Session Two

 So two days ago I had my second reading session with Mr. Henricksen.  Once again my mom had to walk me in again in case I forgot where the reception area was.  I signed in with Dee again (her mood still hasn’t changed) but I have to keep my same name tag.  Luckily Mom let me go from there alone.  Don’t tell her this but I actually did get a little lost on my way but all I had to do was find the most deserted hallway and I was there.

I knocked on the door and Christa answered.  She was fluffing his pillows when I walked in.  Mr. Henricksen. . .I don’t wanna say he didn’t talk, or move, or anything, because of course he can’t.  I guess I can say he was. . .unresponsive?  Makes him sound like a coma patient, but whatever.  Anyway, Mr. Henricksen just lay there, watching me, as Christa moved around him.  She really was a good nurse.

She smiled and said “see ya in an hour” and closed the door loudly behind her.  I attempted a grin at Mr. Henricksen and dragged my chair over.  “Okay, Mr. Henricksen.  So I guess we left off at the part where Tom yells at Myrtle after he gives her a puppy, sooo yeah.”  And I started reading again.

I was about two pages in when I heard a loud chime and I jumped.  It was my phone.  I mumbled “sorry” to Mr. Henricksen about not turning it on silent and went to fix that when I saw it was from a strange number.  This is what it said:

I kinda sat there for a minute, glancing from my phone to my nametag and back again.  Then I looked up and Mr. Henricksen was looking at me expectantly.

“Oh!” Duh.  “Um, yes, sir, the lady at the front desk put the wrong name down on my badge.”

He sort of narrows his eyes for a second.  Then he looks down and I see his right hand start slowly tapping away on the ipad.  I just noticed how long and thin his fingers were.  He stopped and looked at me again.  My phone chimed.

“It’s fine, I mean it’s pretty close to Ethan anyway.”  I hadn’t even finished this sentence before he was typing away again.  Man he’s talkative today.  That’s really weird to say.

I shrugged.  “I didn’t wanna be a bother.  It’s really okay, Mr. Henricksen.”  I mean I kind of do care about it, but it’s not that big of a deal.  His head moved the tiniest bit, almost like a nod, and he typed one more time.

When I looked at him, Mr. Henricksen was staring out the window.  I waited a second and it didn’t seem like he was gonna say, well, type, anymore so I started to read again until Christa came in to get me.

I still don’t know if he was being funny or not.  He didn’t smile or anything.  I told my mom and she just said he is old and “feeble” and his mind’s not right.

When I got home I scratched out my badge and wrote Ethan instead.