green light came on above her office door. I entered and went straight for the leather chair where I always sat facing her.
“Good afternoon, Dr. Criddle,” I said.
“Good afternoon, Leo,” she replied.
Though I was a teenage boy locked in that maddening, wet-behind-the-ears stage of complete social unease, I thought that all women over thirty years old were menopausal and approaching their deathbeds. But it was not lost on me that Dr. Jacqueline Criddle was a most attractive woman with an admirable figure and pretty legs.
“So, how goes it, Mr. Leo King?” She looked over some notes from my file.
I thought about it before I answered. “It’s going great, Dr. Criddle.”
She glanced up with a quizzical eye. “You’ve never said that to me in all our time together. What’s happened, Leo?”
“I think I’m in the middle of living a good week. Maybe a real good one.”
“Whoa. Back up. Hold your horses. You sound like you’re on drugs for sure.”
“I’m feeling so good …” I paused. “I’m even starting to like my mother a little bit.”
My shrink laughed. “Now, surely that’s a hallucination.”
“I’ve found myself feeling pity for her. I’ve put my parents through a lot. Did you know my mother was once a Catholic nun?”
“Yes,” she said. “I was aware of that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It never came up, Leo,” she said. “You never mentioned it.”
“I just found out. Why wouldn’t she tell me something like that?”
“She must’ve thought it’d only make things worse for you.”
“I guess. But things couldn’t have been much worse, could they?”
“They were pretty bad,” said Dr. Criddle. “But you’ve come a long way. You’re the pride of juvenile court.”
I laughed. “Music for my mother’s heart.”
“She’s actually proud of what you’ve accomplished,” Dr. Criddle told me. “You’ve done everything the court has asked of you. And much, much more.”
“Y’all kept me busy.”
“Judge Alexander called today. He wants all of us to clean up our business with you this summer.”
“I still have a hundred hours of community service to finish.”
“He’s cut it down to fifty.”
“What about Mr. Canon? He needs me.”
“I’ve called him, Leo. It’s true that he fully expected you to be his personal manservant for the rest of his life, but he’ll have to make do.”
“He’s told me as much.”
“What a dreadful man,” she said. “When they assigned you to him, I argued that it was cruel and unusual punishment.”
“He’s all alone in the world,” I explained. “I think I’m all he’s got. He’s afraid to let people see his kind side. Always looking for trouble that never comes. I’m grateful to him. To all of you. You especially, Doctor.”
“You’ve done the work, Leo,” she said. I could feel her withdrawing into her shell like a box turtle you stumble on in the woods. “I’ve facilitated your therapy. Remember, I’m just court-appointed.”
“Remember how I was when I first came to this office with my parents?”
“You were a big mess.”
“How big?”
She picked up my file from the table that separated us. It was thick enough to strike an ominous chord in me each time she displayed it. In my mind, my file represented some cold-blooded book of hours compiled with malice by that most cunning enemy of my childhood—myself.
“Here is how I described you at that time. ‘Leo King seems terrified, depressed, anxious, ashamed, totally confused, and possibly suicidal.’”
“Don’t you miss that guy?” I asked.
“No, I don’t. But it took a lot of work to get where we are today. I’ve never had an adolescent boy work as hard to make himself well. Your mother looked like she wanted to kill you that day. Your dad looked like he wanted to run far away with you and leave no forwarding address. There was such agony in this room. That was almost three years ago.”
“You spotted my mother
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