Author's note: There isn't a lot of sex in this chapter, but I think it's an important chapter in terms of what happens next. I hope long-term readers appreciate the build in tension and expectation I hoped to impart.
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86
Christy had a very important appointment on Friday morning. Noah was coming to see her. She had a vague idea what she could expect from him, and while she'd already explained to him that if he wanted to make progress, he needed to find the courage within himself to be honest, she didn't know whether he would be able to. Or even if he wanted to.
She would've been completely fine if Noah didn't show up. Maybe, on reflection, he was happy enough with his life as it was. Nobody's life is ever perfect, and maybe Noah's lack of an adventurous sex life was something he could live with. Or maybe the effort for him to make a change in his life might be too great. In Christy's mind, all she was doing was making an offer to help.
She got dressed, applied her makeup, and headed to the office.
Marcus slept in a little longer than usual. Once he heard Miss Christy leave for the day, he threw the covers off, got dressed, and shuffled to his writing room via the kitchen. After downing a strong coffee and inhaling a bowl of cereal, he fired up his laptop and got started for the day. His goal for the end of today was to have a complete skeleton plot in place on which he could weave the details of his story.
He knew that trying to write a novel was a massive gamble that could turn out to be a complete waste of time. He knew he might spend months writing a book nobody wanted to read. He might write something he didn't even like himself; or worse, he could discover to his shock that he couldn't write at all. He stared at the wall, thinking for a second or two about all the bad things that could happen. He switched his focus back to the laptop screen, tried to put his self-doubts aside, and ploughed on.
Christy arrived at her office. Logging on, she checked her emails, half-expecting to see a last-minute cancellation from Noah. Her first appointment came and went. Noah was her second. She waited in her office, but nobody had appeared in the waiting room at the allotted time. She was starting to think he wasn't going to show up, but ten minutes later, the waiting room door opened and he appeared. She came out of her office to meet him, and invited him in.
"Hi, Noah, good morning and welcome to my office. How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Hi, Christy. To be honest, I'm feeling a little nervous. My bus was late, and I had to run part of the way here. I'm a little thirsty, to be honest. Do you have water? Could I have some please?"
Every morning, Christy prepared a jug of filtered water and laid out some fresh glasses for her clients to drink from. She infused the water with citrus juices and a variety of herbs. These additions were intended to stimulate the palate, but also to bring some natural calm to her clients.
"Please, Noah, come in." She gestured towards the jug of water which shared a tray with four clean, unused glasses. She poured some water for him, and he gulped it all back in one go. She raised a quizzical eyebrow and poured him another glass. "Would you like to sit down? My couch is quite comfortable, I've been told."
Noah sat down, but he appeared tense. He sat with his hands on his knees, anxiously leaning forward.
"Please try to relax, Noah," she soothed. "We've got the remainder of the hour. It's just you and me. Nobody is going to disturb us." She watched as Noah took two deep breaths. She hoped they'd help him relax, but she wasn't sure if they did. He still looked tense.
Christy had a form that she asked clients to fill in on their first visit. She took a copy of it, attached it to a clipboard, produced a pen and handed it to Noah. "Could you please fill this in for me?" It was basic stuff -- name, address, date of birth, and so on. There were questions about marital status and relationship history. It was the kind of information any doctor would collect about a patient. Noah wrote legibly and clearly, then returned the form and pen to Christy.
The eyes of his god were upon him. He felt those eyes burning into his soul. This was all wrong. He shouldn't be here. This was sinful. He felt he was being judged.
Christy looked over the form and rested the clipboard on her lap. "Thank you, Noah. Now, if I could ask you on a scale of one to ten, where one is where you're completely relaxed and ten is where you're extremely nervous and uncomfortable, what number would you be right now?"
"Errr ... seven. No, eight. Ummm ... no, maybe seven. Seven and a half," confirmed Noah. "I don't even know if this is a good idea or not. Coming to see you, that is. I'm feeling very anxious right now."He stopped for half a second before landing upon his final answer. "Eight and a half."
"I can sense you're nervous," replied Christy. Noah drank some more water. "Do you mind if I take some notes as we speak, Noah?"
He appeared very unsure of himself, but he eventually nodded.
Christy continued. "Can you tell me why you're feeling so nervous?"
"I don't know, Christy. Partly because it feels like I'm being unfaithful to my wife. Just by being here, that is. She doesn't know I'm here."
"OK, Noah. I hear what you're saying. If it's OK with you, can we park that for a moment? We will come back to that, because it's probably going to be important. But first, I'd like to ask you about your upbringing."
"I'm not sure what more there is to say in addition to what I already explained in your kitchen on the last Sabbath," said Noah.
"Hmmm. Perhaps that's true. For now. OK, so let's keep it simple. Why did you want to come and see me?"
"Because you offered, Christy."
She frowned. "I'm very confused, Noah. Surely there must be something on your mind? Something you'd like to discuss with me? Surely you're not here in my office just because I offered I'd see you? Surely there's something you'd like to talk about with me?"
Noah stared at Christy's plump, juicy-red lips. He remembered what she did to him, and how she made him feel. He knew he couldn't ask the question he wanted to ask.
"Ummm ... I'm not sure."
Christy leaned forward in her chair. "Can you tell me what you know about sex?"
"Well, it exists for procreation. It's a gift from our creator. It's how men and women make babies. It's how the human race survives through time."
"But is that all it's for?" Christy probed.
"Yes. I've been led to believe that it is. I know there are other uses for sex, but they are sinful."
"How do you know this? How do you know what you believe is true?"
Noah scratched his chin. "Because I trust the wisdom of the people who told me. And I trust the truth of the book the wisdom came from."
