The doctor pushed back from his desk, swivelled in his chair to face Will with widespread legs, elbows on his knees, gaze steady. ‘Something for the pain?’

‘Yeah. It’s, um, pretty bad. Keeping me up and that. I hoped you could—’

‘Tried Panadol?’

‘Yeah, that’s what I’m taking now. I had some codeine—’

‘You have codeine?’

‘I had some left over but it’s gone so I—’

‘Left over from what?’

Will’s face flashed with heat. He knew from Mercy and her pharmacist mates that asking directly for the strong stuff was a red flag. So was acting nervous or on edge. Like, say, dropping a cup of water, scrunching and un-scrunching a bit of rubbish in your hand and turning red when questioned. He focused on breathing slowly, relaxing his shoulders.

‘My girlfriend had them left over from something. I haven’t been prescribed anything.’

The doctor kept watching his face. Didn’t move.

Don’t babble. Don’t fidget. You haven’t done anything wrong. ‘The pain is sort of here.’ Will cupped his cheek. ‘It’s been a week or so, getting steadily worse.’

‘But you haven’t seen a dentist?’

‘No, like I said, I don’t have the money right now. I’ve just, um—’ Stop! ‘I was retrenched last week and my financial situation is …’

The doctor flicked his eyes at the computer screen. ‘You’re a long way from home.’

‘Oh, yeah, um. I’m staying with family here.’

The doctor looked pointedly at the stuffed backpack at Will’s feet. Will was immediately aware of his faded board shorts, threadbare t-shirt, greasy ponytail and five days of stubble. Knew the shadows under his eyes must show the nights of disturbed and shallow sleep. He felt tears coming, sucked in a few fast breaths to clear them away.

‘I will be staying with family. On my way there now. After this. Just arrived this morning from Queensland. Long trip, you know. Overnight as it happened, because of flight delays and, um, travelling’s tiring, yeah, but I’m on my way to my, um, aunty’s place now. She’s in Leichhardt and I didn’t know if there’s, like, ah, a bulk-billing place there anymore, so I thought I better, you know, while I’m in the city still, find somewhere to get some, um—’ Stop it! Deep breath. ‘To get this sorted.’ He cupped his cheek again.

‘Let’s see then.’ The doctor snapped on a pair of gloves, rolled forward, shone a torch inside Will’s gaping mouth, prodded at the pain with surprisingly gentle fingers, rolled away, discarded his gloves, began typing.

‘Any allergies?’

‘Nah.’

‘There’s some indication of infection. I’m prescribing you an antibiotic to help with that. If the pain continues, though, you will need to see a dentist to sort out the underlying cause.’

‘Right, thanks.’ Don’t ask for pain meds. Don’t ask for pain meds.