The intergalactic negotiator

BETTY WHO

Betty glanced at the digital clock on her office wall.

4:27 p.m.

She shook her head while she was cleaning her computer screen .She had a lot of time until she got home. She wasn't sure how she felt about it. She stopped rubbing the screen, she scrutinized it, and finally satisfied, she sat down on her chair. She straightened her back  and concentrated on the patient who was sitting in front of her and was looking at her confused.

Yes, she liked cleanliness. Yes, she was a bit obsessive compulsive-she knew it. Today though she really needed to keep her hands busy .She grabbed a cleaning cloth and she started cleaning the glass desk from the Fingerprints .Whether it annoyed her patient or not was his own problem

''I haven't been to a psychologist before.'' She heard him mumbling awkwardly .He was constantly putting on ,taking off the cap of the pen he was holding. Was it a twitch? He must have been around forty, skinny and a bit bald. The simple striped shirt he was wearing was slightly too for him.His brown eyes were a little googly the way as he was eyeing the excessively tidy room around him. 'Your stor...hm, your office is really nice .I like a clean office .Mine is pretty clean too .Though, not as clean as yours...''he stuttered ''hmm....''

Betty understood that he was searching for a way to get to the main point. She justified his embarrassment, it wasn't easy for someone to find himself in place with a stranger who awaits to hear someone's life story.

Without drawing up her eyes and, continuing to clean desicively the desk, despite being clean already, she asked baldly the man what was troubling him .

''Tell me what's wrong, I can't help you otherwise''. She really wasn't at her best today, but work is work. She started brushing a bit more intensely.

The face of her patient changed sharply. It transformed into a mask of fear. His hands started shaking, he couldn't put the cap on the pen and trying to do so ,he filled his hands with ink. Subtly, stopping brushing for a bit Betty took the pen from his hands .She capped it.

''I see pigs.'' The man spoke slowly, but he pronounced the words with certainty and fear. ''Pigs everywhere. My wife is a pig.'' He lifted his index pointing to someone behind her '' My boss is a pig .Everybody is a pig''

Betty shrugged her shoulders ''Well, that happens sometimes ''she thought. She didn't dare to say it out loud , the situation wasn't for laughs .Suddenly the man grabbed her hand. ''They're chasing me.'' He said ''they're chasing me.'' Repeated, letting go of her hand and grabbing his hair in a moment of ultimate confusion. And, the moment Betty raised hers eyes and their glances met he screamed hysterically that she was a pig too.

''Don't say'' Betty muttered. She didn't intend to mock him, work is work she constantly reminded herself, she shouldn't be carried away by her own problems . Today though, she was tired .She felt like her endurance was wearing off.

She observed that her knuckles had turned white. She was rubbing with frenzy

...

6:34 p.m.

The evening wouldn't wear off. Even she couldn't understand well how she managed to calm down the man. Work secrets. The problem was that her desk was shining, and the screen of her computer did too. She looked around her puzzled while holding on the one hand a cloth and on the other a liquid cleaner

''The window'' she realized out of the blue, while she was listening to a woman sitting in one of her office chairs She was reciting what was troubling her. She was a petite woman who recently must have had her 30th birthday. Her hair was short,black. She didn't have anything peculiar , just a huge kitsch purse she had on her lap did caught her attention .With her hands the young woman was playing with a big pink tassel hanging from the Zipper.Betty thought that she herself disliked pink.

''Until now'' the young woman started numbering hers fingers, while Betty was approaching the window '' Firstly ,OCD .Secondly Anorexia. Then, depression. And now..''she posed dramatically glancing at Betty who was spraying the window with the cleaner ''Now, I have tracking syndrome! ''

She tightened the pink tassel in her hand. ''I see fires, buildings in flames and inside them a woman looks at me as if...'' she swallowed ''As if she...''

Betty looked at the woman's reflection on the glass. Her eyes shone with fear and worry

''As if she wants to kill me.'' She whispered ''What am I going to do?''

''199''

''What''

''Oh, excuse me.'' Betty buried her face in her hands. She was being sarcastic again. She silently told herself off.

''We will get through this, don't worry.''

She stopped cleaning for a moment. She left her hands to fall at her sides

''We will short this out'' she reassured the woman

We will short this out. She was happy that she didn't sounded as wry as she felt.

...

7:13 p.m.

''It will destroy us.'' Another patient looked at her madly behind the lenses of his glasses .Betty was trying to withhold her desire to take his glasses off him and clean them too. They looked really blurred

''It will destroy us.''

For at least a quarter the man was looking at his wedding ring like it was the scariest thing in the whole world. ''Why am I wearing it?'' ''Why can't I take it off my finger? I can't leave her, get rid of it.' 'he muttered

''I was right not to have gotten married.'' Betty shrugged hers shoulders

''Are you making fun of me?''  the man seemed insulted

She really wanted to clean his glasses.

''No, pardon me.'' She apologized. '' Please ,go on.'' she urged him wearily .

...

8:49 p.m.

Her last appointment for today. Luckily, because Betty had started getting mad. Really, she wasn't feeling very well She wanted to get back home .Sit in her armchair and think . She couldn't avoid this problem her whole life , she had to face it. She stopped sweeping for a second. Yes she should face it.

''I am very sad.'' Sighed the old lady-the last scheduled patient of the day.'' Everything seems to take a turn for the worse.''She sighed once more

''My television broke down yesterday and since then everything went wrong. So, I took it to the repair shop by car. Well, as I was driving I collided! A moron appeared out of nowhere because he had right of way! Does that mean that he Had to bump into my car?'' The lady stopped for a moment trying to calm down.

''And as if this wasn't enough ,on the way to the body shop, in the heat of the day, a pigeon left its crap on me..'' ''And then'' she continued sorrowfully '' I returned home to see that my washing machine was leaking and

in my attempt to clean this mess my mop broke too, and...'' she took a deep breath '' my husband had solved all my Sudoku.'' ''Is that life?''''Tell me please, do you know anyone more unfortunate than me?'' At that moment two things happened. Firstly, Betty realized that there wasn't anything else to clean in the office. Secondly ,she knew, indeed someone more unfortunate that was standing in the same room.

Decisively, she opened her out door and asked the old lady politely to leave. She observed that the door handle needed a really good brushing.