The Woman in the Window: The most exciting debut thriller of 2018. A. Finn J.

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СКАЧАТЬ thyroid. STILL CAN’T GET A JOB. Oh, Megan—I know, and I’m sorry. Thanks to Ed, I don’t need one, but I miss my patients. I worry about my patients.

      A newcomer has emailed me. I direct her to the survival manual I whipped up back in the spring: “So You Have a Panic Disorder”—I think it sounds agreeably jaunty.

      Q: How do I eat?

      A: Blue Apron, Plated, HelloFresh … there are lots of delivery options available in the US! Those abroad can likely find similar services.

      Q: How do I get my medication?

      A: All the major pharmacies in the US now come straight to your door. Have your doctor speak to your local pharmacy if there’s a problem.

      Q: How do I keep the house clean?

      A: Clean it! Hire a cleaning agency or do it yourself.

      (I do neither. My place could use a wipe-down.)

      Q: What about trash disposal?

      A: Your cleaner can take care of this, or you can arrange for a friend to help.

      Q: How do I keep from getting bored?

      A: Now, that’s the tough question …

      Et cetera. I’m pleased with the document, on the whole. Would have loved to have had it myself.

      Now a chat box appears on my screen.

      Sally4th: hello doc!

      I can feel a smile twitching on my lips. Sally: twenty-six, based in Perth, was attacked earlier this year, on Easter Sunday. She suffered a broken arm and severe contusions to her eyes and face; her rapist was never identified or apprehended. Sally spent four months indoors, isolated in the most isolated city in the world, but has been getting out of the house for more than ten weeks now—good on her, as she’d say. A psychologist, aversion therapy, and propranolol. Nothing like a beta-blocker.

      thedoctorisin: Hello yourself! All okay?

      Sally4th: all ok! picnic this morning!!

      She’s always been fond of exclamation marks, even in the depths of depression.

      thedoctorisin: How was it?

      Sally4th: i survived!:)

      She likes emoticons, too.

      thedoctorisin: You are a survivor! How is the Inderal?

      Sally4th: good, i’m down to 80mg

      thedoctorisin: 2x a day?

      Sally4th: 1x!!

      thedoctorisin: Minimum dosage! Fantastic! Side effects?

      Sally4th: dry eyes, that’s it

      That’s lucky. I’m on a similar drug (among others), and from time to time the headaches nearly rupture my brain. PROPRANOLOL CAN LEAD TO MIGRAINE, HEART ARRHYTHMIA, SHORTNESS OF BREATH, DEPRESSION, HALLUCINATIONS, SEVERE SKIN REACTION, NAUSEA, DIARRHEA, DECREASED LIBIDO, INSOMNIA, AND DROWSINESS. “What that medicine needs is more side effects,” Ed said to me.

      “Spontaneous combustion,” I suggested.

      “The screaming shits.”

      “Slow, lingering death.”

      thedoctorisin: Any relapses?

      Sally4th: i had a wobble last week

      Sally4th: but got thru it

      Sally4th: breathing exercises

      thedoctorisin: The old paper bag.

      Sally4th: i feel like an idiot but it works

      thedoctorisin: It does indeed. Well done.

      Sally4th: thanx :)

      I sip my wine. Another chat box pops up: Andrew, a man I met on a site for classic-film enthusiasts.

       Graham Greene series @ Angelika this w/e?

      I pause. The Fallen Idol is a favorite—the doomed butler; the fateful paper plane—and it’s been fifteen years since I watched Ministry of Fear. And old movies, of course, brought me and Ed together.

      But I haven’t explained my situation to Andrew. Unavailable sums it up.

      I return to Sally.

      thedoctorisin: Are you keeping up with your psychologist?

      Sally4th: yes :) thanx. down to just 1x week. she says progress is excellent

      Sally4th: meds and beds is the key

      thedoctorisin: Are you sleeping well?

      Sally4th: i still get bad dreams

      Sally4th: u?

      thedoctorisin: I’m sleeping a lot.

      Too much, probably. I should mention that to Dr. Fielding. Not sure I will.

      Sally4th: ur progress? u fit for fight?

      thedoctorisin: I’m not as quick as you! PTSD is a beast. But I’m tough.

      Sally4th: yes u r!

      Sally4th: just wanted to check on my friends here—thinking about u all!!!

      I bid Sally adieu just as my tutor dials in on Skype. “Bonjour, Yves,” I mutter to myself. I pause for a moment before answering; I look forward to seeing him, I realize—that inky hair, that dark bloom to his skin. Those eyebrows that bolt into each other and buckle like l’accent circonflexe when my accent puzzles him, which is often.

      If Andrew checks in again, I’ll ignore him for now. Maybe for good. Classic cinema: That’s what I share with Ed. No one else.

      I UPEND the hourglass on my desk, watch how the little pyramid of sand seems to pulse as the grains dimple it. So much time. Nearly a year. I haven’t left the house in nearly a year.

      Well, almost. Five times in eight weeks I’ve managed to venture outside, out back, into the garden. My “secret weapon,” as Dr. Fielding calls it, is my umbrella—Ed’s umbrella, really, a rickety London Fog contraption. Dr. Fielding, a rickety contraption himself, will stand like a scarecrow in the garden as I push the door open, the umbrella brandished before me. A flick of the spring and it blooms; I stare intently at the bowl of its body, at its ribs and skin. Dark tartan, four СКАЧАТЬ