Doctor Jones calmly made his way around some of the booths that were being set up for the Spring Festival. Of course, given that weather could be unpredictable and that Animalia and Lyre still got their occasional "spring" blizzards and so on. Even with the start of the festival recognizing "spring" there was still plenty of snow on the ground in places. For some it would mean cabin fever as they wanted sun, smiles, and flowers, but that was understandable. He'd met many people over the years that had always been interesting, especially when he'd been in college and in that had made for various interesting stories, especially because many of them turned out to be authors.
"Hey there Jonsey!" a woman's voice called from behind him, making him jump in surprise, though more from the fact that he hadn't expected to hear her voice.
He turned to see Agatha Tarp standing there behind him at the Claw Coliseum where many of the booths had been set up for the moment, as they waited for the snow to melt. She wore pair of jeans, a white tee-shirt, and a navy blue vest. She also had a pair of glasses she was pushing back up at the moment. They'd met in college and had made good friends... Though, he didn't expect to see her coming to Animalia or Lyre.
"Aggie! What are you doing here?" Doctor Jones gave a smile and moved to hug her.
"Some research," Agatha smiled, "get some ideas for a new story... maybe one with an Animalian in it."
That took Doctor Jones back to their first meeting and what came out of it...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Hey... can I sit there?" a younger Adam Jones asked as he approached a small table where a younger Agatha was seated going over some notes in a notebook.
"It's a free country," Agatha said simply.
Adam sat down and soon set about eating his lunch, which wasn't much more than a ham and cheese sandwich that he'd had in a paper bag, but it was something he'd had on hand that he could eat while going between his various classes. As he ate, he noted that Agatha was tapping her pencil up and down on the binding of the notebook.
"I'm Adam Jones, what's your name?" Adam inquired.
"Agatha," Agatha answered, "Agatha Tarp."
"What are you working on?" Adam wondered, noting that what seemed to be written in the notebook didn't look like notes for any class. In fact he thought he saw something that looked like dialogue, but he didn't want make it too obvious that he was very curious.
"Just something creative on my own," Agatha answered, "you know... a novel... I've had ideas for it for years, but it feels like I've been re-editing it over and over and over again and getting nowhere... It's why I'm majoring in English..."
Adam watched her give a rather heavy sigh. He guessed that that wasn't helping her out all that much.
"Can I help?" Adam asked, "My major and classes are more in the sciences to lead into medicine and psychology, but maybe I can help."
"You can try," Agatha gave a slow sigh, "I have the main character I like... but I keep hitting road blocks with internal conflicts and..."
"I could share with you some of what they've given me in my sociology and psychology courses," Adam offered, cutting her off.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And in the end, Adam had been able to help Agatha with her story. In fact, about a year later, and before either of them had even graduated college, he'd been touring a Barnes and Noble and by chance found Agatha's book there. She'd finished it and got it published, and it had sold rather well. Adam had always been happy for that, and he wasn't afraid to use it as a means to help patients he had by bringing up the fictional conflicts that others had and how they worked through them in those stories, which had been the source for the tale of "I had this one woman who was suffering from anorexia nervosa AND seemed to be stuck on the 1920s view of female beauty, especially the flappers. But before you ask, her name ISN'T Maddie, it was someone else..."
That tale he'd told to help Gazette had NEVER been about someone he'd actually had as a client. In fact NONE of them were. They were all made up and were related to fictional tales that friends had either made for him or made on their own that he found useful. And there was a purpose for that... "patient/doctor confidentiality." By rule, anything said in any therapy clinic was PRIVATE and could ONLY be shared if the patient decided to reveal that information to the public on their own. As a therapist, if Doctor Jones EVER revealed ANYTHING said in a session, he could face losing his license if not criminal charges for violating his patient's privacy. Those were rules he HAD to follow, and they were a big part of what he learned while studying psychology...
However, those rules didn't apply to anything that was completely made up and was never revealed IN session. And it was those sorts of things that Doctor Jones ultimately turned to, particularly when it related to things he'd talked about with friends like Agatha. While they'd had different majors and after college didn't see that much of each other, that didn't really remove their friendship. They talked on the phone and shared letters, which included updates on their lives and so on. This included Adam continuing his education to become a psychologist and Agatha marrying a sportswriter named Tom Wired, but kept her maiden name.
She continued to write novels and short stories, though most of her bills were paid by writing some literary review columns that were published in a couple of newspapers and did well with that. In fact, the other analogies that he'd made in his helping Gazette came from other conversations he'd had with Agatha over the years as she debated what to do with her stories and he essentially used them over the years as a means to help his patients. Agatha knew about this, and had actually commented that Doctor Jones' frequent referencing to plot points in her novels had actually HELPED her sales. Doctor Jones was glad for that and happy for his friend.
"So you're planning on writing a story with an Animalian in it?" Doctor Jones wondered, with a small smile as he was happy to see his friend again.
"Yes," Agatha nodded, "they've attracted so much attention in the past two years, I thought they'd make for an interesting subject to cover... but that'd mean I'd need to meet and talk with them... learn about their culture and how they view life and so on. And what do I find but my favorite literary helper when I need someone to explain psychology to me."
"I'd come to Lyre as a lot of the reporting on Animalia seemed to indicate that most of the conflicts in life that Animalians, be they uplifted animals or converted humans, had was in finding mates," Doctor Jones commented, "So... I have a clinic to help those that might be overwhelmed by their instincts at first... or having something that may need to be overcome... though..."
"You can't give any specifics on your clients," Agatha chuckled, "I know... you went over that extensively while we were in college."
"It's a big rule that relates to medicine, law, psychology and a right to privacy," Doctor Jones answered, "You wouldn't want to come into a session, reveal something incredibly personal and then have me blab it to someone else, would you?"
Agatha nodded and shrugged as the two walked along, looking at some of the booths that had been set up. She did understand the rule, though a smirk soon formed on her lips as that wasn't going to stop her from having a little bit of fun. She wrapped one arm around Doctor Jones's shoulder and held him to her.
"Oh... I don't know..." Agatha smirked, "If you told people I was amazing in bed... that might not be a bad thing to say."
That only made Doctor Jones blush as he knew she was joking. They'd been good friends, and it was for that reason that Doctor Jones knew she was joking.
"So what's your idea for this story?" Doctor Jones wondered.
"I don't fully know, yet," Agatha answered, "just that I'd want an Animalian for the main character..."
Doctor Jones slowly nodded.
"Though it is nice to see you again," Agatha continued.
"And how's Tom?" Doctor Jones inquired after Agatha's husband.
"Still jealous that my novels do better than his sports column," Agatha said happily, "but we are happy."