Read Online The Birthday Girl by Stephen Leather - Free Book Online

you.'
    'It's a total waste of time.' Mersiha folded her arms and glared at the door to Dr Brown's office as if daring him to come out.
    Katherine looked across at Dr Brown's receptionist, a heavyset matron who could be a harridan or sweetness and light, depending on the state of her relationship with her live-in lover, a burly steelworker who wasn't averse to knocking her around after he'd had a few drinks too many. Today she was in a good mood and she smiled sympathetically at Katherine. 'Can I get you a cup of coffee, Mrs Freeman? Dr Brown shouldn't be too long.'
    Katherine shook her head. 'No thanks, Nancy.' Before Katherine could go back to reading her magazine, the intercom on Nancy's desk buzzed.
    'Okay, Mersiha, Dr Brown will see you now,' the receptionist said.
    'Great,' Mersiha said under her breath as she pushed herself up from the sofa.
    'Be nice,' Katherine warned, but Mersiha had already slipped into the inner office.
    Dr Brown was sitting behind his huge oak desk as usual, almost dwarfed by his big leather chair. Mersiha reckoned he used the oversized furniture to compensate for his lack of stature, but in fact it had the opposite effect - it served only to emphasise what a small man he was. 'Hiya, Dr Brown,' she said. 'How are you today?' It hadn't taken Mersiha long to realise that the quickest way out of the psychiatrist's office was to be pleasant. The more she smiled, the more she seemed anxious to answer his questions, the sooner he'd tell her that the session was over and that he'd see her the same time next week.
    'I'm fine, Mersiha. Sit down, why don't you?' Mersiha flopped down on to one of the two grey sofas by the window. Dr Brown waited until she was sitting before he got up from his own seat and walked around the desk. 'How's school?' he asked.
    'Mainly Bs,' she said. 'I got an A in chemistry, though.'
    'It's still your best subject?'
    Mersiha nodded. 'Chemistry and art. Pretty eclectic, huh?'
    Dr Brown nodded. 'How are you sleeping?'
    Mersiha shrugged laconically. 'Okay, I guess.'
    'Dreams?'
    'Sure. Everybody dreams.'
    Dr Brown smiled. Mersiha smiled back. She'd grown to enjoy the verbal jousting with her therapist, though she knew it was important not to antagonise him too much.
    'I meant bad dreams. Nightmares.'
    'Some,' she admitted. 'But not as much as before.'
    'What about sleepwalking?'
    Mersiha smiled sweetly. 'If I walk when I sleep, I wouldn't know about it, would I?'
    Dr Brown smiled back with equal sweetness, but his eyes glittered like wet pebbles. He walked over to a floor-to-ceiling bookcase and picked up a wooden figure and took it over to the sofas. He handed it to her as he sat down. 'Have you seen one of these before? It's a Russian doll. They call it a matrioshka.'
    Mersiha held the smooth wooden figurine and studied it. It was a peasant woman with a green and red shawl around her shoulders, big black eyes and scarlet lips. It was in two pieces that seemed to be screwed together. It felt heavy, as if it was solid. 'Sure. I had one of these when I was a kid. It's pretty.'
    'How long have you been coming to see me, Mersiha?' Dr Brown asked, holding out his hand for the doll.
    Mersiha shrugged and passed it back to him. 'Two years, I guess.'
    'It's more like three,' Dr Brown said as he set the doll down on the table. 'Imagine that's you,' he said.
    Mersiha sighed theatrically, but Dr Brown flashed her a warning look. He was serious. 'Okay,' she said.
    Dr Brown tapped the doll with the flat of his hand. 'It's hard outside, it looks solid. When you first came to see me three years ago, that's what you were like. Hard. But the hardness doesn't go right through. As you know, it comes apart. Try it.'
    Mersiha twisted the two halves. They separated easily. Inside was another figure, slightly smaller but in a different paint scheme. It was also in two halves. She moved to pull them apart, but Dr Brown held up his hand to stop her.
    'That's the stage we've got to, you and I. During the