Here at the end I was expecting to say things like, “I wish I had more time.” not “It’s still so hard.”
“Pretend you were a comic book hero who could create fire from nothing. Describe to me how would you warm that glass of water?” Dr. Palmer kicked his chin toward the table and the glass.
Karen narrowed her eyes and tightened her lips, “Really?”
“I need New Karen for this.”
Karen took a slow breath and closed her eyes tight. She made her face into a rung out wet rag trying to twist out Old Karen at Dr. Palmer’s goofy suggestion. When she opened her eyes she started to take a wider stance.
Dr. Palmer put a hand on her arm before she could raise it. “Tell me; don’t show me.”
Karen lowered her arms and brought her feet back together. “OK. I suppose I would thrust my boobs and ass at the water then reach out with my fire shooting hands.”
“Good. You’re making this even easier.” He lifted his hand off her arm. She hadn’t realized it was still there and took it as leave to demonstrate the stance she described.
“Stop. As much as I’d love to see you try, we’re just talking still.” Dr. Palmer liked to talk, but Karen grew tired of talking a week ago. She wanted to start doing something. She wanted to shoot fire from her hands or spin up a whirlwind. “Repeat it to me, please.”
Dr. Palmer’s [description of demeanor]. [Made it hard for her to refuse.] [blah blah blah].
“Thrust boobs and…butt.” Karen remembered he was a teacher who require some decorum. “Reach out with fire shooting hands.”
“One by one, remove the elements you don’t need to heat the water.” Dr. Palmer grabbed her attention with his eyes and refused to release her to something less important. She could no longer even imagine the soft light of the library around her or the earthy smell of his books.
“Boobs.”
Dr. Palmer nodded her on like it wasn’t an obvious joke. She resisted rolling her eyes.
“Butt.”
Another nod. Clearly he’d meant for her to continue. Karen broke his gaze and searched the room for help. The tiffany lamp held a pattern of colors and shapes she found interesting but not useful. The green settee invited her to sit upon it’s slick-rough velvet, but it didn’t tell her what to say next. [maybe another thing if it’s not too corny.]
Dr. Palmer waited for an answer.
“Boobs. Butt. All I have left are hands?”
Wow this simple thing is much longer than I’d expected.
437 words on day 986