Raising Blaze by Debra Ginsberg

Author:Debra Ginsberg [Debra Ginsberg]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780061750700
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2007-01-21T05:00:00+00:00

Blaze paces back and forth in the waiting room. My father and I don’t bother telling him to stop this time. We are, after all, in the office of Dr. S., a child psychiatrist, an actual M.D. as opposed to the psychologists we’ve seen to this point. Let Blaze act as nutty as he wants, we think. This is why we’re here. Maybe, I think, if Blaze really acts strange, I’ll feel justified in bringing him here in the first place. I haven’t coached Blaze at all for this meeting. I want him to act as true to himself as possible. I don’t care if he talks nonsense or asks Dr. S. the same question ten times. I won’t mind if he covers his ears with his hands or asks the doctor to place the phone in the desk drawer because he can’t stand the thought that it might ring unexpectedly and loudly. If Dr. S. is worth his salt, he’ll understand just who Blaze is and he’ll be able to tell me, in practical terms, how I can best help my son navigate a path through the complicated avenues “out there,” beyond the confines of home.

Blaze interrupts my thoughts as he begins obsessing about two lights on the wall. What do they mean? Why are they on the wall? I tell him that the red one lights up when you first enter and summons the doctor. The green one flashes when he comes out to see you. My father and I have to explain this to Blaze five times and still he wants to know why they are there.

Finally, the doctor emerges. I am relieved to see that he is relatively plain-looking—no disturbing physical features like crooked teeth, a too-shiny bald head, a speck of food somewhere on his face. This would drive Blaze to distraction, I think, and then stop myself short, realizing that it would actually drive me to distraction. I wonder, fleetingly, how many times I project like this on a daily basis and why it takes a visit to a psychiatrist to draw my attention to it.

“Blaze and I will go inside and have a little chat,” Dr. S. says, “and then we’ll all meet together afterward.”

“Hi, Dr. S.,” Blaze says, marching happily into the inner sanctum. “Are we going to fight the visitors?”

Dr. S. looks at me and raises his eyebrows. I cover my face with my hands in a gesture of mock exasperation. My father barks out a laugh. “Good luck,” he tells Dr. S.

“Oh, not to worry,” Dr. S. says, completely missing my father’s ironic undertone, “we’ll be fine.”

As they head into the office, I hear Dr. S. asking Blaze, “Did you think the visitors were in my office? Could you hear them?”

I wait until the door is shut behind them and then I ask my father, “Can you believe that kid? The visitors?”

My father just sighs and opens the newspaper in front of him.

Blaze is alone with Dr. S. for forty minutes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.