9

It’s Tuesday and Don’t Forget It

The walls here are paper thin,
but that’s not to say they don’t look good.

Aiden takes a bottle of generic Advil down to the living room and compares it with the other bottle of Advil in Detective Hope Brady’s stakeout bag. He’s disgusted by how chummy Hope was with Rafe on the phone last night. He senses something isn’t right but after searching her bag finds no tangible evidence. Aiden remembers that she left early for work, an unusual practice the morning after an all-night stakeout, and calls the station. He learns that Detective Brady never came in . Having caught her in a second lie , Aiden grows angry and psyches himself up to “do it.” He places the second bottle of generic Advil next to the first in the bag and says that now Hope will know that he knows about the Advil lie. He buttons his shirt and leaves for work.

At Value Vision, the other doctor finishes up some emails before Dr. Charles arrives . He confirms that Julian will be stopping by the office on Wednesday to discuss the new artist-in-residency program. When the Receptionist shows up for his first day of work , Dr. Charles places the newborn in his care . The three watch Days together. Theresa loses her engagement ring right before the big announcement party. She crawls around the floor for most of the episode looking for it while Brady tries to console her: it’s not about the ring. Maggie finds the ring and immediately faints. The Receptionist decides to shadow Dr. Charles in the afternoon as he conducts several in-home visits. Dr. Charles prefers to have the patients go to his home, rather than the other way around. The Receptionist takes care of the newborn during this time but is growing resentful over the extra responsibility.

Finding himself back in the living room and feeling somewhat pensive, Aiden is confronted again with Hope’s open bag from her stakeout last night. He knows she was here recently and must have seen the additional bottle of generic Advil because her yellow jacket is gone. He seems to regret leaving the bottle of generic Advil from the other upstairs bathroom in Hope’s bag as his way of letting her know he knows she didn’t need to run out for Advil last night. Pondering the prospects of getting out of town, perhaps to a place with no stakeouts, Aiden departs. Fifteen minutes later, Hope arrives at the same spot. Noticing her stakeout bag freshly closed, she wonders why they’re repeatedly on slightly different planes of time or space. Trying to assure herself of the importance of family and commitment, she hopes Bronco has not left town or pursued his tiny house ambitions.

After shadowing the doctor for the afternoon, the new Receptionist returns to Value Vision. He cradles the newborn baby, and wonders if he’s gotten himself in over his head. Doris arrives for her appointment. She wonders where the other Receptionist has gone and curtly insists on seeing Ned. She signs in and has a seat. She reads People magazine. While the Receptionist is out, Dr. Charles enters. He encourages her to avoid overusing the eye drops as atrophy may result. For this reason he recommends the smaller 5 oz. bottle even though she prefers the 16 oz. Wanting to see her put the drops in, Dr. Charles suggests they step out into the lobby for additional privacy. The receptionist returns for his rain slicker and overhears the conversation about the person in the basement. Doris has traveled a long way to be here and is worried that Dr. Charles isn’t handling things well, though he insists otherwise. Slowly backing out of the office the receptionist knocks over the child’s toy optical equipment he gave Dr. Charles as a gift that morning. The sound halts the lobby conversation and Dr. Charles steps into the office before the Receptionist can escape. Dr. Charles claims that Doris already left and he was running some thoughts aloud by himself. The Receptionist claims to have not heard more than something unintelligible and Dr. Charles asks him to check on the inventory of nitrile gloves in the back. Dr. Charles steps into the lobby. He insists Doris never come near the plaza again and to meet in Minos Park at ten.

Back in the waiting room, Dr. Charles holds The Forgotten Hostage and asks himself what Jack would do in this situation. The Receptionist reports on the nitrile gloves and settles in for a recap of the day’s activity as well as numerous philosophical lessons courtesy of Dr. Charles. Dr. Charles begins by describing his patient’s journey as an arc starting with fear, moving through crisis, and emerging at a solution. The Receptionist takes notes: Allergies = “Monster Season,” Spook them into a solution, false trust, the “Answer Man,” Put a pin in it, Never a straight line- always arcs, human beings are not cattle, Patient X- let ‘em cry, real? Make believe? doesn’t matter; speed reading (a goal); you need to set goals; confusion; different process with kids; ant hills for kids instead of arcs; JJs=Junior Jumbos, “Fun to say, even more fun to wear;” in the mid-90s eye doctors were rock stars, but not any more; Fatigue Ratio; remember Thaddeus; the “God Principle” (another day); 90% has nothing to do with vision; Human Connection; 90%=Human Connection; most docs are stuck in the 10%; No Judgement Zone (Planet Fitness); Value->nothing really to do with money, but definitely selfish; Customer-Owner Hierarchy- take it back. They talk for more than an hour. Dr. Charles uses the magazines on the desk to illustrate the floorplan of the nearly-open Planet Fitness across the street. He and the Receptionist “walk through” the space calling out “Judgement Zone” or “No Judgement Zone” for each area. They then proceed to do the same with each area of the office and the Receptionist comes around to the necessity of judgement and the operation of a successful business. They establish this time and the conversation between the two of them as a “no judgement” bubble, but want the boundaries to be clear. When the Receptionist wants some clarification as to quitting time, he insists it’s not that he wants to leave but that he wants to give all he’s got and intends to leave with the tank dry. Never getting an answer on leaving from the doctor, who is more committed than ever to the new never-closed policy, the Receptionist suggest they put in an online order for Coffee Barn. While completing the online order form he learns that Dr. Charles has his own signature drink called “The Lizard” which isn’t available for order online so he places the order by phone. It’s just after 10pm and Dr. Charles silently decides to blow off the meeting in the park with Doris. The doctor and Receptionist elect to walk down to the “Barn” and get their coffees in person, thinking a stroll through the cool night will do them good after a long and at times confusing day. The office remains open though no one is there.