Life as a psychiatrist in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, can certainly be more thrilling than I would have thought possible. My name is Minerva Suleiman and I'm a Lebanese Christian woman living in our nation's fair Capital. I moved to Ottawa from my hometown of Montreal, Quebec, after graduating from McGill University. I wanted some peace and quiet, after the hectic thrill of life in Montreal. Little did I know that Ottawa only looks quiet.
Ottawa has a small-town feel but it's a growing city. I got a whiff of that when I got catcalled by a bunch of young black guys while on my way to my office a few days ago. A lot of women would have been offended but not me. I find it flattering, especially since all they said was "hello gorgeous" instead of really rude and crude stuff.
I stand five feet eleven inches tall, with light bronze skin, long curly black hair and light brown eyes. Anyone looking at me would see a twenty-something Middle-Eastern woman clad in stylish business attire. That's what they're meant to see. Attractiveness, professionalism and competence, that's what my carefully crafted appearance is meant to convey. Underneath it all, I'm one freaky chick.
Last year, I had a passionate affair with Trevor Whitaker, a tall, good-looking Jamaican-born and Ottawa-based lawyer I met in my building. Trevor studied Law at the University of Ottawa, and practices criminal law in Ottawa. Had an office in my building for a while. Although he was happily married to an Afro-Caribbean woman whom he has a son with, Trevor couldn't keep his hands off me. We used to fuck a lot in his office and in mine, before Trevor packed up and left for Toronto. I miss him sometimes.
I meet all kinds of fascinating and disturbed souls in my practice. Like my patient Mahmoud Alzahrani for example. This tall, good-looking young man hails from the City of Dammam, somewhere in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Born to a Saudi Arabian father and a Somali mother, Mahmoud has those exotic good looks common to biracial folks. He's studying business administration at Carleton University, and like a lot of Muslim guys from the Gulf States, Mahmoud is having trouble adjusting to the ways of western society.
Mahmoud Alzahrani has anger issues when it comes to women, especially the feminist types he encounters on his racially diverse and pseudo-liberal university campus. Poor bastard, I thought smugly. Mahmoud hails from the most conservative place in the world. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country where women basically have no rights. I mean, Saudi women cannot drive, or leave the house without a male escort, or work without the expressed written permission of their father or brother.
