Therapy

“Tell me what you see,” Dr. Moon said quietly.

She studied the photograph. “I don’t understand,” she finally said.

“What don’t you understand?” he asked.

“Any of it,” she replied. “I don’t understand the words. I don’t even know what language it is. Italian, maybe? But vente is just a coffee size at Starbucks.”

She studied the photo some more. Dr. Moon waited patiently.

“I don’t understand the picture itself. Why all the shuttered windows? Why are they closed? Why is that one open?”

More quiet.

“And the doors are closed. And the lines don’t line up. And there’s like a tan castle painted on the wall over here.” She pointed at the left side of the photo. “Everything about this picture bothers me,” she said, and handed it back to the doctor.

“Everything?” Dr. Moon asked.

“Everything,” she said emphatically.

Dr. Moon handed the photo back to her. “Look for something that you do like here. There must be one thing.”

“Well,” she said frowning, “I might like the open window. If there was a plant in it, I mean. A spider plant with lots of shoots.” Silence. “But there isn’t, so I don’t.”

“Look again,” he said gently.

“It makes me want to cry,” she said. “I don’t like that. I don’t understand.”

“This was where your grandparents hid before they fled France in 1942,” he said.

She studied the photo again.

“Can I keep this?” she asked.

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This is my response to the Unicorn Challenge.

Don’t ask where the story came from. I honestly don’t know.

I DO know that a Starbucks venti is spelled with an “i” and the language on the sign is French. I am just as bothered as she is about the photo though.

There really should be a spider plant in that window. It should be an open window with a gentle breeze causing the shoots and leaves of the spider plant to sway a little. Yes, a spider plant would make everything better.