The Session

A Story by Riaan Steffens

A troubled young man's session with his psychiatrist.

Two men sit talking in a square room in the middle of the suburb. The room is small and messy. At the back, two high windows shed their gleaming light onto the floor below. Shelves and desks line the inner walls, some strewn with books and some balanced with computers. Random photos and art work stretch across the walls and papers lie scattered all over. The entrance is made up of tinted grey glass with a sturdy glass door smack dead in the middle. In the center of this room, there is a low round table; also very messy. On one side, two worn out red chairs can be found and on the other, a bigger, more comfortable looking dull-green chair. The room has a very content and home-like feel to it; the orange glow from the old lamps and ceiling lights give a feeling of warmth and safety amongst all the chaos.

On one of the red chairs sits a troubled man; a medical intern and a boyfriend of about twenty-six years old. He has neat brown hair and an upbeat, clean shaven face which he uses as a disguise to hide the real him - the broken man torn between two paths.

On the green chair sits his psychiatrist; a man of about fifty-five years. He has long messy brown hair and sports a full russet beard. His appearance matches that of his office. The two sit deep in conversation.

“The Bible says: No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. So tell me Bill, how the hell can I be expected to cope while I serve two masters?” Shaun questions.

“And which two masters are these now Shaun?” William calmly asks.

“My studies Bill! AND my girlfriend Bill! How can I be loyal to both of them? I work in this training hospital hours on end, and when I finally have some free time I spend it on studying, keeping up to date with medical journals and catching up on my very limited sleep. In this line of work you have to be ahead of the game, I’m sure you know that Bill! This leads to a complicated relationship; I can see how unhappy Kate is. I just don’t know what to do anymore!” Shaun vigorously exclaims.

William sits heavily in his chair, file and pen in hand, making little notes as they go along and not moving a muscle. Shaun on the other hand, rustles around not finding a comfortable position. He finally comes to a halt with his head in his hands and leaning forward.

“Have you ever thought of compromising, Shaun? I mean, have you ever thought of giving this relationship a break for a couple of months until you complete your internship here?” William asks.

“I have yes, of course I have, and I already know what it would lead to. I’ll end up unhappy and so would she. That’s the last thing I want to have happen, I need to be focused right now, and if I had to lose her I can forget about that. A break would destroy us Bill, and besides, I love her. Without her, nothing I do makes any sense or seems to be worth the time and effort.” Shaun answers.

“I understand.” William states.

Shaun sits up straight and with tears in his eyes he exclaims, “Do you really Bill? I mean, do you truly understand what’s going on inside of my head? Honestly, it seems as if my time here goes to waste. I could be spending time with Kate right now, right this second we could be together and happy and laughing. But I sit here wasting my time babbling about my problems while you sit there with your legs crossed and your silver pen in hand jotting away. How is this helping me Will?”

Shaun tucks his neck into the back of his chair and stares up at the ceiling with his hands on his head. With a great sigh he glances at the clock, only four more minutes to go.

“Well, what do you want to get out of our sessions?” William asks.

“I’m forced to come here Bill, apparently I have stress issues and I log too many hours and so on and so forth. Common, you know this Bill! They all think I’m going to keel over soon!” Shaun exclaims.
“Yes, I know you’re forced to come here. But now that you’re here, what do you want to get out of our sessions?” Bill asks again.

Shaun - now frustrated at William’s ignorance - shouts, “I want you to explain to me how I’m supposed to be loyal to my work and my girlfriend all at the same time when it is impossible! I want explanations, I want you to just switch the pain off, you know, take it away and make me understand how to cope with all this mayhem!”
William closes Shaun’s file and places it along with his pen on the table in front of him while calmly saying, “You know Shaun. Maybe you can be the first person to prove that man can be loyal to two masters, whilst loving both and being devoted to both all at the same time. If anyone can, you can Shaun. I know you can. Time’s up boy."

Shaun looks at the clock, stands up, grabs his coat and slowly steps towards the door. While holding it open he looks around and says, “Thanks Bill. See you next Tuesday.”