A Room of Their Own by Rakefet Yarden (best summer reads of all time .TXT) 📕

“Don’t you want to sit down?” Rotem asked.

“No, thanks. I’m fine like this,” I answered and lowered my eyes. That was a lie. I was exhausted from the walk there and already fantasizing about the coffee I’d get on my way back.

Rotem, finally uneasy turned to speak to Miko. “I see that at least you feel comfortable here.” She then went over to the sink, smiling, filled a big bowl with water and placed it on the floor. That upset me. Now she’s really taking it too far. Why is she so nice?

“All right then, we’ll remain standing. How are you? Would you like something to drink?” She smiled again.

I politely declined.

“So, what’s your cute friend’s name?”

“Miko,” I answered. She leaned down to him and asked me with her eyes if she could pet him, and I nodded. They indulged in the petting for a minute, and I could tell that Rotem Golan is the kind of person who really loves dogs.

“Well, we’re very happy that you’ve joined us here, Miko,” she said, smiling at him and then at me.

“So what would you like to tell me? What brought you here, except for your father, who has spoken to me, and whom you’d mentioned over the phone?” She remained leaning over Miko, thus skipping the need to find her standing spot.

“Nothing. My Dad,” I answered.

“Maybe we can sit down after all? My knees are killing me.”

“You can sit. I don’t want to.”

“Maybe you can sit on the rug with me, next to Miko. It’s difficult to have a conversation while standing up.”

I agreed and sat down on Miko’s other side. He wouldn’t stop ingratiating himself to Rotem. I’ll end up leaving you here, I told him in my mind.

We kept quiet for a long while. Rotem just stroked Miko, and I felt like a fifth wheel in their get-together.

“So, Dani,” she suddenly said with her hand still on Miko. “I get that you don’t really want to be here. But maybe there’s still something that you’d like to tell me about yourself?”

“Like what?” I asked, knowing that it was a silly question.

“Like your age, what you do. You know, the seemingly technical details, in order for me to get to know you a little.”

“But I don’t want you to get to know me, because I’m not planning on wasting my time by coming here.”

She remained silent for a minute, and I could tell that she was thinking. I could also tell that I was annoying her, and that she had a lot to say but was searching for the right words and for the right thing to say, while maintaining a calm exterior. I felt that I wasn’t scaring her off. I could have potentially liked that about her, but at the moment I didn’t like anything.

“All right. I understand that your father’s pressured you to come here, and that you don’t want to be in therapy, but you still chose to call me and then show up here, and I’m very glad about that. I think it attests to your strength,” is the way she began her attempt. “I’d actually be very glad if you continue coming here.”

Of course, Dad pays you like 400 shekels per session!

“I want to get to know you and try to see what you’re going through, to understand who Dani really is.”

An impatient sigh slipped out of me.

“I know, it seems like a huge mission right now, and I don’t expect it to happen in one session or even in ten. It’s a process. Each person needs their own time for this. I have all the time and patience that you need.”

What do you even know about what I need? I hate this therapeutic arrogance!

I stayed quiet and so did she. But she radiated true silence. I felt that I was screaming inside. That everything was overflowing and that I was about to explode and break into thousands of pieces that would fly all over the room and make a huge mess. I wanted her to see the filth within me, to be disgusted by me.

“Well, I guess coming here was a mistake,” I finally said.

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t work on me, these therapies. I’ve been to a million therapists. I’m just not good at talking.”

“Okay. We don’t have to talk.”

“Then how will it work if we don’t talk?”

“Can you write?”

I looked at her suspiciously. Inside, my emotions rapidly flickered between bewilderment and mockery.

“We’re still at an early stage, but yes, it’s called bibliotherapy. It’s a tool I work with, and I believe in it very strongly. It could be that in your case it can really help us.”

I shrugged my shoulders. I thought about my Dad’s reaction when he hears she treats through writing, and what a chuckle it’ll give him. “My Dad will definitely love it,” I said cynically.

“Well, then it’s a good thing your Dad isn’t here,” she replied with a self-assured smile.

We went silent for a minute. I kept my eyes to the ground. I looked at my shoe, but I could feel her looking at me, a stare that felt to be penetrating, as though she could see right through me. It made me want to smooth out my shirt and my hair.

“So, can we schedule for the same time next week?” she asked.

I lifted my gaze for a moment, shrugged my shoulders, and managed to get up from the rug with difficulty.

“Have a good week, Dani. I’ll see you soon. Bye, Miko, come back anytime.”

She’d parted from Miko, too, and even invited him to come back, I thought to myself. Why doesn’t she just work with dogs and call it a day?

Rotem

At night, I dreamed that I was flying. After a few clockwise circles around a Victorian building covered in ivy, I reach the pointy top of the spire, touch its tip, and the sound of an alarm immediately goes off. Two rotund security guards come out of the tower; one is old and