The little balding man sat in front of his counsellor as she explained his most recent issue.
“Have you ever felt like you have been her before?” she asked in her kind and gentle voice.
“Yes,” he replied, “there are times when I do feel this is all so familiar but I can never put my finger on what it might be I’m remembering.”
“From my observations, I would say you were once a fish,” she stated.
“A fish? But I hate the sea, and I can’t swim.”
“All the more reason to believe that is where you have come from.”
“But none of that makes sense,” he cried.
“Makes perfect sense,” she said, “you came from the sea, you were once one with the oceans, and now you are stranded on land, and that is the reason you have such anxiety issues.”
“Like a fish out of water,” offered the little man bewildered by what was going on and feeling more and more like needing to hop into the bath at home where he found the most comfort in life.
“What are you thinking now?” she asked leaning forward looking into his face which had taken on a shape and complexion that was beginning to worry her.
“I like sitting in the bath at home,” he said, “I find it relaxing and comforting.” With that, his mind went to places the counsellor could only speculate about.
“Are there rubber ducks involved?” she asked.
“Several,” he stammered, “and each one has a name and a personality. I’m crazy, aren’t I?”
“Well heading that way, but we are here to help you deal with all this.”
“We?”
“Yes, my companion Rufus the Sea lion is over there in the corner. He’ll have a word or two with you before you go.”
The little man looked around and saw nothing but dust in the corner of the room. He looked at the Counsellor who was now looking more and more benignly at him. “Its ok,” she announced, “lots of my patients have the same reaction. He’s definitely there, it’s just you can’t see him and I can.”
The little man was becoming more and more unsettled and thought to himself ‘I’d best be making my way out of here. At least his rubber ducks didn’t talk back to him.’
As he stood, the counsellor reached down beside her and pulled a dead fish from out of her bottom drawer and then threw it across the room into the corner. It made a dull thud as it hit the floor and then the wall.
He made it to the door before he heard her say, “Well done Rufus, you’re such a good boy.”
Looking back, he saw that the fish was gone.
He looked at the counsellor who now had a disturbing glint in her eye. She watched him standing by the door then said, “Now my dear man, where were we again?”
Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2017/12/03/sunday-writing-prompt-231-quotes-by-alan-watts/
Morpethroad 