Promise you'll fix me doc? [Sean]

Dealing with parents was a large part of Sean’s job description, even though he didn’t conduct family therapy sessions. The parents who were concerned with their children’s adjustment often called him for updates, to set up appointments behind their children’s backs – which he tolerated the first time per parent only before taking over the task with the student himself, since the children, not the parents, were his patients – and calming parents when their children were first taken to Hammel. Thus the call from Elva’s mother hadn’t been particularly unexpected; he knew of Elva, the way he knew of all the students, even the ones who didn’t wind up in his office for therapy, discipline, or tea talk. As a student with a mind-based power, she was on his short list.

Fortunately, he’d had an open appointment slot that afternoon, because it had made calming her mother easier, once she knew that her daughter would be seen today. Then the appointment was made, he promised to call her to assure her that her daughter arrived – that was also standard operating procedure the first time – and then he went about the rest of his morning.

At the appropriate appointment time, he’d set up for an introduction, and waited for her to arrive. He sensed her outside his office before he heard the knock, and he called, “You can come in, Elva.”