Sagehen Mesa - Part 2 - Dr Ellen's First Impressions

 

My name is Ellen Tabor, PhD. I specialize in mental health issues, especially those related to

family dynamics and career guidance. I am a recent arrival to Sagehen Mesa, having come from

Barnacle Bay. I feel I did a lot of good in Barnacle Bay, helping various residents find the right

career or make peace with the career they had. I even worked with the notorious Caliente sisters

and their anger problems, but with limited success. All in all, I had a pretty successful practice in

Barnacle Bay, but I felt restless and sure my expertise could benefit other small communities. 

I wanted a change of scenery, and after a few months of research, I located a building for sale in the small town of Sagehen Mesa that bore a lot of resemblance to the building I owned in Barnacle Bay, so despite not believing in serendipity, I made the move. 

I spent a few months on renovations, then when the building was ready, I moved in with the

help of my old roommate. He helped me move, but isn’t coming with me because he met the

love of his life in Barnacle Bay and has settled down there. 

Now that I have established a home base for both myself and my practice, I am going to visit several community establishments and make myself and my services known. Sunday came around, and though I don’t consider myself religious, I thought I’d check out the local church. When people experience difficult circumstances in life, they often find solace among a church community. 

On my first day in town, I met a handsome young man named Anton Dexter, who first made the suggestion that I visit the church. Anton was kind enough to show me around town, and we even had a nice date. I typically don't date men that are that much younger than me, but he was charming, handsome, and the only person in town that I knew. And he really seemed interested in me. At the end of the date, he asked if he could see me again, and I agreed.

The church attendance wasn’t very high, and consisted mostly of this one woman’s family. Her name was Josie Williams, and she was doing the preaching that morning. Her granddaughter and son-in-law also attended along with a couple women and Anton.  

I quietly slipped in and sat in the back where I could best observe the congregation. The preacher Josie was talking about the garden of Eden and how sin entered the world causing Adam and Eve to be cast out of the garden, and how now we have to contended with fighting off weeds, both literal and metaphorical. She seemed like a rather clever woman. 

She was in the middle of her sermon when an old man burst in like a jilted lover trying to stop his girlfriend's wedding. I think the guy saw too many movies. 

"Ben! I'm surprised to see you here. Would you like to take a seat?" a flustered Josie offered.

"No, that's okay, Josie. I just wanted to have a word with your lovely granddaughter," he stated. 

The "lovely granddaughter" was clearly mortified and embarrassed.

"Ben, we are in the middle of a church service. If you wish to speak with Hannah, you will need to wait for a more appropriate time!" Josie said firmly. "I don't think she wishes to speak to you at the moment." 

"You are right, Gram, I do NOT want to speak with Mr. Culpepper at the moment. Please proceed."

"You heard her, Ben. She does not want to speak with you, but I will be glad to give you a piece of my mind AFTER the church service!" Josie said. 

The congregation was whispering their own comments to each other during this interchange, and I quickly learned that the old coot was the granddaughter's boss and was making unwelcome romantic advances to her. She had told him she wasn't interested, but he persists. This kind of situation gets my blood boiling! I'm ashamed to admit, I was very unprofessional. 

"This man is one sick puppy and needs intense therapy! It's very fortunate that I came to this town!" I exclaimed. 

"Oh, you must be the new psychiatrist lady who just moved in. Erm, welcome to church," Josie said. "Anton, I think we've had enough sermonizing today. Can you play us a hymn to close out the service?"

As Josie left the pulpit, a young Latino woman booed the old man, while the object of his desire laughed at him. This man definitely needs help. I introduced myself and asked him if we could meet for a counseling session as I was confident that I could help him get his life back on track and have some realistic expectations for his Golden Years. He said he was too busy to bother with that kind of nonsense, but told me I was a foxy lady and he hoped that we could meet for drinks and video games sometime. 

It goes to show, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink!

I did decide on the topic of my next book however. Embracing Your Golden Years - or something like that, where I discuss realistic expectations for one's later years. For instance, less romance, but more time to enjoy hobbies and spend time with one's friends. I went home and typed out the first few chapters. 

This incident caused me to do some soul-searching of my own. I liked Anton, but he was really too young for me, and the sooner I broke it off, the better off we both would be. Besides, it would really look bad for my practice if I'm lecturing others about dating people too young for them while I'm guilty of doing the same. I don't want to be viewed as a cougar- it would damage my credibility. 

I called Anton and invited him over. We discussed the importance of communication, and I even gifted him a book on the subject. 

We discussed his interests in music and photography, . . . 

Then I mentioned that when dating another person, we need to keep in mind if they would be a suitable life partner, and I felt our age difference would be too much of an obstacle to overcome.

He looked a little disappointed, but seemed to understand. I thought things went fairly well; however, he then gave me a mean high five and started crying!

"I didn't mean to hurt you," I said. "We only went on one date, you know. There are a lot of women out there who would be more appropriate for you."

"But I want you!" He exploded.

What is wrong with the men in this town?! Why do they take an early rejection so hard? I asked Anton to leave. He needed some time to cool off, and I needed to pull myself together after his outburst. 

I went upstairs to my kitchen and fixed myself some sushi and called it a day. 

The next day, I went to the shopping center to see what kind of retail opportunities this town offered. There I met the granddaughter in the florist shop. 

"Hi, I'm Hannah. Sorry we didn't get to meet each other properly at church yesterday. I swear Ben Culpepper was going to spirit me away and force me to marry him. I was a little shaken up." 

"That's quite understandable. That was quite a performance he put on. I'm Dr. Ellen, by the way. If you ever need to talk about that incident or anything else, please give me a call. So what do you do for fun in this town? Are there any points of interest I should visit?"

"Things are pretty quiet around here, but we have a summer music festival going on right now, and we have a community garden, if you would like to help yourself to some fresh vegetables." 

"Thank you, Hannah. I'll have to check those out in the next few days. Is the bistro upstairs a good place to eat?" 

"Yes, it's probably the best place in town. It's rather popular."

I went upstairs to the bistro, and witnessed the blonde lady from church yesterday being chewed out by a man I can only assume is her husband. He was yelling at her right in front of his children and other patrons! What a jerk!

He told her she looked like a llama and she smelled like one too! This was totally untrue. What a mean-spirited individual! Another man tried to step in to see if the woman was okay, but left crying. 

The whole scene was appalling!

This sad little boy was saying, "Mommy and Daddy are fighting again, and I'm so hungry!"

I was tempted to step in, but his mother noticed him. 

 

"I'm so sorry, honey. Let Momma get you a hotdog. You'd like that wouldn't you?"

I invited the woman over and tried to befriend her. Her name is Tess. She has been married to her husband for 15 years. They have two children: a teenager named Clancy, and the little boy, who is named Timothy. Her marriage isn't great, but she's used to it. She's got the kids to think of, and two parent households are better for kids, or so she has been told. I offered her my services if she ever wanted to talk. Maybe we could find a way to improve her situation. Couples counseling would be a good way to start. 

"Oh, Cliff would never go for that. He'd feel it is a waste of time and money," she said, "But I'll consider coming to see you if things don't improve on their own."  

"Mom, I really think it would do you some good to talk with Dr. Ellen sometime," Clancy encouraged. "I know Dad is hard to live with. I live with him too, you know." 

(Meanwhile, Ruben Roland is complaining that his teenage daughter is skipping school and getting bad grades, but that's a different story for a different time.)

My phone was ringing, and guess who it was.

"Hi Anton. Yes, I was serious about us not dating anymore, but I would like to be friends if you think that would work for you."

"No I'm not the kind of friend that will loan you money."

(Later, Anton could be found outside pining away for Ellen, while Lucile suggested some self-help books to Tess.)

(And Josie was bawling out Cliff for belittling his long-suffering wife in public.)

"But she DOES look like a llama!" he insisted.

A few days after witnessing the Mahon drama at the restaurant, I was pleased to discover that Tess had taken me up on my offer for a therapy session. 

"I am so pleased that you have come to see me!" I said. 

Okay, I admit the courtesy was a bit much, but Tess is my first real client in this town. I'm not counting Anton, because that was more of an invite to establish the nature of our relationship, and I didn't charge him to come over, so I could break up with him. That would have really been considered unethical. 

"Okay, Tess. Just take your time and tell me a little about your life. Do you work outside the home?" 

"No, I work from home. I'm a sculptor and have my own area of the house where I work."

"That sounds like an interesting profession. How about your husband? Does he work from home too?"

"Not really. He's self employed. He works an opal claim that has been in his family for generations. He mines for mostly opals, but sometimes he finds other gems and precious metals." 

"How about your boys? What are their interests?"

"Well my oldest Clancy, he likes the water, especially boating. He's pretty shy in general, but he does okay in school. He's still trying to find his passion, but he knows it's not mining, which disappoints Cliff, my husband. Timothy might be the one to take over the mine someday. I'm feeling a little awkward lying on this couch. Do you mind if I just sit in the chair?"

"Whatever makes you most comfortable."

"I couldn't help but notice Cliff being very disrespectful to you at the restaurant the other night. Is this typical behavior, or was he just having a bad day?"

"I think he was still mad at me because of the burglary the other night."

 "I was dead-dog tired, and Clancy was getting Timothy ready for bed, but Cliff was restless and said he was going to go down to the beach and see if the fish were biting. He left the house, but didn't lock the back door. I guess I was supposed to do that."

"Cliff came back from fishing and found a burglar rifling through our belongings. The burglar didn't get away with much before he got spooked and ran, but Cliff has been mad at me ever since.

And it's not just this incident I guess. He's seemed so disappointed in me for so long!" Tess sobbed. " When we were first married, he used to tell me I'm beautiful, but now, when I try to be romantic and blow him a kiss, he's disgusted and nearly throws up!"

"Then he says I look and smell like a llama in front of the whole town! It's humiliating!" she wailed.

"That's why I rode my bike all the way over here to talk to you. Do you have any ideas on how I can make Cliff love me again?"

"Well first of all, I don't think the fault lies with you. You are an attractive young woman and you don't resemble a llama in any way. Perhaps you've just been together so long, doing the same old thing that your relationship has become stale. The best thing to do is take care of yourself, try some new things, get out of the house for awhile and spend more time with friends, find new hobbies, and do other things that might build your self-esteem. It seems to me your self-esteem is pretty low right now. There isn't any danger of Cliff becoming violent with you or the kids is there?"

"Oh, no! Cliff would never do that! He might wound with his words, but he doesn't use his fists!"

"Well, if you say so. I think we should have a few more sessions when you have time. I'd also really like see some of your sculptures. I might like to have one for my front office. In the mean time, if you are feeling unattractive, why don't you treat yourself to a spa day, some new outfits, and hairstyle? You're beautiful just the way you are, but we all need a confidence boost now and then."

"Spending that kind of money on myself would just be criminal!" Tess protested. 

"You deserve to pamper yourself now and then, Tess. We all do." I insisted.

"I'll give it some thought, Dr. Ellen. Thanks for listening. I do feel better having talked about my feelings. Goodbye."

After she left, it occurred to me I need to write a book about self-esteem and physical attraction. Maybe later. I wanted to do a little research on elixirs that can help my clients. I found a recipe for a cure elixir which would be very helpful for a variety of maladies. 

"Whoops! I must have mis-measured! Croak, croak." 

"Now I NEED the cure elixir, croak, especially since I broke up with Anton! There's no way, croak, I'm going to find a prince to kiss me now! Croak."

"I've got to get this, croak, right! Please, please, please!"

"Whew! What a relief!" 

"Don't you dare tell anyone about what just happened!"