Psychiatrist's Office

A man is lying on a couch while the doctor sitting across from him continues to glance at the clock and tap his pen to his clipboard impatiently.

“Sir, you come here week after week and sleep on my couch. You don’t speak to me. Why do you even show up?”

“Well, my lady told me if I wasn’t going to talk to her, I had to talk to somebody, otherwise she was leaving me. Paying you is the best investment I’ve made recently.”

“You don’t have to show up here for me to keep sending you bills. What’s the real reason?”

“Doc, I just told you.”

“You wouldn’t continue to show up if you weren’t here looking for something. What do you want?”

“I don’t want nothing, Doc.”

“What do you want?”

“What do I want? I dunno, Doc. I want to be happy.”

“No, that’s a cop out answer. Everyone wants to be happy. What do you want? What do you want in your life, your relationship, your job? I want a personal answer, a human answer.”

The man lies there for a moment before he sits up and rubs between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger like he's trying to ward off a headache.

“Me and my girl, we fight, we make up and it’s the same cycle over and over. For some people the cycle might be enough, but not me. I want to be desired. I am a man! I am a creature of passion. I look at her and I see the same girl I fell in love with and she says she loves me and that’s great. Women they just want to talk. I feel... I feel the love in every fiber of my being. Words can’t express that. And I don’t want to be misunderstood when I say desire, I’m not talking about sex. Well, not only sex. I’m talking about that look you know? Sometimes it’s in the eyes, other times it’s just the faintest hint of a smile but when you see it you know. Neither of you have to say anything. You just know.”

The doctor scribbles some notes as they both sit there until the session is finally up.

“I think we made some progress today. Same time next week?”

“Sure thing Doc.”

As his patient exits the room the doctor walks over to his bookshelf and picks up a picture frame and just stares at it for a few moments. He replaces the picture frame and begins packing up his things when he feels a vibration in his pocket. Pulling out his cell phone, he scrolls through his notifications until he stops on a recent message from his wife. as he begins to reply a faint smile touches his face and he says.

“You just know.”