The Prodigies [First Draft]

Thirteen

The Lexington Imaging Center was a squat building that sat about a mile away from the Academy for Gifted Children. The trip was only two minutes by taxi, but the awkward silence in the car made it seem like ten. Kenny could barely keep her eyes open throughout the ride, despite having slept for almost fifteen hours. Had not Miss Kaylee promised that she would answer the young girl's questions today, Kenny probably would have refused to come that morning. But Miss Kaylee did promise, and there Kenny stood in front of that small, fat building before the sun itself was up.

Miss Kaylee opened the door and hurried Kenny inside. It was 6:10, which meant they were late for their appointment with Dr. Kane. A woman sitting at a desk looked up at the two as the bell in the door tinkled above their heads. Her eyes lit up and she gasped, "Dr. Anderson! You haven't come to visit in forever!"

Miss Kaylee responded with, "Hello, Meredith! I would love to stay and chat, but we're late for our appointment with Dr. Kane."

The woman called Meredith nodded. "Yes, we were expecting you ten minutes ago. Is this Kendall?"

Kenny looked up from the floor and nodded to answer the woman's question.

"Great! Just follow me...."

Meredith got up from her desk and opened the door beside her. She led Kenny and Miss Kaylee down a thin green hallway. Kenny peered into one of the rooms to find a CT scanner, and a mammography machine sat in another room across the hall. The building seemed to be empty except for Meredith and the aforementioned Dr. Kane.

Meredith paused at a small room and opened the door. Inside were hospital gowns piled one on top of another. She took one of the gowns out of the closet and handed it to Kenny.

"That's the smallest we have, sorry. We don't get too many children your age around here. You can change in the bathroom."

Meredith led Kenny to the bathroom and unlocked the door. The young girl quickly went inside, trying to hurry. She pulled off her clothes as fast as she could and put the gown on. Tying the strings at the back wasn't an easy job, especially because Kenny could barely keep her eyes open, but she managed to secure a knot.

Kenny came out of the bathroom, and Meredith took her clothes from her. "Now we just have to put your clothes into a locker and you're all set to go into the machine."

Kenny watched as Meredith did exactly as she said she would; she placed Kenny's clothes in a small metal compartment then locked it with a key. When she finished, the woman gave Kenny a small pouch with earbuds in it. The young girl stuffed the pieces of Styrofoam in her ears as Meredith led Miss Kaylee and the young girl into the room farthest down the hall.

"Here we are. The MRI Scanning Room," Meredith said as she opened the door.

The walls of the room were a pale orange, and pictures of flower meadows and puppies were hung all around. In the center of the space sat a large machine that looked like a donut. A long piece of plastic jutted out from the donut hole. Kenny realized that would be where she laid down as she was inserted into the machine.

"Will I be able to stay in the room with her?" Miss Kaylee asked.

"As she's being scanned? Of course!" Meredith replied. "We advise parents and guardians to stay with their children, especially when their kids are as small as Kendall here."

The woman turned to Kenny. "Kendall, you have to stay really still in the machine. If you move, the picture will come out blurry, and we might have to do the scan over again. The bed you'll be lying on will move throughout the scan, and the noises made by the machine can get a bit loud. However, it is important that you don't move no matter what. Dr. Anderson will be with you the whole time and I can speak with you through that intercom on the wall."