Flat-Out Love

Julie impulsively threw her arms around Erin and hugged her bony frame. “I will take all the blame. I ca

Erin, clearly not the hugging type, stiffened a bit, but laughed softly with surprise and patted Julie’s arm with one hand. “No need to thank me. You’re the one doing all the hard work. I admire your enthusiasm about your studies.” She stepped back, holding Julie at arm’s length. “But if you’d like to return the favor, you can convince Matt to start pushing himself the way you push yourself. Then I wouldn’t have to nag him so much.”

“He seems to work all the time, from what I’ve seen. We end up studying together a lot, and if he’s not at school then he’s on the computer working.”

“I’m not saying that he doesn’t spend a lot of time working. I’m talking about the quality of his work and his drive.” Erin narrowed her eyes. “He’s spreading himself across the board in terms of his coursework and academic interest, and it’s getting to a point in his education where he needs to narrow his focus so that he’s not floundering when he graduates. That’s how he’s going to get published one day. He’s got one chance to get this right, and I expect more from him than what I’m seeing.”

It seemed a bit of a harsh take on Matt, but Julie could understand what Erin was saying. She wanted the best for her son. Julie began pulling clothes from the dresser. “What kind of student was Fi

“Oh, Fi

Julie smiled. “He sounds like a very interesting person. Hopefully I’ll get to meet him soon? I know Celeste is itching for him to come home.”

“Everyone would love to see Fi

“Maybe he and I will overlap at Christmas? He’s sure to come home sometime over the holidays.”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Erin took a few steps toward the doorway. “Let me go call Matt and make sure he hasn’t forgotten about taking you to the airport.”

“I can take a cab, Erin. It’s fine.”

“I’d drive you myself, but the truth is that I don’t actually have my license anymore, if you can believe it. I got so caught up in the whole environmentally responsible acts of biking and walking everywhere that I never bothered to renew my license when it expired. I really do prefer it, though. I’m in better shape now than I was when I was twenty, and I’ve lost those ten pounds that I carried around for years.”

“If I didn’t have my bags to carry, then I’d feel guilty about not walking to the airport.” Julie joked. “I think it’s admirable that you’re doing what you can to reduce your carbon footprint. I hate that expression. Being politically correct seems to come with the inevitable clichés, doesn’t it? I have a quick meeting with one of my professors at school, and then I’ll just take the T to the airport. I don’t want to bother Matt.”

Erin shrugged. “If you say so. Call the house on Sunday, and let us know what time your plane will be in. You may end up dealing with delays.”

“OK, I will. Have a nice Thanksgiving, Erin. ”

“You, too. Send your mother our good wishes.”

**********

Julie set her suitcase down on the floor of the cramped office and sat in the chair across from her psychology professor’s desk. The small room could barely contain the few pieces of furniture. Folders and books covered the desk and sparse shelf area. But there was something comforting and cozy about his office, perhaps due to the gentle man who sat before her. Julie loved her psych class and hadn’t missed one yet. Dr. Cooley’s lectures were incisively smart and interesting, and delivered with genuine passion for his field. His thoughtfulness and compassion when he was presenting case studies made Julie feel sure that he would have something helpful to offer her today.

“Thank you for meeting with me, Dr. Cooley.”

“Not a problem. Heading home, I assume?” he asked, eyeing her bag.

“Yes. Ohio. To see my mother and her side of the family. I’m sorry to be bothering you just before the holiday, but I’d like to get your perspective on something.”

“Something from class? I went over your test and paper grades earlier today, and you’re doing extremely well. Not to mention your frequent participation in class. Impressive in such a large group.” He nodded approvingly. “A lot of students prefer to take these larger lecture courses as pass/fail. You stand out.”

“Thank you. I enjoy your class a lot. But I actually need help with something else. I’m living with a family this year. The mother is a friend of my mother’s. Everyone is really nice, but…” Julie didn’t know where to start. “There is something very quirky about the daughter. I thought you might have some insight. I guess I need help.”

“Help how?”

“I’m trying to figure out the daughter. Celeste. She’s odd. Her oldest brother, Fi

“You’ve definitely piqued my curiosity,” Dr. Cooley said as he crossed his legs, “but I’d be more comfortable discussing this if you were telling me about a hypothetical family.” He looked at her pointedly, but tried not to smile.

“Hypothetically,” Julie said slowly, “the flat-brother thing might be alarming to me. And hypothetically, I’m quite worried about her. Some things seem to… I don’t know… trigger her. I just don’t know what they are.”

Julie spent the next few minutes describing Celeste’s behavior surrounding Flat Fi

 Dr. Cooley held up a hand. “Let me stop you for a minute. You’re telling me about the daughter, but I want to hear about the whole family unit. Tell me what a typical day or week is like in this house.”

“But she’s the…” Julie fumbled for the right words. “The one with the issue. Or issues. Piles of them, I’m guessing.” OK, Matt had issues too—mostly involving an obsessive need to become one with his laptop and an inability to dress in anything not revolting—but he certainly didn’t have any cardboard sidekicks. Well, at least that she knew about. “Everyone else is fine.”

“Humor me.”

He sat silently while Julie talked for twenty-five minutes about the Watkins household. She told him about Celeste’s quirky behavior and her social isolation, quite a bit about Flat Fi

Julie’s professor rubbed his forehead as if in disbelief. “So this family has absent parents and an absent eldest brother. Then we have the younger brother who has been forced into a parental role and is trying to be present, and probably struggling quite a bit. Lastly, a young, socially delayed teenager, attempting to manage her emotions through the creation of a substitute, tangible version of her idolized sibling?”

Shit. It sounded really nuts when he spelled it out like that.

“Yeah. That sounds about right.” Julie slumped deep into the chair. “Oh, my God.”

“Listen, I can give you a few thoughts about this family, but I’m not willing to diagnose anyone or give you any hard-and-fast answers based on this conversation. It wouldn’t be fair to you or to them. Hypothetically. However, I might be able to get you thinking about a few things.”

“I understand.”

“My first thought is that this story you’ve laid out makes me sad.”

“It doesn’t feel that sad being in that house, though.”