Chapter 14: The Waiting Room

The attending came back in and found the doctor in her doorway.

"I'm a colleague of the petitioner's," the thin man said. "I saw Ms. Marsh on Tuesday and I've prepared a summary for the file."

"You have a name," the attending said.

"Of course."

"Then you can say it, and your license number, and where you practice."

He said a name I didn't know.

He gave a number, and the name of a clinic I'd never heard of, and she wrote all three on the back of Hugh's petition.

Then she held out her hand for his folder.

It was one page, typed.

She read it standing, and her face did not change.

"Ms. Marsh, were you aware that you hold a delusional belief about being married?"

"I'm married," I said.

"Dated Tuesday. Written by a man who met you for forty minutes." She turned the page toward me.

It said I wore a "fantasy wedding ring" and spoke of an imaginary spouse.

I had said nothing to him about a spouse.

I had said the weather would hold.

"Hugh dictated this part," I said.

The doctor's smile slipped.

"I wrote what I observed."

"You wrote the ring. You never asked me about it."

The attending looked at Ansel, who was still seated beside me with his hands flat on his knees.

"Mr. Winslow, is there a marriage certificate?"

"Providence city hall, eleven weeks ago. I have a copy on my phone and the original in a drawer in Bergen."

"I'd like to see the copy."

He slid his phone across the table.

She studied it, and then she set the doctor's page on the table beside it.

"Doctor, I won't be accepting this summary. It describes a delusion that the record disproves in under a minute."

"My assessment stands."

"Then it stands somewhere else. Please wait in the lobby."

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