It was Monday when the police found him. He had used his debit card to buy dinner. They took him back to the station, asked him questions, informed his parents. He was sullen and uncooperative, so they grounded him. His father lectured on the Ten Commandments. After a week, his mother grew worried. She couldn’t take many more nights of being woken by his nightmares. She got annoyed when he wouldn’t let her touch his head. She complained to his father, but his father didn’t want to listen anymore. When he finally cracked, he curled into a ball and cried for an hour. He confessed everything and his mother cried with him. His father refused to believe, but agreed to get him psychiatric help.
Dr. Malin’s dress suit made him nervous and her smile made bile clog his throat. She offered him a plush chaise, gave him Chamomile tea, commented on his Metallica shirt. Malin eased into the conversation. His speech was mercurial and broken. She was patient. He shyly presented the love letters. With a red pen, Malin underlined threats and coercive phrases. He mentioned the night after basketball practice, when the school was empty, and she had needed help getting something down from the double-cabinets in the teacher’s lounge. Malin squeezed his shoulder, told him that it wasn’t his fault. He admitted his arousal. Malin said he had done nothing wrong.
He was put in a support group, working with other teens and younger kids. His father filed the report himself and Dr. Malin testified at the trial. It took a month before he could smile again, and another before he could laugh. His confidence grew. In college, he met his future-wife who introduced him to his future-business partner. After three years, he got married. His mother cried while he said his vows. His father gave a speech at the reception. It was Monday when his first child was born.
I had trouble getting the summarizing thing down. I kept wanting to get into more details than I was supposed to. I'm not sure I have it right. I thought I had it down pat until I actually got into the "scene" paragraph... Then, it was like the details were tempting me to write them. Evil.
ReplyDeleteHa! I think you've done a really nice job with this. The first two paragraphs, in particular, have a nice, terse rhythm to them, with evocative details. I get a little confused int he second ¶ because it sounds as if Dr. Malin is the one who "he's" been harassing. There are a lot of possibilities at the end of the second ¶, too. But the piece seems to take a fairly traditional, undramatic turn here. Might be worth looking at the again and considering what else could be in there.
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