After school on the big day Bobbi picked Amy up and drove her to the mall. She filled out the paperwork in the doctor's office, and an assistant took her into a darkened room and seated her in front of a machine. "What's that?" Amy asked, as her curiosity grew. "It's an auto-refractor" came the answer, "it will let us know if you need a correction and a rough idea of what the correction should be. Please put your chin on the holder, and just keep watching the little target".

Amy did as she was told, but didn't see any changes in how she saw like Bobbi had said she would. "Aren't there supposed to be some different lenses for me to see through?" she inquired when that part of the test was done. "No", said the technician, "that will come later. But the machine did indicate you need a near-sighted prescription" and she showed her a strip of paper, that had the following printout on it: OD -2.00 spin, OS -2.25 spin. "What does it mean?" Amy asked. "It means you aren't seeing very well, and glasses will really, really make things better for you. Now, read the chart on the wall as far as you can" she said, holding a cover over Amy's right eye.

All Amy saw was a black blur on a white background, and told the technician that. "O. K., guess I have to make them larger" she said and changed something. Now, Amy could see a large 'E', and an 'F' and a 'P' on the next line, but they were far from clear. And, after that, only the smudged blurry white area appeared. She did the same with Amy's other eye covered, with the same result, jotted some things on a clipboard, and left the room saying the doctor would be with her in a minute.

Amy was so excited about the whole idea of getting glasses that she could barely sit still in the chair waiting for the rest of the exam, especially the part her sister had told her about where she actually got to look through some lenses. The chart was still lighted, and Amy's curiosity got the better of her. She got out of the chair and walked to the chart. Only when she got more than halfway up to it could she see the additional letters, and that there were actually 10 lines of letters, the bottom ones very small. She had to move even closer to read those, and then her excitement was suddenly replaced by a chill.

Summer was winding down, and the varsity cheerleading tryouts would soon be held. She had been one of the best and most popular cheerleaders on the JV squad and one of her biggest goals was to cheer for the varsity. She was certain she would make the squad, but for the first time since she'd had the exquisite experience of looking at the world through nearsighted lenses the realization dawned that no one had ever worn glasses as a cheerleader, at her school or any other... and she'd been watching them at games since she was a small child, dreaming of when she would get her chance. If she had to be this close just to read the eye chart, how could she ever get along without glasses at a ballgame.

And, Bobbi admitted once she got hers, she just couldn't get along without them except to read things at very close range. Maybe her eyes weren't that bad, maybe Bobbi's and her mom's would've helped anyone even someone with normal vision, maybe she wouldn't have to wear them.

Then the door opened, and the doctor was standing behind her. "No fair cheating and memorizing the chart'' he said with a smile, as she scrambled back into the chair, her excitement now replaced by apprehension. "Oh, no, I was just stretching my legs" she stammered, wishing she was just about anywhere else but there. "There's nothing to worry about. The doctor reassured her, "it's not going to hurt and the pre-screening indicates you will benefit a lot by wearing a correction. Let's get started" he said, and spent what seemed like an eternity peering into her eyes with a variety of lights, at one point having her place her chin in a small cup in front of a large unit while he looked through what looked like a microscope on a platform with a very bright light behind it.

Then he swung the dark gray phoropter in place over her petite attractive features, and adjusted it so it was just the right width and rested gently on her cheeks. The excitement returned after the doctor had shined a small light in her eyes and looked very closely in them with a small lighted instrument he held in his hand. "Hmmm," he muttered as he put the instrument away. "It looks like that auto-refactor might have erred on the weak side, but that happens often and only you can tell me how strong your correction needs to be. Let's try some lenses in the machine and you just tell me which are better".

At least this was going to be the fun part, she thought, remembering Bobbi's description of the exam. And it was. For the first several changes, she thought the doctor was fooling her as they made little or no difference and the white blur twenty feet away continued to be just that. But then, the white blur became a black smudge, and the smudge became the fuzzy outline of letters. He adjusted the size of the letters to very small, and then began really increasing the lens power in the phoropter. Just as Bobbi had said, he asked "which is better, one or two, three or four" and so on. And as those numbers grew higher, the letters became increasingly clearer and he stopped when she could read the smallest letters on the bottom line.

"How's that" he asked and her reply was "I can read them, but..." O.K, he chuckled, I thought you might want just a little more than the pre-test indicated. And with that performed some magic by clicking the side of the heavy machine and suddenly the letters were so clear, sharp, and black that they seemed to jump off the wall at her. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "Wow is all I can say! Can I keep these?" she kiddingly asked. "No" he said, "but I'll give you a prescription that will duplicate what you're seeing and when you get your glasses that's how you'll see things all the time". In spite of how clear she could see, her heart stopped beating for a minute as she remembered cheerleading - all the time? Did that mean every minute of every day?

"But I don't want to wear glasses" she stammered "that is, I do, but I don't. I mean I love seeing things clearly, but I just can't wear glasses right now. Can't I get contact lenses?" She blurted that out as all of a sudden that seemed to be the answer to her prayer; she would be able to see and not have to wear glasses for cheerleading. "I was going to discuss that with you" the doctor said, and began a detailed explanation of her prescription, glasses, and contacts.

to be continued...