Mathematicians -- Fiction; Psychiatrists -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
Fifteen seconds later the door opened and Miss Austin walked in, a
Manila folder in one lovely hand. As usual she was in an immaculately
white uniform. _White for purity?_ he wondered. It was a tight-fitting
garment that clung to every curve as though hanging on for dear life,
and on second thought he mentally erased the purity inscription on his
mind's slate.
Miss Austin had a beautiful walk, and beautiful legs to walk on. He
stared at them as she approached the desk. He always stared at them,
fascinated, and she always knew he did, and she smiled that enticingly
mad smile of hers that always made him want to give vent to an
emotional catharsis.
_God_, he thought, _how I'd love to psychoanalyze that woman! What a
beautiful ego she must have. What a gorgeous id._
Carefully she deposited the folder on his desk, leaning forward
strategically so her perfume could glide over him in intoxicating
currents.
"Will that be all, Doctor Rawlings?" she asked in her honey-liquid
tones.
"For now," he said, reaching for her hand and finding it. "But don't go
away."
She smiled again, and gently freeing her hand, swept from the room. She
looked even better from the back, if that were possible; after a few
seconds deliberation he decided it wasn't possible. But it was women
like Miss Austin that made him want a chicken farm, among other things.
Miss Austin and a little tract of land far out in the country would be
just perfect. In such a paradise he wouldn't even have to worry about
the pecking order of hens. In fact, he might even get engrossed in
raising things other than chickens.
Sighing again, he studied the folder before him, which did not take
very long. The patient was still quite young even though he had already
made a mark of sorts on the world. A theoretical mathematician,
apparently. Probably thought himself a square circle on an adding
machine. The psychiatrist browsed through the folder's contents again,
then jabbed the buzzer.
"You can send Mr. Moore in now," he said and snapped the intercom off
before Miss Austin could answer. The present moment was no time to be
distracted.
Dr. Rawlings held his head in his hands and stared morosely at the
desk. Then he picked up a pencil and began tapping it against an
inkwell. An incongruous thought surely, pencil and inkwell--what would
Freud say about that?
He decided in the same thought that he didn't give a particular damn
what Freud thought about inkwells. There were times in fact when he
didn't care what Freud thought about anything. There were times when
all we wanted to think about was a small chicken farm, with maybe a
gorgeous honey-blonde like Miss Austin to help sow a few seeds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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