Theraputic Hour Lines correct

It’s exactly two forty five I wasnt sure youd come

Im here aren’t I

still I wasn’t sure you’d come you had no obligation

This was my time I have no where else to be at this hour

He was always punctual I loved that about him among other things he gave me so much and now he’s gone what did you say your name was

I didn’t say. I’m Dorothy

Really

Yes

That wasn’t my name for you, I imagined your name was Isabella Something evocative Something foreign I imagined he favored you because you were foreign Are you foreign

No. Im from Connecticut.

What did you imagine about me

I never imagined anything about you

Nothing

No. you were the woman who came out of the room at exactly two forty five nothing more and nothing less

My name is Cassie didn’t you ever wonder what my name was

No sorry I never did should I have

He told me it was normal to wonder about you I was am envious of your figure you’ve got a beautiful body

Thank you. I don’t know what to say. Uh Shall I order us some coffee

I’ve already had a latte and a piece of Boston cream pie. They’re kind of famous for it here. I’ve been sitting down since two o clock I promised him I wouldnt eat sweets he said it was a poor substitute for love. I wanted to look like you Isabella.

Dorothy

Miss? Miss?

But what does it matter now

I understand Two o clock was your time You needed something to give you some gratification For therapeutic hour I understand.

To give me some gratification

a cup of coffee. black. no nothing else.

or for spite wont you have a piece of pie

No thank you.. Didn’t you promise him you wouldn’t eat sweets?

Bring me another slice of Boston cream and two forks just in case

I’ve got something I need to get off my chest

Oh

You’re the last connection I have to him. Cassie. The only one who knows about two forty five. Never sent in a claim form. Always paid in cash. No trace of our relationship. Our therapuetic relationship.

We filled out a treatment plan every six sessions Im with an HMO Guess I gave him a lot of trouble I had a chart on me that’s an inch thick

Some patients can well afford to pay in cash. He took no notes there should be no trace.

No notes mine was the thickest chart in his file cabinet He had to start a second folder. That’s how I know he loved me Did you ever see my chart on his desk when you came into the room? It was a the big thick one you might have seen it . Maybe you didn’t know what it was.

I don’t remember seeing your chart Cassie I don’t remember seeing any charts.

He was so professional he wouldn’t have left it on the desk for you to see. he must have put it in his briefcase he had an expensive looking suede briefcase. Chocolate Brown like my pie. he must have put it in his briefcase. he told me I was so complex. He probably needed to bring me home to study. My appointments were only forty five minutes long. But he must have spent hours a day thinking about me.

I’m sure he did. But I have something I need to get off my chest. It’s about him and me.

You weren’t his favorite patient. I was. you need to know that right off the bat. You need to admit that to me. We had a special relationship. Him and me. I was in his briefcase in a manner of speaking. he took me home with him at night.

I’m sure it was very special.

Im not sure I like your attitude isabella

Dorothy

There is something very patronizing about your tone of voice. Something smug and patronizing

I have hardly said a thing. I wanted to. But maybe now I won’t

If youve got something to say about you and him it may be something I don’t want to hear.

I thought you would understand. I thought you would be the only one who would understand. But I may have been wrong. Here. I don’t need a cup of coffee. I’ll go.

No. please sit down.

if you’re sure its not too painful the suddenness of it is a shock to us all

It is a shock and the way I found out about it was a shock

What do you mean?

The obituary in the newspaper that his middle name was George that he was jewish that he had a wife and a seven year old daughter. I didnt know those things I didn’t want to know those things I would have been the first to know about his death. That they would have called me first. I had the thickest chart by far we had filled out a treatment plan every six sessions he said I was complex

We are nobody we don’t exist.

I exist with my poor substitute for love I exist With my chart that is bulging at the seam I exist.

We were like shadows in his life Cassie there and not there.

I shared my secrets with him. Did he have a secret pain that he kept from me from us, for months was he suffering silently in that stuffed armchair with a secret pain. I could have consoled him. It would have brought us closer. I would have understood. I have a secret pain. Why didn’t he trust me with his?

We sat in the back row of the chapel. Nameless. You and I. And a dozen other bewildered faces. In a pew with ripped upholstery. As if some misguided lover had taken her pocket knife in her grief. and plunged it into the wrong place.

No one would even say how he died. It was like they all knew. Except me.

The service in a language I could not understand.

I fantasized you could understand. I fantasized you were foreign.

Then I waited my turn to file past the casket.

You looked elegant and simple in your mourning clothes. You know you always do.

Wanting to get one last look at him

No one wants to look at me. Look at me

A women in black. Was it his wife? Stared at me full in the face.

I receded into the background so that no one could see me I always do.

As if she could see into the recesses of my heart as if she knew.

Knew what?

Cassie

What is it? you can tell me anything.

I

You said you had something you wanted to get off your chest

I don’t want to hurt you.

You said you thought Id be the only one who would understand.

Don’t make me say anything to hurt you

I left that couch nice and warm for you. Five days a week. It was nice and warm by the time I left at two forty five.

Why don’t I take you up on your kind offer.

I want to know what was happening in that room at two fifty.

Why don’t you pass me the pie and a fork?

at two fifty seven.

Just a forkful or two this stuff destroys your figure.

at three oh one

Why tarnish your memory of him Cassie. Yours was the thickest chart in the file cabinet. You had a special relationship.

I want to know what was happening in that room at three oh eight

He brought you home at night in a manner of speaking. No one can take that away from you.

I want to know why his wife stared at you full in the face.

No one can ever take that away.. Say this pie is delicious.

Stop talking about the pie!

I may just have another slice. Miss? Miss?

Damn it look at me.

Will you bring us another slice of Boston cream? I can see why they’re so famous for it here.

You never wondered what my name was

They do a nice job with the pie.. and the coffees not bad either.

You never imagined anything about me?

No sorry I never did should I have.

Dorothy

Cassie

There is something I want to ask

I’m not sure

You. there is something I need to know.

I want to go there.

Something That makes all the difference in my world.

No this is my time, two forty five. My hour my therapuetic hour.

So it is

You spent your hour eating pie and drinking latte before I got here.

So I did I needed something to give me some gratification

And there is something I want to ask you..Cassie. Did you kill him?

My life is nothing I have no money I have no friends. I have nothing.

At two twenty three

I spent my sessions fantasizing about you. You are so beautiful

At two thirty six

My name for you was Isabella isn’t that a beautiful name?

I want to know what was happening in that room at two forty two.

I killed him because I fantasized he was having an affair with with you.

So you did kill him?

No But I wish I had. How could he choose you over me?

Choose.. me

Wasn’t he having a affair with you.

Of course not wasn’t he the consummate professional.

Its three thirty

it is That means my time is up.

I’m glad you came you had no obligation

This was my time I had no where else to be at this hour.

where will you be tomorrow at two forty five?

Here with you where else do I have to go?