This is Steven’s newest story, which I will shortly be adding to his story archive. Steven wrote this story in the hopes of submitting it to a story contest at the SSS newsgroup, unfortunately, they only have 500 word categories this year. Steven’s story ran close to 550 words. The friendly posters at the Bottomlines Forum would like for this story to have been longer, much longer, and are clamoring for another chapter! ….or two!
Therapy for the Therapist
Frank Blossman was sweating now. This was simply too difficult to be done without feeling the emotional fallout. Frank took a deep breath as he continued his trip back to those bygone days of his childhood. A childhood that was both joyous and wondrous yet had more than its fair share of trauma. Frank always felt that if it were not for bad parents, there would be no need for the services of a shrink.
“I remember the time I was riding my bike with my brother. “We were coming down this steep hill which my dad had told us………….”
The sound of the phone ringing interrupted Frank in mid-sentence.
“Hello. “Oh yes sweetie, it’s fine. “You can go, just call me later and let me know you got there OK and what time you need me to pick you up.”
With that Jennifer Palmer put the phone down. Frank wasn’t very happy now. He lost his train of thought yet again. It seemed that the phone was a regular part of their weekly sessions. This was not the first time the phone had rung in the middle of Frank’s hour. An hour he paid for but certainly didn’t seem to own.
Before Frank could say a word, Dr. Palmer said, “OK, we have to stop now.” Frank looked at his watch and saw it was only 3:30.
“We’ve only been here for 30 minutes,” Frank said.
“Wasn’t our session for half an hour today?” Jennifer asked.
Frank took a deep breath, hiding his anger. “No, our sessions are always for an hour.”
Dr. Palmer looked at her schedule and then apologized. “Yes, I see. I guess I forgot. “I hope I didn’t schedule my next patient for 3:30. “I need to check that out.”
So Frank sat and waited as Dr. Palmer made a phone call to the patient she sees after him, to make sure he was not already on his way to her. As it turned out, she could not get him on the phone. About five minutes later, another interruption as “Larry,” the next patient arrived at her office. She excused herself and went to speak with him. It didn’t take too long and she was back saying he was OK and would come back at 4. Still, all these interruptions had made Frank wonder if this therapist could ever help him.
At 4, with the session now over, Frank handed Dr. Palmer payment for the hour. He was due $10 change. When he was not given any, he said, “I need change of $10.”
“Oh, how much do I charge you?”
“You charge me $10 less than I just gave you, Dr. Palmer.”
With his $10 in hand Frank left the office.
He drove home and called Dr. Palmer and told her he was not coming back. He told her why and she admitted she had been less than attentive and apologized. She offered him a free session, but Frank said, “Remember when I told you about my perversion?”
“Yes,” Dr. Palmer said.
“If you want me to come back, I will demonstrate it on you, first hand!”
After an audible sigh was heard on the other end of the phone, Dr. Palmer’s voice said, “So see you next week then?”
“Yes,” Frank said, “I think we shall certainly need the full hour!”
The End
