Matters of Gravity

Episode #29

He was just off the phone when the doorbell rang; it was Jeanie, the recused therapist.

"It's too damned cold to be all alone, don't you think? I smelled the smoke from your chimney and figured you must have a nice fire going in the fireplace."

"Yeah, I do," he said. "Come on in; you look almost frost bit with those red cheeks. How long you been walking around out there in this cold. Even with that parka you look awfully cold."

"I am, I am," she laughed. "I've been out way too long avoiding an empty house, I guess. What do they say about carpenters?"

"Let me have that parka; get over there by the fireplace."

"Oh, thank you. Brrr, I am cold. This fireplace feels great. 'Creaky steps', isn't that what they say about carpenters? 'Leaky pipes' for plumbers and a therapist afraid to be alone in her own house. Pretty bad, huh?"

"Is there a problem – have you had break ins or threats from clients?"

"No, nothing like that. Just my own demons, which is what I'm supposed to be capable of irradicating for other people."

Roger disappeared into the kitchen and brought out a thermos of coffee with two cups and some cookies Maria had left for him.

"Oh, thank you. That coffee feels great in my hands. I think I better wait to drink it though."

"Yeah, you better. Is Robert working out of town again?"

"Robert's out of town more than he's in." Then, "You've never asked why I recused myself in your regard. Why not?"

"No, I didn't. Just the way I'm wired, I guess. I thought you would tell me if or when you felt like it."

"Am I interrupting your study or anything? I know you three physicists have been up to something over here."

"I was just relaxing; and unlike outside, it's comfortable in here."

"It is." Sitting down on the hearth by seeming to just fold her legs outward, she asked, "So would you mind if we spend some time discussing the issue I have that requires recusal?"

"Sure. Is it an issue though? A problem? I think I'm doing fine."

"Well, I don't know to what extent it could be considered a problem and it is obvious that you are doing just fine. But let me just explain why I mentioned that before. You see, even though we'd never met, it isn't as though I wasn't intimately aware of your story. It's like trying to select a jury for a celebrity trial. Everyone knows about your trauma and virtually everything else about you. My dad was a high school physics teacher and a baseball fan; he had played when he was younger and considered himself to have been pretty good at it. So naturally Ray Bonn was a big deal for my dad. The videos of him hitting home runs at Yankee Stadium and of him verbally abusing Tim McCarthy after the game when he retired got played over and over again at our house. Dad never got tired of it; he'd put that retirement video on and start laughing before it even began."

"Yeah, my mom used to laugh at dad about that ridiculous discussion."

"What your dad said was correct even though what he had accomplished did seem like it was completely impossible. Your success made it seem somewhat more realistic that you and he were just that much better than the rest. By then I had a life size poster of you hanging in my room. I still have it. I love it."

"Oh god. That has to go."

"Anyway, I cried through every one of the disasters that happened to you."

"I don't know where I picked up the reference to Job that I mentioned to you. I've never been very religious either, but it just seemed so appropriate, so unfair."