literature

Client Confidentiality

Deviation Actions

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Literature Text

“I’m just saying I don’t feel comfortable with him staying here with you.” He followed her into the office, closing the door behind him a bit harder than he meant to.
“He’s confused and missing a wing,” she said, sitting behind the desk and folding her hands on the desktop. “Besides, he’s an angel, for Christ’s sake. There’s a better probability of being attacked by a rabid mailbox.”
He planted his hands palms down on the desk. “But where did he come from, why doesn’t he remember anything, how did he get a friggin’ wing torn off?” He jabbed the faux wood finish with an index finger. “You see? This is why I screen all of your patients.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and this is also why all my clients are animals or attractive females.”
“I’m doing this to protect you.”
She folded her arms over her scrubs. “Oh, so treating ugly women would be detrimental to my health?”
He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I bring you enchanted beings who need help. It’s not my fault the ones I find are foxy. Or foxes.”
“Well, I’m finding clients on my own now,” she said, sitting back to sift through some open patient files. “I’m a better judge of character than you, anyway.”
With a guttural sigh, he fell into the chair opposite hers, leaning forward to make sure she could see his sincerity. “I don’t like him here, Val. He’s harmless enough, even I can see that, but we know what kind of war they’re fighting. If you got mixed up in that--” he trailed off, glancing down at his interlocked fingers, then up at her out of the corner of his eye.
She nodded once in so exaggerated a fashion that her chin touched her chest before coming back up again. “Fine. I can understand that.” She leaned forward. “But could you promise me that if Benny sleeping in the next room was Jenny, you still wouldn’t have brought her in for a free stay at the freak circus?”
He pursed his lips, sitting back in the chair as he deliberated, and she stared him down, trying to act as if she didn’t care about the answer.
“No,” he said finally, “I wouldn’t have brought him-- her-- here if I thought doing so would endanger you in any way.”
She ran a hand down her face, still not sure if she could trust him. In all the years she’d known him, the trickster had rarely been sincere about anything.
“I appreciate your-- honesty,” she said, carefully choosing her words, “but this is my clinic and when it all comes down to it, I do this for other peoples’ safety, not mine. The angel stays.”
Without another word he stood, retrieved his purple suit jacket from the hook by the door, and left, the soft click of the lock announcing his exit.
This is the companion piece for my newest characters, [link] , and an exercise for my writing class. The objective was to have two characters fight without fighting. I got an A. :D
© 2013 - 2024 iesnoth
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StarCatcher37's avatar
Ooh this is lovely! You always have the best concepts :D