Free Rus Like Everyone Else by Bette Adriaanse

doctor nodded. Her doctor’s name was Dr. Kroon. He knocked on her knees with a hammer and looked into her ears.
    â€œAny personal difficulties lately?” he asked while he made her follow his finger with her eyes.
    â€œNo,” the secretary said. She paused for a second. “I grind my teeth when I sleep.” The lawyer had told her that. “And sometimes unexpectedly say ‘no, no, no’ when I am alone in the shower.”
    The doctor sat down behind his desk. He stroked his beard and then looked very annoyed at his hand.
    â€œHow about your thoughts? How is your general opinion of the world?”
    The secretary searched in her mind for her opinion of the world. There were a lot of countries, of course, so it was hard to say anything general about it. She had seen only a few parts of the world. Also, it was not certain, if she had understood the latest news correctly, whether the experts agreed on how the world was doing and what was happening in it. Either way, she concluded, who was she to have an opinion about something so—
    â€œLeave it,” Dr. Kroon said. He gave her a pat on her forehead. “It is mental,” he said. “You have a mental problem. You see it more often with women.”
    He scribbled something down in his notebook. “Men go through similar phases, of course, but then it’s different. When it happens to men it always seems much more interesting for some reason.”
    He pensively looked out the window for a while.
    â€œWhy are men so much more interesting than women?” he asked himself. He wrote the question down in his notebook. “It is an intriguing question.”
    â€œSo what can I do?” the secretary asked.
    â€œSoul-searching,” Dr. Kroon said. “Very popular these days. Especially with women, it is often the case that they just have to find themselves, and when they do find themselves, everything is better. Unfortunately it usually starts all over again after a few years.”
    He paused.
    â€œWhy does everything repeat itself?” he wondered. “Why?” Dr. Kroon frowned and stared intently at the rain drizzling down the window, as if that would provide him with an answer. Then he turned his attention back to the secretary. “In practice, it means you should ask yourself questions, make lists, shop, redecorate, talk to new people.”
    The secretary nodded.
    â€œTalk to new people,” she said.
    â€œYes,” Dr. Kroon said. “You can start conversations with questions that everyone likes, like ‘Do you have any plans for vacation?’”
    Dr. Kroon wrote “Do you have any plans for vacation?” on a note and handed it to the secretary.
    â€œBe sure to make a follow-up appointment.”
    MR. LUCAS FINDS HIS SUIT

    Mr. Lucas was searching for his old suit in his apartment. The Memorial Service was in five days and he needed to be dressed appropriately. He looked through his closet first, certain he’d find it there, but it was not there. He took out all the sheets and towels from his linen closet to see if it was there, but it wasn’t, and now he pulled the suitcase of his mother’s old clothes from the top shelf.
    â€œThere is definitely reason to be scared,” a politician on the radio said, “certainly. The people do not feel safe, and that is always for a reason.”
    â€œStay calm,” Mr. Lucas said to himself as he opened the suitcase above the bed and let all the clothes fall out. “Stay calm and focused.” Calm and focused, he threw the nightgowns and blouses on the floor; calm and focused, he opened the drawers of his dresser and emptied them on the floor. All kinds of things came out of the dresser, things he had bought while tele-shopping: a special horn to breathe through when you felt dizzy, an alarm system with a phone, an infrared lamp for when his back hurt, a spy kit, an SOS flashlight, protection goggles, cans of