The doctor comes in, a middle-aged man with a gray beard, looking at a chart. Hello. Squinting. How do you pronounce your name? Xie clears his throat. Zee. Like the letter. The doctor sniffs. Huh. Interesting. Setting the clipboard on a desk. So. Just a checkup today? Fingers on Xie’s neck. Fleshy thumbs. Xie tries not to move his head away. Light in his eyes, his ears, his throat. Hands against his chest, his back. The blood work you did earlier showed some mild deficiencies, the doctor says. You’re vegetarian? Vegan. So no dairy, eggs, fish? No animal products, Xie says. Well. That’s fine, as long as you watch your iron. Do you take a multivitamin? No. Scribbling something on the clipboard. You should. You’re underweight. Any issues with fatigue? Sleep? Xie shakes his head. No. Convinced there is some sign on him. A smell. A scar. Does he smell like bones to other people. Do other people even know what bones smell like. I see in your history you’ve taken Paxil. You still on that? Little inhale. No. Are you experiencing any symptoms of depression? Anxiety? Xie brushes his hair from his eyes. Thin paper rustling beneath him. You sexually active? He blushes. No. Well, stay safe if you decide to be. Gesturing with his pen to a basket of condoms on a shelf next to a coverless children’s book. Making some note on his clipboard. You’re all set, the doctor says. Take those vitamins. Out in the hall the woman is there, rubbing her front teeth with her pinkie. Smiles at him. She’ll be next, on her back, this man’s fingers inside her. He doesn’t know how women can stand it. How anyone stands someone getting inside. He has to turn sideways to get past her. His father waiting in the reception room, reading Interior Castle. You don’t know what he thinks, when he isn’t thinking about you. You never ask. You don’t know if he prays, and if he does, to whom; you don’t know what he believes, what he hopes, what he wants. In every room of every mansion Teresa describes the soul struggling alone; to get to the seventh mansion it must leave everyone and everything behind. But she never says why. Dad, Xie says. Erik looks up, folding the book in his hands. Hey. All done? Everything good? Xie’s mouth jerks into a smile. Everything’s great.