Our guide was at the door. He told us to come back out to the dining area; “they” sent the village doctor to take our temperatures again. A wave of helplessness and shock swept over us. I don’t even have the energy to ask who “they” were and how they tracked us down. Grudgingly we wore our shoes and walked over and waited.
Not long later, the dining area door opened, and in walked a short and stout middle-aged lady. You know how those exaggerated Halloween Doctor’s costume look like? She was dressed exactly in that. A white mask covered three quarters of her face, while her white gown extended straight to the ground. She was wearing surgical gloves on both hands, and in one she carried a huge metal case. She plonked that on the table, opened it and replaced her own mask and gloves. Beats me too. She then took out three mercury thermometers. We took our temperatures from under our arms once again, using the same famously accurate method, which we did merely four hours ago.
My recorded temperature was definitely lower than actual because I was burning from indignance, hence proving how easy it was to cheat the system. Also, because there were fewer mercury thermometers than people (six including our guide and driver), we had to share them again:) While all this was taking place, our poor host and her daughters looked on from the counter. What a sight. In my mind I was thinking how I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for unnecessarily scaring the whole village.
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