Dr. Johnson prepared for his next patient. Doctor Ronald Johnson is a therapist; his next patient is Phillip Adams, a grocery clerk. Adams went into the therapist’s room. The room was decorated with wood panels, vases on small shelves and a lamp with a shade designed to look like a flower but overdone, so it actually looked like a mistake in the hairdressers.
Phillip sat down in one of the two comfortable purple armchairs in the room. Johnson sat in the other chair and prepared to talk, but Adams cut across him.
“I know what you’re going to say”, he said, “You’ll say hi, Phillip. How are you feeling today? Well, don’t.”
The therapist was indeed going to say that and was put off his stride. They talked about ways to relieve stress, and after a while, they began to feel calm, but all the same, they felt like something had gone wrong. Probably, the fact that Phillips hat had turned into a badger in the middle of the session, but that’s not important.
