Megan breathed a sigh of relief and Helen grinned. “Now was that so hard?” Megan returned the smile and shook her head.
After the appointment ended, Megan still had time to kill before going to work. She found herself looking through old photos, just as Helen said she would. While some of them had embarrassed her in the past, she now found them to be quite endearing. She found pictures of Mom and Dad and Carrie and Stephen. There were even some of Jess at her age. The resemblance was striking.
Lastly, Megan came across her own photos. There were pictures of her and Ted at the prom, her senior class photo, etc. There was at least one from each year of her life. She noticed that she seemed a whole lot happier in the older photos. She seemed cuter too, but then again, what kid isn’t cute? Nonetheless, Megan the moody 19 year old found herself almost envious of Megan the grinning toddler. Perhaps Helen was right. Perhaps she really did want to identify with her past self.
The counselor’s words were on her mind all throughout her shift at work, but she managed to stay focused long enough to avoid Vern’s wrath. It was just as well, for he spent close to half an hour trying to appease an upset customer and was no more than a tick removed from fully psychotic rage in the period of time that followed. Even Josh seemed a little bit frazzled.
“What’s with him?” she asked Natalie.
“I don’t know,” the squeaky-voiced cashier replied. “I guess he’s, like, having a rough day.”
Megan nodded. She knew what those were like.
Eventually, tensions cooled and the flow of customers petered out. Megan was relieved not to have to sneak any more diapers from the stockroom; it was getting to be a risky habit. Josh, who barely had a free moment to talk the whole day, expressed his relief at her speedy recovery.
“What happened?” Natalie asked.
“Panic attack,” Megan explained. “While I was driving.”
“Oh wow. Glad you’re OK.”
“I keep telling her to take time off,” Josh joked. “But she keeps coming back.”
“Raul!” Vern thundered from the back of the store.
Megan chuckled. There was one thing that would never change.
The sun had set by the time she got home. Carrie was on the phone in her room and Stephen was hacking away at his GameCube. Megan found her parents in front of the TV.
“Hi honey,” Nancy greeted. “There’s some lasagna in the fridge.”
Megan took her time eating (it was good lasagna) before rejoining her parents. They wanted to know if she had gone to see the counselor. Megan told them she had.
“And what did she have to say?” Drew asked.
“That’s confidential,” Megan explained.
“Well…was she helpful at least?”
“Yeah…I think so.”
“That’s such a relief,” Nancy told her.
“Did she ask that you do anything?” Drew questioned.
“Kind of.”
“Well…whatever it is, if there’s any way we can help…”
Megan tensed up. She knew there was a way they could help. She knew it ever since she saw the pictures. And while she had tossed the idea around in her head and dismissed it a zillion times, it kept popping up.
“Megan?” Nancy asked.
A)“Nothing,” the girl replied. She wasn’t even sure it was what she wanted and she definitely wasn’t ready to discuss it yet.
B) “Mom, Dad,” she began, drawing in a deep breath. “I want you to treat me like I’m little again.”