ABSTRACT

I pushed on the TV button to catch the news left behind as I slept while (unlike myself as a girl of 13 who got up at six) I made my bed, feeling virtuous and self-contented. There was no news today. There was only the usual: the bickering in Washington, the war between Iran and Iraq, and the oppression of blacks in South Africa. Enough. The atomic bombs had not left the silos. Men in government were crazy in their normal ways. I could begin the day and take care of my present without the interference of history-making history. I went down to the office, put on the heater and the humidifier, closed the door to the study, checked that everything was in place in the office and in the waiting room, and finally unlocked the door for the first patient to come in. Then I went to the kitchen. The sun was still below the horizon, but the clearing sky announced its coming. The kettle had

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enough water for a cup of tea. It would boil while I showered. Then the tea could brew in the hot cup while I did my aerobic exercises.