A Bad Day

"Mr. Appleby, Dr. Suess will now see you", the black secretary at the counter announced.

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A light-skinned man in his early forties jumped to his feet. Rubbing his palm on his rather bare head he headed on the stairs plated with marble tiles, holding on to the stainless steel railings, as he walked up. It wasn't like he was bald or anything but he just had a preference for letting his head stay without a strand of hair. Perhaps the fact that he always had headaches whenever his head was full partially contributed to his choice.

He looked at the all too familiar wooden door with a silver coated metal plate on it that read "Dr. Suess". He opened it and walked in then seated himself comfortably on a couch. He had been coming here for ages and knew the place like the back of his hand. Dr. Suess, who had been his shrink for years now, looked up at him from her desk, her hands resting her phone against her ear. She looked at him through the glasses that rested on her nose and smiled. He smiled back as she headed towards him, talking on the phone and holding a mug of coffee in one hand. She'd stopped offering him anything to drink or eat for years now since he'd always turned it down.

Dropping the phone, she sat on a couch opposite him and looked in his direction, "Mike", she smiled.

"It's Mr. Appleby. This is a formal setting", he grimaced and they burst into laughter

"So, what's up, MR. APPLEBY", Dr. Suess said, emphasis on his name.

"Well, you know, just felt the need to talk to someone.", Mike replied his face creasing into a frown.

He had started to take sessions with her a month after his wife died because he had been depressed and almost suicidal. Her therapy sessions had more or less saved his life and since then she had become more of his friend than his doctor. He came here when he needed to talk to someone, partially because he loved her company but mostly because there was no one else who would listen to him the way she would.

"How have you been, Mr. Appleby? You didn't stop by yesterday"

"Yeah, couldn't make it. Yesterday was a bad day, the worst!", Mike announced.

Dr. Suess looked at him from up to down, scrutinizing him. Then she looked up at his face sharply and said "You seem fine to me. No bruises. No part of your body has been amputated. You're very healthy"

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Mike smiled and said, "I hope you're not about to start one of your be grateful for what you have sermon and start telling me about the people living with disabilities?"

"Do I need to?" She said, replying his question with another.

"At least hear me out, maybe you'll agree it was a bad day."

Dr. Suess rolled her eyes.

Mike giggled softly and began, " I woke up at 5 am. Did the regular stuff I do every morning and by 6 am, I was ready to leave home. I jumped straight into my car and headed out. I was to have this very important meeting and so I was in a rush to get to the office. There was a crazy traffic along the way and all. After I got out of the traffic, my car developed a fault and I had to call a car repair company to tow it away. So I took a cab to work and got there very late. I missed the meeting and got queried by my boss. I had to put in extra hours after work as punishment"

"So that's what made your day a bad one?"

"Well, I got late to the meeting and got queried for the first time in ten years that's bad enough. But that's not all."

Mrs. Suess nodded and Mike continued, "So I finished work around 9 pm and had to wait till 10 pm for my car. On my way home, I found a man lying almost dead on the sidewalk and had to rush him to the hospital. I was there till 11:00 pm and on my way home around 11:30, I got robbed. How wasn't that a bad day?"

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"The man you took to the hospital, did he die?", she asked him

"No, the doctors said if I had brought him a minute later, he wouldn't have made it.", Mike responded with a smile cutting across his face.

"So, you saved a life?"

"Kind of", he shrugged.

"And yet yesterday was a bad day? Just how many lives have you been able to save since you were born?"

"Well. . ."

"Not many people have the rare privilege of being able to save a human life. It's easier to take a life than to save one"

"I guess you're right", Mike admitted

"Imagine all the bad things that happened to you yesterday hadn't happened. Do you think you think that man would be alive today? I guess all the bad things just worked together for the good of that man you saved."

"Wow. I never looked at it like that"

"Well, now you do", Dr. Suess smiled.

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