A Difficult Day
SHORT STORY
The following takes place somewhere in Illinois in the not-too-distant future.
“Come on in, Rebecca. How are you today?”
Rebecca stashed her phone in her purse and walked into her therapist’s office. She had been seeing Dr. Pearson for several years. It had been a good fit. After some sessions she felt like maybe it was time to move on and see someone else, but she knew therapy was often like that. How many of her friends had complained to her about their therapists? Therapists are like boyfriends; if you only settled for the best, you might spend all your life searching. No, Dr. Pearson was good. And today she really needed someone to talk to.
Rebecca slumped into a chair and sighed. “Not great, actually.” She waited a bit.
Dr. Pearson’s face showed a slight surprise. In a fit of inspiration, she had added 15-minute appointments to the end of each day’s schedule. They were reserved for clients who needed an extra session. The clients responded enthusiastically, but it meant a rough end to each day. No one booked an appointment if everything was going swimmingly.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Could you tell me about it?”
“Work was hard today. I mean, really hard. I know what we do is good, that without it, there would be so much more suffering in the world. It’s just that, it can be so draining. It’s like, well, you remember how I used to work at the other clinic? It just got to be time for a change. This new job was like a godsend. But sometimes it feels the same as the old one.”
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