REM // Van McCann

12. Practice

Her eagerness startled me because when she asked if the study was legal, I thought she was questioning the ethicacy of the study. But here she was stood before me genuinely interested in the study. Her looking around the room for a pen reminded me that I had one so I gave it to her. She walked over to put her paperwork on a flat surface and signed her name along with today's date and handed it to me.

"There you go," she replied. "Do you need anything else?" Still shocked at what was happening, I shook my head no. "Don't you need my contact information?"

"Erm...I've got your name and phone," I finally managed. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Isn't there supposed to be a document I fill out? Like don't you need to know my last name and weight? Do you know what I'm saying?" It took a while for my brain to comprehend but I knew what she was getting at and I was surprised this thought totally slipped my mind.

"To be honest, I didn't think of that but I can quickly make a form," I replied.

"I got you covered," Bondy spoke up from his seat and we both turned to look at him. "I was recently asked if I was interested in a study so I've got their form and can copy the format they used. Just give me a few minutes."

He waved the paper in the air and set it down. Not knowing what to do with myself while I waited, I told her I was going to make a copy of the signed disclaimer and give her a copy to reference.

"Here you go," I said, handing her the copy. "While we're waiting, do you want to discuss start date and frequency?" She folded the paper and put it in her purse.

"You said it could be up to three hours, right? Well if it's going to be three hours, I'd prefer Saturday mornings but if the sessions are less than two hours, we can do it after work. I get off work at 3:30 PM since I start pretty early. I guess we can do two sessions a week to start and see how it goes. Why don't we do Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 PM?"

"Erm...yeah, that works. Most sessions will be two hours or less since we're just starting out and tomorrow's Thursday so are you wanting to start tomorrow or next week?"

"If you know what we're going to do, we can start tomorrow but if not, I don't mind waiting until next week or however long you need."

Some part of me wanted to make up for my lack of preparation. The fact that she was assuming I wasn't ready wasn't good and I didn't want her to think we didn't know what we were doing. Well to be honest, we don't but I don't want her to think that!

"Why don't we start tomorrow?" I suggested. I had no idea what I was going to do but I have all day tomorrow to think of something.

"Sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"I've got the form," Bondy announced, walking to the printer. He grabbed the paper and handed it to her.

"Thank you," she replied, walking over to the table to sit down.

While she was focused on filling out the form, Bondy gave me a knowing look. It was the kind he gave to assure us we were doing just fine and to not fret. He patted my shoulder and went back to his desk. Florence finished filling out the form and handed it to me.

"There you go. Is that all?" she asked.

"Yes. Thank you...Florence," I added awkwardly. Since we'll be seeing each other more, it's best to get acquainted with one another.

"You can call me Flo if you want. What's your name?"

"I'm Van." She held her hand out and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you Van. I'll see you all tomorrow."

She made sure she had everything before I escorted her to the door. It wasn't until I closed the door that I felt like I could finally relax. Since I was nosy, I looked at her form. Bondy was surprisingly thorough as we didn't need half the information listed on the form. We don't need to know her birthdate nor her address but I was dead curious regardless. She was only two years younger than me and her birthday was in a few months.