Excerpt: Dorothy

The brass plate beside the door on the second floor of the Reed Park Office Complex read “Dr. Glinda North, Child Psychologist” in block letters. Inside the waiting room individual chairs surrounded the outside walls and two love seats sat back to back in the center of the room. One corner contained a colorful plastic box full of children's toys, and the other corner a table with a pile of glossy magazines and coloring books. Dorothy sat down beside the table and started flipping through the coloring book, which had pages ripped out but no visible coloring on any of the remaining pages. Dorothy wondered if kids coloring was analyzed by the doctor to determine things like character traits, deficiencies, and evidence of trauma. She also noticed the lack of crayons and wondered if they were contraband from disturbed and disorderly children and if one had to ask permission and have colors doled out at the front desk.