[Critique Group 1] Leonards sub for next Wednesday

[tuchyner5 at aol.com]

Since Mary Jo  is still on leave, I'm participating this time around.

The piece is 1,888 words



Legally Aura-Blind

by
Leonard Tuchjyner 


 

“I’m sorry, Mister Sidelle.  Dr. Flugal is running a little late.  The Doctor ran into a traffic jam on the way back from the aquatics gymnasium.”

 

Sidelle eyed the cephalopod receptionist as it sat on six of its eight suckered appendages.  The undulating color patterns running across its body verged on seductive, but Sidelle didn’t dare make that assumption. If only he could perceive its intentions by reading its aura. But Sidelle, who decided to identify as male, for the moment, was legally blind to the subtleties of aura communication. That’s why he was here to see a therapist.

 

He had dealt with his handicap all his life, but a tipping point had been reached, and he knew he needed help to go on functioning in this world of the aura-visioned.

 

“Well, what are you waiting for?” the receptionist asked, a slightly frenetic twitching in the two limbs poised over its writing machine.

 

“Uh, waiting? I’m not waiting for anything.”

 

“Then why don’t you have a seat on one of our lovely resting platforms, like I’m suggesting you do?” with an edge of irritation in its voice.

 

“Oh, it’s happened again. I must apologize,” he stammered. “I should have told you when I walked in. I assumed you looked at the questionnaire I filled out when my appointment was scheduled.” All the fluctuating color patterns on his body and limbs became duller and slower.

 

“Mr. Sidelle --- I hope it is okay to address you as Mister, since you are flashing a ‘today I am a male’ aura

 

“Yes, of course.”

 

“Well then, Mr. -- Sidelle, I am not privy to the confidential information on an intake form. Anyway, what is it you should have told me?”

 

“I am legally aura blind. I have only a vague perception of your auramic level of communication.   I miss things all the time. You’re going to think this is funny, but I even thought you might have been flirting with me. Isn’t that funny? Ha, ha.” Nervous frenetic dots were blinking on and off all over Sidelle.

 

The receptionist’s colors suddenly went pale. “I was definitely flirting with you. Oh my, how embarrassing! Here I was sending flirt signals they were probably picking up in the adjoining office, and you had no idea.”

 

“I’m afraid not.”

 

“Oh my god! You poor, poor thing. Life must be horrible for you.”

 

If Sidelle could have perceived the secretary’s aura, he would have picked up alarm and sympathy mixed in with substantial levels of pity. But he didn’t have to read auras to hear them all in her words and tones.

 




“Actually, it wouldn’t be bad at all, if people would just recognize they have to talk to me and use their camouflage color patterns to help emphasize their meanings.”

 

“Can you see my colors now?”  She inquired, raising her volume

 

“You don’t have to shout. My auditory perceptions are quite good. And that livid chartreuse is lighting up your beautifully slinky body like a neon sign. I’m not visually blind, you know.”

 

The receptionist’s colors blanched at his rebuke, and then swirled in a bewildering confusion of chaos, as she tried to find firm ground between his rebuke and the compliment to her sexy body.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sidelle apologized. “I didn’t mean to take my frustrations out on you. It is just that I have to deal with this kind of reaction all the time. It’s not your fault. You probably have never had a direct encounter with someone like me before.”

 

“How did you know I was flustered? I thought you couldn’t read my aura,” she said, leveling an accusatory glare with her huge, dark eyes.

 

“You know, most cephalopods are so dependent on their aura communication, they don’t realize that they are sending out messages all the time in other ways -- unconscious ways, like their coloring, their limb movements, the puckering of their suction pads, and their posturing. When you have a handicap like mine, you learn to read these things. Besides, I’m not totally aura blind.”

 

The receptionist’s body colors began to throb in wonderment. “Wow! I had no idea it was possible to be aware of all those things. It’s amazing.  You are amazing. Can you tell me if I would have a better career path if I became one sex for the rest of my life?”

 

Sidelle’s own black eyes blinked, and his beak open and closed several times before he managed to blurt out, “How in the world would I know that?”

 

“Well, it’s just that you can tell so many things most of us can’t, I thought that maybe there was something about me you could tell that nobody else could.”

 

“Hey, Miss…”

 

You can call me Mill. That’s my name when I’m female.”

 

“Mill then, I’m not a super cephalopod. I just use different tools that most people don’t develop because they don’t need to. But I like you the way you are today, I think. I can’t tell your fortune, but there are some things I would like to teach you.”

 

“Really! How long are you going to be a male?”

 

“How long are you going to be a female?” he countered.

 

“Maybe we can discuss that over a jar of fermented oyster juice,” she counter countered.

 

“Great, I know a nice oyster bar down on Main River Road Street. Do we have a date?”

 

“I get off at five. Will I see you then?” she asked.

 

“I’ll be waiting in the lobby,” he said.

 

Their attentions turned to the sound of an opening door. A slightly overweight octopus undulated into the room. He was wearing slightly formal body colors of black and white on his torso. His limbs had professionally choreographed color patterns that broadcast unisex.

 

“Sorry I’m late, Mill,” it addressed the receptionist.

 

“Thanks for the message,” Mill responded. “This is Mr. Sidelle, your new patient.”

 

“You wouldn’t believe the traffic jam I ran into.  I was actually considering getting out of my mobile unit and slithering back to the office. Give me five minutes to collect myself, Mr. Sidelle.”

 

“No problem, Doctor.”

 

When Sidelle undulated into Dr. Flugal’s office, ten minutes later, he encountered a lavish décor. Each wall projected an electronically generated color-scape that seemed to change randomly, which had relaxing effects.  The large translucent work platform was a constant blue-green hue.  The floor was of a seashell design with a soft texture. The ceiling mimicked a classic water surface motif.  Dr Flugal was perched at the near end of his blue-green work platform.

 

“Please, Mr. Sidelle, have a perch on one of our patient platforms.”

 

Sidelle found it intriguing that the Doctor was confident in calling him Mister. Was it because his aura was radiating the male message clearly, or was it because Mill had communicated his readiness to be addressed as Mister?. It really irked him that people could talk behind his back like that. Nevertheless, he slithered onto a comfortable looking platform. All the platforms were slightly wet. That was a nice touch, because even though his species had evolved to living on dry land, they had to ingest a lot of water to maintain a comfortable body fluid level.  They could do this by simply drinking water through their beaked mouths. Absorbing moisture through their skins was the most pleasant way of hydration, however. Sidelle absorbed the wetness on his platform almost unconsciously. The platform moisture was automatically replaced as quickly as it was absorbed.

 

“Mr. Sidelle, I’ve read your intake information, including your narrative. I have to admit to you that I really have not had much experience working with people who are aura- blind. but I did some research before agreeing to see you.”

 

“Do you think you can help me?” Sidelle asked.

 

“I’m not sure. It depends on what your goals are. I probably can help you to deal with the way you handle your frustrations and related emotions concerning your problem. But obviously, I can’t cure your condition.”

 

“I thought that was the case. But even just having someone to talk about what I go through might be helpful.”

 

“I’m encouraged by your realistic expectations, Mr. Sidelle. But let me ask you why you don’t have friends in the aura-blind community that you could confide in?”

 

“Doctor, I wasn’t born with my affliction.  Over the years, as it progressed, I learned to adapt within the normal population. I learned to use what sight I had to glean the most amount of information possible. I didn’t need to cultivate relationships within the aura- blind community. I know very few people like me. It’s only been lately that my blindness has gotten to such a severe level, that it has so drastically affected me.”

 

“What is the worst way in which you are affected?”

 

“Wow! That’s a good question.”

 

Sidelle perched there in silence for several minutes while he considered his answer.

 

“You know, I keep thinking that there wouldn’t be much of a problem if people would just say out loud what they want to communicate.”

 

“Do you ask them to do so?” Flugal asked.

 

“All the time. But the reactions you get and the questions are tedious. I’m tired of it. Besides, I never know what they are saying behind my back, if you know what I mean.”

 

“I think I do, but why don’t you wear one of those color schemes that let people know of your condition?”

 

“Then I would have no chance at all of being considered normal.”  The tips of his appendages all tilted upwards and came down on his platform with an emphatic thump.

 

“I’m pretty sure you can’t have it both ways. People will know, or they won’t know, depending on what you want them to know. It occurs to me that you may be making a lot of assumptions about people. Part of my plan of treatment will be to explore those assumptions.”

 

“I’m willing to look at everything at this point of the game, Doctor.”

 

“Another thing I want to explore with you, Mr. Sidelle, is your reluctance to become involved in the one group of people who understand your issues. A group that could not be signaling without your knowledge, because they don’t have it as an option. Do you know what I am referring to?”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, we’ll talk about it,” he said tempestuously.

 

“By the way, did you know that there are new communities where cephalopods and Humans live together? Not all of our species that are members of those communities are aura blind. But the ones who aren’t still have to adapt to humans who have almost no capacity for reading auras, although there are some that can do a little of that.”

 

“No kidding. That sounds interesting.  But I would have to abandon all my friends, change my job, and all that stuff.”

 

“People do that sort of thing all the time. You might consider it for the future.”

 

“I’ll think about that, Doc.”

 

“Well, it’s time for me to ask you the key question.”

 

“What is that, Doc.?”

 

“Do you think you want to work with me?”

 

“I’d like to give it a try.”

 

“Good enough. Miss Mills will set you up with an appointment. Oh, good luck on your date with her.
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