For a while I was getting nervous that I wouldn’t be able to come up with a good story for the opening position in The Forms of Things Unknown. But as so often happens, when my Muse was ready she demanded my attention immediately, and within three days “Trust Exercise” was done. Yes, I said three days; it’s a good bit longer than the short-short stories I typically write, weighing in at about 4000 words. I think you’ll like it, and it will appear exclusively in the new book (which looks like it will come out on schedule in January). But because I’m such an awful tease, I can’t resist giving you this sneak peak at what’s in the box; this is from about a third of the way into the story:
“So who is Zoe?”
“Why, I’m surprised at you, Doctor Lang; she’s my imaginary friend. You know that.”
“That would’ve barely been an acceptable answer when you were ten, much less fourteen.”
“OK, then, let’s call her my spirit guide. Is that a more palatable response?”
“I’m not your enemy, Dani. I’m trying to help you.”
“Oh, please. You’re trying to earn a living, same as everybody else. You wouldn’t give a damn about me if my dad’s insurance weren’t reimbursing you.”
“It’s true that helping professionals need to earn a living just like everyone else, but that doesn’t mean I don’t genuinely care. You might think of my income as a subsidy which allows me to do the work I find rewarding, which is helping young people with their difficulties.”
Dani rolled her darkly-lined eyes and sighed theatrically. “And you’ll still kick me out at the 50-minute mark.”
“Good job trying to make this about me. Look, I understand why you’re upset; your mom had no right to read your diary, and if I were in your place I’d be angry too. She didn’t tell me she was going to do it, and I would’ve discouraged her from doing it if she had. And I really am on your side, so if you’d rather not talk about Zoe we don’t have to.”
“I’d rather not. Let’s just call her my Jungian shadow and leave it at that, OK?”
“Fair enough. Do you want to talk about how your mother’s violating your privacy made you feel instead?”
And so they did, and many other topics over the next couple of years. But Zoe never came up again, because Danielle had learned it was absolutely never a good idea to mention anything about her to anyone else, no matter what their age and relationship to her. As she had aged the visits had become less frequent but longer, and more likely to occur when she was alone; she was also much better able to answer her shadowy visitor’s questions, and she began to understand that the reason for her confusion in the past was that Zoe and the others had never adapted their questioning to a child’s intellectual level, almost as though they hadn’t understood that she was a child. But as that aspect of their interaction grew steadily less frustrating, another grew steadily more so: Zoe absolutely refused to discuss anything about herself and the others, or to answer any of Dani’s questions. All she ever said in reply was, “I’m afraid you’ll just have to trust me.”
And you, dear reader, will have to trust me that the rest won’t disappoint you. You only have about a month to wait!
