Precious cargo

I love my job; each day is a different adventure. New personalities walk through my door, needing my help each day. It doesn’t hurt that they pay me close to four figures an hour per consultation. Most of the time the client has a real issue that they need my help with, some kind of abuse or an addiction, then I have clients like these.

“Are you listening to me Dr Neill?” “Oh yes Jenny, continue” Jenny is a college student who is terrified that her parents will be cutting her off financially, unless she cuts back on her shopping habits. She lays back on the couch with her long blonde hair hanging over the armrest.  “I don’t understand how they can be so mean Dr Neill, I work so hard on campus. I’m captain of the netball club; I started the glamour girls club to give us girls more confidence.”

Jenny rambles on about her activities as Dr Neill’s mind begins to wander. Today is a significant day for the doctor, today is the eighth anniversary of his son’s disappearance.  “Dr Neill?” He  is abruptly pulled from his daydream. “Yes of course Jenny” An alarm goes off on Dr Neil’s phone. “We will have to continue this matter on your next session Jenny.

It’s the end of my day, not quite as busy as usual and my last case Jenny was definitely the most memorable. As Dr Neill prepares to leave the office, he pauses to steal a glance of the view from his balcony as the sun sets over the ocean. It’s the most beautiful sight to behold the reason he chose to open a practice here in Sea Point Cape town, the top floor of the tallest building he could find. As Dr Neill grabs hold of the door handle to lock the door he freezes and gets lost in a memory.

Dr Neill remembers running down the road in his jogging sweats, his breathing is heavy as he nears the end of his run. It’s a beautiful summer morning in his upmarket suburban neighbourhood. The sun cuts through the evergreen leaves of the tall trees bordering the roads.

He stumbles into the kitchen trying his best to catch his breath, he opens the fridge and grabs a bottle of water and pours the liquid down his throat. Dr Neill’s wife is in the kitchen preparing breakfast. “Good morning David, do I need to call the emergency room?” she jokingly asks. He walks over to kiss her “ I see you have jokes, what you don’t know is that you are joining me tomorrow morning.” David grabs her around the waist and pulls her close to his body while placing gentle kisses from her shoulder to her neck. Vivienne is tempted to let him continue but she pulls herself together and reluctantly puts an end to the moment. “You better get done before our son comes down those stares, he will not be happy if he is late for the first day of school.” David pauses with his lips still stuck to her neck and lets out a little growl if frustration. “You’re right; I just need a quick shower.” David runs up the stairs and passes his son John, who is dressed in his school uniform and has his backpack on already.

“Mom is Dad done already?” Vivienne bursts into laughter as she sees her son in his blazer, shirt and tie, ready for school. “Honey I know you’re excited for school but you’re way too early, come on take off that backpack and have some breakfast, dad will be down in a minute.”

As David and John make their way to school, there is a long silence in the car, although it’s not awkward just a sense of peace and calm. John breaks the silence with a sigh. David glances over at his son “Something bothering you buddy?”  he asks, John looks up at his dad

“Dad, am I weird?” David looks over at his son with a surprised expression. “What? No! Who told you that you’re weird?” John looks at his father, with a sad look. “Some kids at school say I’m weird because I’m so smart.” “Son, you have a brilliant mind and that will scare some kids, because they won’t know what to say to you or act around you. Don’t let that bother you, just be yourself, you’re not weird just gifted.” David looks over at John and runs his hands through John’s thick dark hair. “Dad please don’t be late today when you pick me up.”  “Don’t worry I wont, I promise.”

David drops off John at school and gets to his office, as he enters he greets his receptionist Rebecca. “Good morning Becky” “Good Morning Dr Neill.” “Could you please reschedule all my appoints between 3 and 5pm to tomorrow some time. David goes through his day without incident and periodically looks at his watch; he does not want to disappoint his son, he could sense the urgency in John’s voice this morning.

David is completing his last session, he looks at his watch its 2pm. A middle aged woman and her teenage son are sitting opposite him. The woman is clearly worked up. “Dr Neill you must help my son, I think he has that, what do you call it? Kleptomania, I read this on the internet. He just won’t stop taking things.” The son is slouched in the chair next to hair and he looks dishevelled and his eyes are as large as saucepans, he is clearly high on some kind of drug. David looks at the woman. “I can assure you Mrs Zola, your son is not suffering from Kleptomania.” David provides Mrs Zola with a few rehab facility contact details on their way out. As David is about to leave, the phone rings. “This is Dr Neill Speaking.” “Good day Dr Neill, this is Pamela Thorn calling.” “Good day Mrs Thorn,  how can I help you?” “It’s my son Dr Neill, I really wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t an emergency. He’s been locked inside his room for hours now and you know his condition. I’m afraid he might hurt himself, could you please come around and talk to him.  David looks at his watch, its 2:15pm, its almost time to pick up his son, the Thorns live 5 minutes away from John’s school. David thinks to himself “ I could just drop by the Thorns, talk their son out of his room and still , make it to the school on time.” “Alright Mrs Thorn, give me 10 minutes I’ll be right over.”

David races over to the Thorn residence, He speaks to their son and rushes over to the school, as he pulls up he looks at his watch. Its 3:07pm. “I’m just a few minutes late, its not that bad. I’ll just have to apologise and buy him a huge toy robot. David walks over to the waiting area and sees a few kids waiting for their parents, he doesn’t see John there. David scans the area once again to be sure he calls out to the kids. “Do any of you kids know John Neill?” The kids look each other and then look at David and shake their heads. “That’s great he must be running late too.” He walks over to the classrooms and peeks inside John’s classroom, its empty. A teacher walks down the hallway, David walks over to her. “Excuse me miss are all the third grade classes out already? “ Yes class was dismissed at 3pm already, you are Dr Niell?” “Yes that’s right” The teacher looks over towards the waiting area “Is John not in the waiting area with the other kids?”  “A tinge of nervous energy runs through David’s body as he looks at his watch, its 3:30pm. “ He’s probably in the bathroom, don’t worry miss ill find him” David picks up his pace as he walks over to the boys bathroom, John’s not in the bathroom, he’s not anywhere on the school grounds. David is gripped by terrible fear as he realizes he cant find his son. Various scenarios invade his mind against his will and none of them are good. “Where is my son?” he thinks to himself. He knows as soon as he asks for help his worst fear will be made real, David Just stands there in the middle of the school playground as kids are being collected by their parents. Everything begins to slow down as he struggles to fight the tears from rushing down his cheeks. “Oh my God He’s really gone, I can’t find him.” It’s been 1 hour and 30 minutes since he arrived at the school.  As he walks towards one of the teachers, he tries to utter the words to ask for help, but as he opens his mouth to speak he breaks down in tears. “Please! Where is my son?”