Hug or Ugh?

摘要

Words exploded from her tiny mouth, a landmine of thoughts: bogus arrests, undeserved jail time, bad marriages, field hockey and soccer stardom back in high school, ungrateful children, hospitalizations for "bipolar," no sleep for five days straight - no, six. At home that evening, my own thinking about her remained disorganized. [...] wasn't professionalism being appropriated in dus instance as easy cover, protection from the storm of deeply personal emotional feelings that fuel professional actions? I washed my clothes in hot water, bleached my white coat, scrubbed myself raw in the shower. [...] yet a maddening discomfort remained. [...] I don't adhere to this policy with strict consistency, either. [...] I fear the hug was a morally suspect gesture.