by P J Mann
“I use it rarely, I don’t like to look like a snobby person. I try my hardest to convince people that it is not my fault if my father wanted to add that word at the end of it,” he protested.
“If you don’t like it, why you don’t take it away?” asked Sabina, swaying her hand elegantly.
“Because I feel like this would hurt my father, he cared about it, and every time he was pronouncing my name, he always placed so much emphasis on that Jr. He loves me to bits, and I love him; I would never do anything harmful to him.”
“I think you are full of shit!” said Jonathan
Maximilian looked at him open-mouthed. Nobody ever talked to him that way, neither had anyone ever insinuated that he was a person full of himself.
Dr. Wright didn’t intervene; he was curious to see where the discussion would have led. He just sat there taking notes in his notebook.
“What you mean by that?” Max replied.
“I mean that you enjoy your little Jr., but you realize how arrogant that might sound, so you try to find a thousand excuses of where to hide the pleasure you feel when you introduce yourself. I bet that you also expect other people to call you with that suffix,” Jonathan replied, challenging.
“For your information, I…”
“Now stop it!” said Laura annoyed. “Maximilian, from now on, we are calling you just Max, and Jonathan, mind your own business. He just said his name, you cannot feel offended by such a trifle.”
They all got suddenly silent and turned their gazes towards Laura. So far she looked like the kind of person, who never loses her temper and keeps her kind nature.
“Sorry…” whispered Jonathan as he sat back down.
“Now, please continue telling us about yourself,” Laura continued glancing at Maximilian.
“Thanks, honestly I don’t mean to sound snobby. I feel like it keeps my bond with my family. However, as I said I work at the University and it was only since ten years ago has insomnia cursed me. Everything seemed to start quite gradually, but it was something fast enough for me to notice.
At the moment I can sleep a couple of hours every night, and even in this case, my sleep is everything but restful. I hope that I will find a solution to my problem during this therapy. I can't wait to start,” Max concluded, sitting down to his chair.
After another pause of silence, another man stood up from the chair and smiled, he looked around. “I guess it’s my turn. My name is Gabriel Garcia-Mendez, and I think I am in love with that dark angel who's sitting there,” he said, blinking an eye to Sabina.
“Hey, Casanova, what about me? I thought you loved me!” said Laura with a giggle.
“There is nothing more beautiful than a rose that sharpens her thorns. You are the most beautiful flower in this garden,” he replied with a cheeky smile.
“Oh please, you are nauseating,” replied Carolina, rolling her eyes. “Keep your flirting for another time and for those people who enjoy them. As for me, I don’t care at all so spare me.”
“Ok, fine.” He replied, chuckling. “I work as a mechanic. I own a garage, and with this problem, I cannot go and focus on my business. Sure, for clubbing this is a problem that can be turned into an advantage, but I like going to the clubs only on Saturday evening, the rest of the week it would be nice to be able to divide the day from the night.
I am divorced, and I have two lovely children, a boy, and a girl. Lauro is 15 years old; he is as smart as a whip. I wanted him to take over my business, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in cars. He wants to become a veterinarian. Then there is Anita, she is 13 years old, and knows more about engines than I could ever do myself. She will be the one who will take over one day when I will feel too old to continue. Although, I think I could leave her everything already and retire,” he chuckled, but then his expression turned serious. “Insomnia is also taking me from them, and that is something I cannot afford.”
Everyone remained silent, they were all there for the same reason, and whether their stories and personalities differed a lot from one another, they all seemed to fear that their insomnia would have brought them far from their lives.
After a short discussion, Dr. Wright smiled and closed his notebook. “I am very pleased with the outcome of this first meeting. Besides a small exception we had a fascinating conversation, and what came out from the stories of each of you is going to be very important to calibrate a successful therapy. I thought that we could have a couple of other sessions like this one, but with all the good material I could gather this time, I don’t think there will be any need.”
“Does this mean that we can start our therapy earlier?” Asked Laura.
“We might do so. However, I would like to reserve this extra time to do all the necessary preparations for the therapy. As planned we will start in a couple of months, but I will contact you by email to let you all know the final time. For the moment it would be advisable to use this time to prepare yourselves and get ready to leave. Also for what concerns your jobs or studies,” he said glancing at each of his patients.
Laura looked at her watch, “I cannot believe it, we’ve spent a couple of hours, trying to introduce each other. there may be something to that saying, that time flies when you are having fun.”
“At least for what concerns me, it was a pleasure to talk to you and get to know new people,” said Sabina. “I wait for the time when we will start this new therapy. I hope we can still keep in touch also afterward.”
They all exited the room and walked their own ways back to their own lives. Dr. Wright remained in the clinic, for him the working day was not over; he still had to go through the notes he took during the meeting.
It hadn’t even been an hour when his mobile phone started to ring.
“Bernard Wright,” he replied calmly.
“Hello, Bernard, this is Jason,” Prof. Doyle, greeted. “I was wondering whether your meeting with our patients was over, and considering that you replied, I can only deduce that it is.”
“Oh, hello Jason. Yes, I was just going through the notes I had taken during the meeting,” he replied, closing his notebook.
“So, any good news?”
“Absolutely, they are just going to be the perfect test subjects. The idea of having more individuals at the same time for the testing was absolutely genius; we should have thought about it before,” Dr. Wright replied, drumming his fingertips lazily against the table.
“I do agree, and also I had the results of the laboratory tests of our patients. We now have the perfect dose calibrated for each of them, and in less than one month we should get some consistent results.
“I am wondering whether our group could have been larger, so to have more results,” Prof. Doyle said.
“We should not exceed our possibilities. Also, our client asked for a larger group, but as I explained it would have just messed up all the results. Sometimes also following one single patient can be time-consuming. Think about what we went through with Ethan Jackson.”
Dr. Doyle remained silent for a while, thinking about it.
He then sighed, “you might be right, although the whole project wasn’t truly a failure, it was not the best-laid plan either. We were lucky that at least we got positive results, or our client would have found the way to get rid of our services.”
“This time we won’t make the same mistake, we will smoothly have our results…”
Chapter 3.
During the first week, Laura felt so excited that the lack of sleep didn’t even bother her. She was constantly checking her email, although she would have been notified for every email received, Laura felt like she needed to check it for herself, and the more frequently, the better.
Although she still wasn’t able to sleep, the excitement started to kick up, and she couldn’t feel the tiredness anymore.
She wondered whether she should have talked one more time with Mr. Lowell or if it would have been better if she waited for the email coming from Dr. Wright.
&
nbsp; “Yes but send this goddamn email; I can’t stand the wait!” She said aloud like she was talking to her computer.
However, with the passing of the days, her excitement started to subside, and the day to day issues began to take over.
She almost forgot about the therapy, when unexpectedly, a familiar Blip, announced the arrival of a new email. Her heart skipped a beat as she grabbed her phone up from her desk, and with trembling hands she opened the email, to discover it was coming from Dr. Wright.
That was precisely what she was waiting for, the full schedule of the departure and the location where she will spend one entire month. She really couldn’t wait, and even before finishing reading the email, she searched for the place on the map.
It was a sort of eco-retreat located in the countryside, it was evident to her the reason behind the choice of that particular location. The place looked like an oasis of peace immersed in nature, perfect for relaxation meditation and, hopefully for a good night’s sleep.
She browsed the pictures of the facility, and it looked like something entirely out of her reach.
“I don’t even want to know how much it would cost to stay for a week in that hotel. Everything seems so fancy,” Laura said aloud as she browsed the pictures of the interiors and the garden.
She called Grant, to give him the good news.
“Hello, dear, do you have any news to share with me?” He asked as he answered the phone.
“Hi, Grant. I have a date finally. I will leave in five weeks, but most important of all is the location they’ve chosen. It is such an amazing place,” she replied excitedly.
“What if you come by for dinner and we will check out the place together?” He proposed. “By the way do you need someone to take care of your house while you’re away? I don’t know, perhaps you need to water the plants?”
“Oh, my goodness, I was almost going to forget about it. I was so excited about my leave that I forgot about the plants,” she said. “Would you help me please?”
“Of course, I’ll help you. I wouldn’t even propose my help if I didn’t mean it,” Grant replied, shaking his head. “By the way, at what time will you get out from the library? Perhaps we can meet in the metro.”
She looked at the clock on the wall, “I can leave now, what about you?”
“I might need a bit of time, but if we don’t meet on the train, then I’ll see you this evening at about seven for dinner. I will call Scott right away,” he replied.
“Why for a change don’t you guys come have a dinner at my place? You are always so kind that I feel like this time it should be up to me to prepare you the dinner,” Laura proposed.
“That is a brilliant idea, so you can show me what I need to take care of.”
“Fantastic!” she yelped excitedly, “See you this evening!”
As she hung up the phone, she recalled the reason why they never come to have dinner by her; Scott was a professional chef. Instead, she was just a librarian with no interest in cooking.
“What am I going to prepare for a professional chef?” She wondered, and although the challenge was tough, she decided that she would have prepared something on her own without resorting to anything ordered from the nearby restaurant.
“Besides, this will be the right chance to see if those recipes my grandma taught me are still rattling around up in my brain,” she said aloud as she thought about any recipe that might have come to her mind.
The planning for the menu was undoubtedly the most challenging part, but she managed to prepare in time everything from the entrees to the dessert.
When she was ready, and her guests were about to arrive, she looked satisfied with the results. “It might not be a five-star dinner, but it is something I can feel proud of.”
In that same moment, the doorbell of her apartment rang, and trotting happily, she went to open the door, ready to spend a lovely evening with her favorite couple.
“Good evening, Gentlemen,” she said welcoming them into her apartment.
“Good evening to you, I could smell this delicious scent since we left our apartment,” said Grant.
“Indeed, if everything tastes the way it smells, I absolutely need the recipes,” added Scott.
“Please, you’re flattering me,” she replied blushing. “If there is a person we need to thank that would be my grandma. She passed down all her recipes to me, I just executed them.”
“Don’t be modest,” said Scott, peeking in the kitchen to understand what she had prepared, “replicating a recipe is something very challenging. I have no idea about the original version, but you surely have a talent.”
***
After an interminable series of preparations for the departure, she was, finally ready to leave her house for the hotel.
She called a taxi and left in the hope to return with the regained ability to fall asleep for more than two hours a night.
The trip took almost two hours, and she wondered whether it wouldn’t have been cheaper going there by bus. She wondered about the other patients, and how would they reach the place.
If any of them used their car I might ask for a ride to the center or wherever close by, when the therapy is over, she thought while she looked out of the window.
She closed her eyes and tried to relax without thinking about anything, just listening to the noise of the engine letting it soothe her mind. Surprisingly she fell asleep and was awakened by the taxi driver.
“Err… Sorry,” he said turning his gaze toward her. “Ma’am; we’ve reached your destination.”
She woke up with a start, “oh, I might have fallen asleep,” she said reaching her purse to pay the driver.
She looked around to get familiar with the place and fix in her mind all the details of that fantastic place immersed in the peace of the countryside. She started to walk around admiring the structure of the hotel and the beautiful features that made it so unique and special. She felt fortunate to be able to spend an entire month in a place for which she wouldn’t have the money to pay for even a single week.
She took a deep breath and walked towards the entrance where an elegant plate reading “reception” was placed.
As she walked inside, she recalled the pictures she had seen on their website and felt overwhelmed by the number of subtle details that blended into a stunning harmony of shapes and colors. She thought that the place looked even better in person than in the pictures and she couldn’t wait to see the rest of the building. Mainly she was curious to see the room assigned to her.
“Good afternoon,” she happily greeted the receptionist.
“Good afternoon. I must presume you are one of the guests who are part of Dr. Wright’s therapy,” the receptionist replied with a kind smile.
“Yes,” she said handing her the driver’s license to check in to both the hotel and the therapy.
“Perfect, Ms. Jefferson, and welcome to our hotel. I hope you will enjoy your stay and that the therapy you are going to follow will help you,” she replied handing back the driver’s license to Laura together with the key card of her room.
Laura turned to grab her luggage and noticed the bellboy. “Let me help you with that,” he replied, smiling.
Then she realized that by looking around she didn’t notice anyone else, neither the patients nor Dr. Wright.
“Excuse me one question,” she said turning her gaze to the receptionist. “Am I the first one who arrived?”
“Yes, you are the first one, and we will call you when Dr. Wright arrives, so I suggest you unpack and get comfortable in your room and make yourself at home.”
Laura nodded and left, following the bellboy to the elevators, unable to stop noticing the details of that beautiful hotel.
Her room was on the third floor, and as the bellboy opened the door, she hesitated for a moment open-mouthed at the room’s door. She came inside and felt amazed by how big and beautiful it looked. The bellboy dropped her luggage close to the wall and went away without saying a word
, not to interrupt her amazement.
She ran to the restroom to find herself in a world made of luxuries she considered forbidden to a simple librarian and started her quest to discover the room, the wardrobe, the balcony, and everything else. Her eyes then toured to the bed, and she wondered about the small devices on the wall.
“Are there any cameras installed?” She wondered fearing about the level of her privacy, but for how much she was looking around, she couldn’t find any. “Perhaps I am just a little bit over-excited about this hotel, and I started becoming paranoid,” she said shaking her head.
She took out all the clothes she brought from her luggage, and some other accessories she might have needed during this month, particularly a large collection of books to keep her company in case she wasn’t able to find any sleep.
Then when she was satisfied, she grabbed one book and started to read, waiting for a call from Dr. Wright.
She just made herself comfortable on her bed, when somebody knocked on her door.
“Are you already naked?” The voice of Sabina asked.
She ran opening the door, “No, I’m sorry to disappoint, that is not one of my habits.”
“Too bad,” she jested coming inside her room, “Wow, this room is amazing!”
“Isn’t yours the same?” Laura wondered.
“I haven’t even checked it, I asked the bellboy to bring my luggage there, as I was coming to see you, first,” Sabina winked.
“Did anyone else arrive?”
“Yes, I arrived together with Carolina and Gabriel. They went to their rooms, as we were all instructed to reach the rooms and stay there until Dr. Wright would call us. However, we can go together,” she replied graciously sitting on Laura’s bed.
“How did you manage to stay away from your job? I mean you have your own business and being away for one whole month might be difficult,” Laura puzzled.
Sabina laughed heartily, “Laura, my precious, of course, the firm is mine, but I have my employees who take care of everything when I am on holiday, sick leave or, in this case on therapy. You know the only thing I am regretting is that soon a very important fair is coming up, and I would have loved to participate. There is always a lot of fun involved, and sadly I will have to miss it.”
