“A Perfect World: Case Study A” by Adam Frank Boretz
--page 5

Institute of Living
Norris Outpatient Facility
Office Visit LR0011

- And you’re still temping?
- Yes.
- At EquaLife?
- No. They fired me. I’m at this place Raytel now—doing medical billing.
- Why did they fire you?
- Why do you think?
- I don’t know.
- They fired me because I couldn’t type fast enough and I couldn’t type fast enough because I’m crazy, so now I’m at Raytel where everyone is crazy and they don’t care.
- You’re not crazy, Levi.
- I know(10).
- So, do you like Raytel?
- No. I hate Raytel.
- Why?
- Why? Because it’s mind-numbing and my coworkers are all either morons or juvenile delinquents and I spend the day entering medical codes into a computer for ten dollars an hour.
- So, maybe it’s time you find something else.
- Clearly. But what would that something else be, I wonder.
- Levi, you’re bright, you’re a college graduate. You don’t have to be doing what you’re doing ... I’d like you to consider meeting with a career counselor.
- No.
- Levi, just think about—
- No. I don’t want to take another one of those tests that tells me what my personality type is and how I’m perfect for this and wrong for that. I’ve done that; it doesn’t work. And I don’t want to do it again.
- Do you want to work at Raytel?
- No.
- And you would rather do something else?
- Yes. I think we’ve established that.
- And I assume that that something else is more than just complain.
- Very funny.
- Well, then maybe you could consider meeting with Dr. Stein.
- Fine.
- Fine? Really?
- Yes. Fine. I’ll meet with Dr. Stein. Yes. Really. Are you happy now(11)?


         I have read the same sentence forty hyphen eight times period
         The newspaper is torn and tattered semicolon my hands smudged black with newsprint period All around me comma men and women shuffle past period The sun is low in the sky and pigeons peck at the sidewalk period I stare at the gray comma puffed hyphen up birds comma their beaks stabbing at seeds and crumbs period And then I read the sentence again colon
         The results are based on preliminary trials that are subject to revision period
         The results are based on preliminary trials that are subject to revision period
         The results are based on preliminary trials that are subject to revision period
         The results are based on preliminary trials that are subject to revision period
         And it is never right period
         Never perfect period
         From somewhere at the back of my head comma a deep spike of pressure radiates out in waves and on each word comma on each letter comma on each loop and curve and line of type comma I count
         1 2 3 4
         One two three four
         I II III IV
         1 2 3 4
         Never right period
         Never perfect period
         And then comma across the street comma I see her car period The blue sedan with the dinged-up front bumper period The car rolls to a stop comma Hannah staring into the rearview mirror comma applying lipstick and tucking her limp blond hair behind her ears period And comma as the light changes comma she pulls through the intersection and into the gray parking garage period I watch her colon
         Like every morning comma she parks on the roof level period Like every morning comma she slams the door comma leans against the car and lights a cigarette period Like every morning comma she stares up at the blue hyphen gray smoke streaming into the blue hyphen gray air period Like every morning comma she walks across the garage comma her heels clicking comma and crosses the sky bridge that connects the garage to the hospital offices period And then comma like every morning comma she disappears period
         I pick up the tattered newspaper comma screwing up my eyes and contorting my mouth and face as I read colon
         The results are based on preliminary trials that are subject to revision period



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10 But Levi does not know. And as he sits in the cluttered little office on a warm evening in a long string of evenings and afternoons, a part of him remains convinced that somehow it would be better if he were crazy; that is would be easier and simpler and, in a way, far more noble and profound.
11Levi smiles at Dr. Hackle-Wells, who looks up from her notepad and chuckles. Suddenly, Levi feels guilty and uncomfortable about the increasingly friendly working relationship between himself and his therapist. Staring at the carpet and counting on each squares of fabric, Levi cannot understand why he feels the way he does about this or anything.