was ready for the boiled eggs and toast! Matron Dibbs arrived in the middle of it -and she saw at once that I was doing all right! She left advising Uncle Penty to give me iron tablets and to have me eat plenty of spinach - Lucky thing I liked it! Well, that was a lot of excitement about very little! When I got back to school the next day, Miss Potter called me up onto the stage in morning assembly, and presented me with a silver cup for the school and a huge silver medal for myself - in a case with blue velvet lining. "For Inter-School Hurdles, to Joan, who injured herself in winning this trophy for our school, and the youngest of our athletes ever to win this high award!" and all the girls burst out in applause and cheering - I believe they thought I had purposely hurt myself for the sake of the school! I walked slowly back to my place - loving the moment, as I showed off the cup and the big shiny medal in its case - doing my best to look as though "my injury" had left it painful for me to move! Lydia told me the same thing had happened to her, but it was when she was out horse-back-riding in the Christmas break, up in Ontario, and she had dripped blood in the snow, all the way back to the stables - she'd been terrified with not knowing what had happened to her. I was lucky for me that Matron was nearby, and she knew what to do about it! Lydia told me we could do a lot of exciting things together, now it had happened to both of us - but she wouldn't say what, just: "Wait till I come back after the summer holidays -and I'll show you ! ! !" And she flew to Ontario two days later, when school ended for the summer vacations . . . I was off at camp most of the summer, canoeing and swimming and riding: I learned to jump a horse over a five-bar gate! And I got good with sailing a Sunfish on the lake, and playing the guitar by the wood fire in the evening. My songs were sad though - I wished so much that Lydia had been there! When I came home from camp, it was soooooo good to see Uncle Penty and Blossom again, and be back in my own room, and have proper meals again! Uncle Penty told me over dinner - which Blossom had made my favorite tasty Irish stew - that he wanted my paediatric specialist Dr. Cooper to check me over before school started - I was to give a blood sample the next day, and see Dr. Cooper the week after - "Just routine - make sure I hadn't picked up anything at camp!" Well, when I saw Dr. Cooper - who knew me well by this time of course - he listened to my breathing and heart and everything. Then: "The biggest hazard at a camp is the insects, Joan. I want to examine you closely for bites of any kind -Go behind that screen and take all your clothes off and put on the gown you'll find there -the opening goes at the back . . . ." "Good! Now lie face down on the examination table . . . and I'll start by looking at your back" "First, I'll run this fine-toothed comb through your hair -and onto a piece of paper . . . ." "And the magnifier shows . . . . . none of the specs on the paper are suspicious!" "Next, I am going to use this big magnifying glass that moves around above the table to examine every square inch of your skin -Just stay quite still as I look . . . ." I could feel Dr. Cooper open the gown all down my back and lay it back so he could see every bit of me from head to toe which he had seen all before, years ago . . . "Some of the nastiest insects like deer ticks which can give you Lyme disease leave a mark smaller than a pin head!" "Some bites leave almost no visible trace -So you must tell me if it hurts anywhere that I press, Joan!" and Dr. Cooper pressed with his finger tips over every part of me starting at my neck and working his way slooooowly down my back and sides moving the huge magnifying glass around and peering through it -pressing me firmly with his finger tips in one place after another to see if I could feel the jabby pains of any insect bites. He pressed too firmly to tickle but it felt strangely exciting to have his fingers cover every single square inch of me . . . It reminded me of the very first time I had met him -I'd felt then he was a doctor I would gladly trust with my life. His probing fingers got to my waist - and made me wince, but not with bites - He missed out my bottom - which I wondered at -and went straight on down my legs and all over the soles of my feet. Then - and I needed to wonder no longer! - "I want you to slide on your tummy towards the end of the table now so your legs hang down -I'll pull you by the ankles -gently . . ." "There! Now put your feet wide apart on the platform down there -and I'll sit on this low stool to make sure I miss nothing . . ." Dr. Cooper's finger tips pressed all around my bottom and right in onto my rosebud -and he must have seen I was starting to get hot and wet down there with the excitement . . . "Good! All clear so far!" "While you are like this dangling over the end of the table it's a good time to take your temperature, Joan . . ." "Just relax while I lubricate you . . ." He slipped on a thin rubber glove and seemed to spend ages lubricating it thoroughly - in full view of me so I could see him doing it - Then he came over and I felt one of his fingers pressing down on my rosebud . . . and his finger rocked from side to side and pressed and rocked and pressed . . . until his huge finger started to sliiiiide up into my bottom - He kept his finger inside my bottom and I could feel him moving it around in there . . . "A few moments with this wriggling finger gets you really relaxed so the thermometer is actually quite pleasant when I slide it in!" "Now - the thermometer probe itself! It is a bit larger than a plain rectal thermometer -This steel tube has instruments to measure your temperature and your pulse and your blood oxygen all at the same time!" "It has been standing in warm water to make it more welcome to your bottom when I slide it in!" "Just relaaaaaaax, Joan! . . . It has a smooth round end and it's smaller than my finger which was inside you a moment ago -" "I push gennnnnnnntly . . . And there it is -sliiiiding right up all the way inside your bottom !" The steel probe felt stragely exciting up there in my bottom and Dr. Cooper held his hand firmly on my cheeks to stop it from slipping back out again . . . "You can see the pens on the chart over here -The red one is your temperature - still rising. Green is blood oxygen - a good high reading The one going up and down is your pulse . . ." "There - your temperature measurement has leveled off - normal. And the probe slides back out of you again -of its own accord!" "Everything as it should be there! and we have a record of it." and he gave my rosebud a slow careful wipe with cotton wool . . . "Now - back up on the table again -and roll over on your back I'll take your gown right off to see if anything has been biting at your front . . ." "Start at your neck again -and it takes time, you know, as I press everywhere on you one place at a time -But we can not rush this . . ." breasts - armpits - tummy - waist - groin - legs - feet . . . All clear - Good! "The last thing I need to look at, Joan: The school matron tells me you had some haemorrhage after a hurdle race. I want you to put your ankles up in these stirrups so I can examine you in there." "I will sit on this stool which puts my eyes at the right height -and I gently sliiiiide my finger innnnnnn -there!" "And now a vaginascope -No! Don't flinch -I have warmed it and lubricated it so it'll feel all right . . ." "There -it's in -that's not unpleasant -is it?!" and the smooth warm glass thing that Dr. Cooper has slid into my pussy felt looooovely! I could feel -I was getting wet and excited down there and I wanted to move to make it slide further in . . . "Don't move now -while I look at the walls of your vagina . . ." "Good! You're in great shape there! All healed up again and no scars left!" "Right! That ends my examination -go back behind the screen and get dressed again, Joan!" After I returned, fully clothed: "You're in good shape physically, Joan my dear. There's just one thing -your blood analysis shows you are low in hypo-somelongword. It often happens to girls while they are growing! I am going to give you an injection which will take care of that . . ." "It's easiest for you to have the injection in the cheek of your bottom -so just bend over the table one more time . . . I raise your kilt and pull your panties down a bit . . . And that's it!" "A few patients feel a bit uncomfortable after this injection -one likely side-effect is to change your periods or stop them all together and it's nothing to worry about! But if you find anything unusual like being dizzy come and see me straight away!" "It's most unlikely, though!" "I want to see you every three months for a year to repeat the injection -Then we will do another blood test to see how you are doing." "All right, Joan? The receptionist at the front desk will make the appointments. Nice to see you again! Give my regards to your uncle -Good-bye!"