Page 35 of Even in the Dark

Dr. Morley:I don’t get out there much, but my wife loves it. The shops and restaurants and coffee shops and stuff. She goes there sometimes on weekends with her girlfriends… spends a fortune on hand cream and candles.

Dylan:[no response]

Dr. Morley:Pretty swanky town, for sure.

Dylan:Yeah.

Dr. Morley:And first few days of school under your belt. How did that go?

Dylan:Fine.

Dr. Morley:Aw, c’mon… you can do better than fine. I’m looking for a minimum two-sentence answer here.

Dylan:It was loud. And it was long.

Dr. Morley:Okay… Better than you thought? Worse? Same? Different?

Dylan:Same.

Dr. Morley:And how about life with the Brauns? What would you say has been the biggest adjustment for you? Moving in with your birth father and his family?

Dylan:They’re just different, I guess.

Dr. Morley:Different from your old life, you mean?

Dylan:Un-huh.

Dr. Morley:Different how?

Dylan:Just different.

Dr. Morley:Okay… can you give me a couple examples of how things are different with your new family than they were living with Eli?

Dylan:[sighs] They talk more.

Dr. Morley:So, you and Eli didn’t really talk that much?

Dylan:Not really.

Dr. Morley:Alright… what’s another way things are different?

Dylan:I don’t know… Just everything.

Dr. Morley:Such as? One more example.

Dylan:Fuck. I don’t know… The way they make everything a production, I guess.

Dr. Morley:Mmm. How so? Give me a couple of examples.

Dylan:[sighs] Like, any time they go out. Watching a movie.Going to bed. Making fucking popcorn.

Dr. Morley:They turn making popcorn into a production?

Dylan:Yup.

Dr. Morley:How can making popcorn be a production? Now I’m curious.

Dylan:They get out a bowl for every single person, nuke the popcorn, put out all this flavored powder crap—like a hundred different flavors. Fuckin’ dill pickle and stuff. They divide the popcorn into the bowls, pass it all around. Sprinkle the powder shit on… it’s just—everything’s like that. Meals, and going out and stuff—it all turns into a big production.

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