the Order of Eight

“I’m only here to please my mother. I tell her I’m not a child anymore, I’m an independent, self-supporting adult. But she still worries.”

“So you’re here to alleviate your mother’s concerns.”

Typical shrink talk.

They were sitting facing each other across a narrow table, apparently the doctor’s workspace, papers and pens scattered all about.

Jasper fidgeted nervously. What kind of therapist is this? Can’t he afford a couch? “There’s nothing wrong with me. I just like order in my environment.” The mess between them turned his stomach. He’s one of them. A chaos lover.

“Why will this please your mother? Why is she worried?”

“She doesn’t understand…” Jasper couldn’t stand it. He started tidying the table. One-two-three-four-five-six-seven…eight sheets of paper to a pile, neatly crisscrossed.

The therapist didn’t seem to notice. He wasn’t watching. He was still gazing into Jasper’s face as Jasper’s hands flew on to put pens in rows of eight. Jasper found eight Sharpies and carefully turned each the same direction, then fiddled with them until they were evenly spaced.

The therapist tilted his head, drawing Jasper's eyes to his steady gaze. “What doesn’t your mother understand?”

They aren't the same. The Logos on two of the Sharpies were different from the rest. Jasper focused on the therapist's face so he wouldn't have to look at errant pens. “As a child, I was put into special classes, because I had to have everything in groups of seven. They told my mother it was obsessive-compulsive disorder, a disease of the mind.”

The therapist nodded. “And?”

“I didn’t like the medicine they made me take. She thinks I still need it. She doesn’t understand. I’m not obsessive like that anymore.”

The therapist lifted an eyebrow and inclined his head toward Jasper’s handiwork.

Jasper spoke with confidence. “These are groups of eight, not seven, EIGHT." He waved his hand over them for emphasis. "I discovered I can control the urge to put everything in sevens by establishing the order of eight. I’m not crazy if I can control it, right?”

© 2026 Sheri McGuinn

Audio version available at sherimcguinn.substack.com