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How are you guys?
Good.
Really good.
Josh?
How was your week?
Uneventful. Well, actually, the mother who insisted Josh come to therapy, she recanted, so Hallelujah.
But you’re still here.
Josh wanted to come back.
How do you feel about that?
And your week, Josh?
A lot of homework.
They really pile it on.
So I thought that in order to get to know you guys I would ask you to tell me a brief or not so brief, if you prefer, bio. An autobiography.
You’d tell me the broad strokes of your life from an early memory.
Again, it sounds more work than it is, but we could do it today, both of you, or separate sessions.
What do you think?
Would we listen to each other?
I think that would be useful.
Okay.
So, who gets to go first?
You go.
Oh, okay, but no, you go first.
I'll try to be quick about it. I mean, you’ve heard everything already so I, um, I’ll get right to it.
I grew up right near here in Simi Valley, I’m twenty-nine, I was born in Bakersfield but my parents moved when I was two.
Then they had my sister, my dad sold car parts, I think, I mean I was really little like two, three, four.
Then he moved his office into our house. He was on the phone a lot.
What was he working on?
Well at that point he was selling parts. Manufacturing parts for the Aero industry, I think, although I was really little.
The house was really quiet. We were really just a regular family.
Then when I was six he went away for a while. I hated that. I didn’t really know why, my mom wouldn’t say. Sometimes she would say he was delayed on business.
When we found out he was coming back we planned this big party with candles and cake and we found out at the last minute he was delayed again and I cried my eyes out.
But it probably wasn’t such a big deal. A lot of times when you’re a kid things seem way more important than they really are, right?
Eventually he came back.
Grandma was really social. Very social.
We were always going to neighbors' houses for barbecues and swimming in each others swimming pools.
We didn’t have a swimming pool but a lot of the neighbors did.
Is this too much detail?
Not at all. Anything you can remember that you want to talk about.
I don’t really want to talk about any of it.
Of course, no, okay.
I'll try not to drag it out. I just feel like I have to fill the space.
My sister and I were really good in school. That part was easy.
We went to Welson Elementary then we went to different public schools, middle school, high school, all in the same area.
It was very white, not very mixed.
You come from poor white trash, Josh. No actually not quite. Lower middle-class.
But that’s not going to stop you.
What else. I mean, not much we were pretty boring.
What?
One time they were filming this commercial down the street at a strip mall and we heard there was this real tiger.
So a new family that had just moved into the neighborhood drove us there so we could see it from afar. Cooper was there
They had just moved in across the street and they used to drive me and my sister around.
Anyway I don’t really know why that means anything. It really was not a fancy upbringing, Josh.
Go on.
Oh, more.
Seems like Josh is interested.
Oh he, he’s heard all of this already.
No I haven’t. I haven’t heard any of it. In fact, the only time I had heard of Cooper was three weeks ago when I met him.
Oh yeah. Cooper. Screw him.
Why screw him?
Well, no, I hadn’t heard from him in forever, and then he shows up one day and befriends Josh and then he just disappears.
We’re not friends, okay? I met him just that once.
No she does this. She overdoes everything. It's Blue drama.
No, it's not drama. A man comes into my home and is accessible with Josh, my son, and then…
I mean, he asked you to fly kites with him. Did he not say that?
Well, yeah, but he was being polite.
And then he just vanishes. Who does that?
Honestly, I’m not really surprised, actually.
What about it isn’t surprising?
That whole family, Olsens, they’re all like that. Anyway why are we talking about them?
Am I done with my biography?
Well what, that was it?
Do you really think that’s enough?
Do you want to hear more?
No.
You don’t?
No, I don’t, because I know the more stuff I hear, the more stuff I’m going to want to know about that will never be talked about again.
She’s slippery, big time.
Josh…
Let’s not talk about you anymore, okay? Okay?
I’m not done.
Yes you are. You were done before you even started, okay?
Now you’re just being rude.
Whatever.
I’m sorry.
Do not apologize for me.
Well then you apologize.
For what? Look, it’s his job to listen to us even if we’re fighting. Especially if were fighting. Isn’t that your thing?
Josh.
Don’t handle me.
I want to tell you more about Simi.
I don’t give a ***.
Say something.
Was there something in particular you wanted to talk about?
No, no , no, I don’t. I just…
Finish that thought.
Josh is right. I was dreading having to talk about anything, but then once I started some of those stories are kind of comforting. So can I continue a little bit?
How do you feel? Hearing your mom talk about her childhood.
I don’t like it.
Why?
Because I don’t.
What about it bothers you?
What do you think it is, Josh?
Because I don’t like to think about her in a world without me.