The Last Sunset
an excerpt
Elena opened with her usual disclaimer: “I’m not Russian – I’m Canadian. I gave up my Russian citizenship when Putin invaded Ukraine.”
That put the patient at ease. She could see him relax into the chair, while trying not to show his relief. Greg was Ukrainian-Canadian, middle-aged, slightly overweight, fidgety, and on her assignment list because of disturbing dreams.
“I try not to be prejudiced,” he said. “I mean I could have asked for another therapist, right? But I’ve heard good things about you. Still, it’s a terrible business, what the Russians are doing. Terrible. But I don’t want to get into it. It would distract... get us off topic.”
“Off topic from what?”
“From the Moon,” he replied.
“Ah.”
It had been some time since someone came into her office with something as simple, timeless and archetypal as the Moon. She could work with this.
“Not just the Moon, actually,” Greg continued. “I have dreams where I’m in this TV show about the Moon being blown out of orbit. Have you ever heard of a show called Space:1999?”
She drew back, all too visibly. “Yes, I have. I used to watch it with my father, a long time ago. A big science fiction guy, in those days. So you’ve got dreams about being in this TV show?”
“When I was eight or nine years old I would watch this show with my best friend, back when it was on TV for the first time. A really long time ago, no kidding... Anyway we’d play together, pretend we were on the Moon, in the winter when we got dressed up in spacesuits – I mean snowsuits.”
Elena started jotting down: “Childhood trauma?”
