All The Kids Are In Therapy | Jen McConnell
Life was just a series of soon-to-expire sticks of string cheese but my brother, a monster with no imagination, ate his by biting into it, like it was any ordinary food, whereas the rest of us – and, by us, I mean all of humanity – pulled the strings off one by one, dangling them, slurping them like spaghetti, whipping each other’s cheeks with them, like normal kids and it makes you wonder what happens when a monster grows up and gets a job, and that’s when the therapist asked if I had a happy childhood and I hesitated, wondering if she really wanted the truth or rather the abridged version I gave everyone else because, while people loved to hear a tragic story, they preferred it in the third-person and that’s when I realized I was reclining on a couch, like a patient of Freud, and the couch wasn’t for my comfort but for the therapist, so she didn’t have to look me in the eye when I opened my heart and let the truth rush out.
About the Author:
Jen McConnell has published prose and poetry in more than forty literary magazines and two of her short stories have been nominated for a Pushcart. She received her MFA from Goddard College. Recent work can be found in Does it Have Pockets?, Bridge Eight and the tiny journal. Her first story collection, “Welcome, Anybody,” was published by Press 53. See more at jenmcconnell.com.