MENTAL HYGIENE CONSULTATION FILE #CBS-1961 (REFRAMED)
Subject: Vance Gunczarus
Attending: Dr. Faye C. Schüß, TIfTS Fellow. (The Institute for Theoretical Studies)
Presenting Complaint: Reality behaving inconsistently with prior expectations
[Interior: Dr. Faye’s office]
Vance does not sit comfortably. He leans forward. Hands clasped. Not panicked—but unsettled in a way he cannot quite name. Dr. Faye does not interrupt. She lets him begin.
Vance:
Something’s off.
(A pause. He searches for it.)
Vance:
I don’t mean politically or anything like that. I mean. . . the way things line up.—They don’t.
Dr. Faye (gently):
Go on.
Vance:
Take people. People I’ve known for years. . . they change. Not gradually. Just—one day, it’s like they’re someone else.
(He hesitates.)
Vance:
My wife—
(He stops, corrects himself.)
—my ex-wife now.
(Silence.)
Vance:
It wasn’t like a fight. It was like. . . a switch flipped. Like I was suddenly dealing with a stranger.
(A pause. He hesitates, then reaches into his folder.)
Vance:
She sent me this:
Vance (quietly):
She stood there and presented it like a case.
(Another pause.)
Vance:
Like I was the one who needed proof.
(Dr. Faye nods once. Reaches—not for a medical chart—but for a book.)
Dr. Faye:
Yes.
“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.”
Vance (frowning):
I don’t know what that is.
Dr. Faye:
A neighborhood loses power. Nothing else changes—except suspicion. Within minutes, neighbors turn on one another. No invasion is required.
Vance:
That’s not the same thing.
Dr. Faye (matter-of-fact):
Haven’t you paid attention to the divorce statistics?
(A beat.)
Dr. Faye:
It happens every day. The person closest to you becomes a stranger. Suspicion follows shortly after.
(Vance doesn’t respond immediately.)
Vance:
Alright. . . maybe.
(He shifts, frustrated now.)
Vance:
But it’s not just that. It’s many things. Take the standards. . . they’ve flipped. Things that used to be considered beautiful—good, even—are treated like they’re wrong. And things that used to be. . . well—ugly—
(He gestures vaguely.)
—that’s what everyone praises now.
(Dr. Faye flips another page.)
Dr. Faye:
Yes.
“Eye of the Beholder.”
Vance:
Never heard of it.
Dr. Faye:
A woman believes she is disfigured. She undergoes procedures to look “normal.” At the end, the reveal: she is conventionally beautiful. The society judging her. . . is not. Consensus does not equal correctness. It merely scales it.
(Vance exhales, unsettled.)
Vance:
That’s. . . not far off.
(He presses on.)
Vance:
And then there’s this— I waited my whole life to slow down. To have time. Retirement. Quiet. Books.
(A small shrug.)
I got it.
(A pause.)
Vance:
And now I sit in front of that screen all day. Not because I want to. I just. . . drift there.
(He looks down.)
Vance:
And when I try to read—really read—I can’t stay with it.
(Dr. Faye selects another episode without hesitation.)
Dr. Faye:
“Time Enough at Last.”
Vance:
No idea.
Dr. Faye:
A man finally has the time he always wanted.
(She gestures faintly, as if toward an unseen shelf.)
Dr. Faye:
But something small—almost trivial—removes his ability to use it. His capacity is degraded during acquisition of time.
(Vance lets out a short breath.)
Vance:
That’s not an accident.
Dr. Faye:
No.
(A beat.)
Dr. Faye:
It’s an adjustment.
(Silence.)
Vance (after a moment):
And then there’s something else.
(He leans forward, lowering his voice slightly.)
Vance:
These systems—everything’s easier, faster, more efficient. But I get the feeling. . .
(He stops.)
. . . they’re not really for me.
(Dr. Faye nods. Already there.)
Dr. Faye:
“To Serve Man.”
Vance (squinting):
Wait—I think I know that one. Isn’t that the guy—what’s his name—the senator from Pennsylvania. . . John Fetterman? I saw something about that online. Same vibe.
(A pause. Dr. Faye studies him carefully.)
Dr. Faye:
No, Mr. Gunczarus. That’s another episode.
(She adjusts her poise slightly.)
Dr. Faye:
“The Doppelgänger.”
“Now serving a foreign entrée.”
Dr. Faye:
That is a common confusion. Increasingly common.
Vance (frowning):
I don’t know that one either.
Dr. Faye:
Most people don’t—until they do.
(A beat.)
Dr. Faye (continuing):
In this episode, assistance is offered. Problems are solved. The purpose becomes clear. . . only after commitment.
(A longer silence now.)
Vance:
So what are you saying?That I’m imagining things?
Dr. Faye:
No.
(She closes the book gently.)
Dr. Faye:
I’m saying you’re experiencing them. . . without the proper framework.
(She looks directly at him now.)
Dr. Faye:
You were not trained to expect people to change without warning. . .
—or for standards to invert without announcement. . .
—or for fulfillment to alter the one who receives it. . .
—And you weren’t trained for assistance to conceal its function,
—or identity to become… uncertain
Dr. Faye:
You lack exposure to episodic discontinuity.
(Vance sits back. Not convinced—but no longer dismissive.)
Vance:
So what do I do?
(Dr. Faye slides the book toward him.)
Dr. Faye:
We begin with orientation.
Vance:
Orientation for what?
(Dr. Faye pauses.)
Dr. Faye:
For the realization that this is not new. Only newly recognized.
(Vance looks down at the book. For the first time, it does not look like entertainment.)
[End of Consultation]
More from Dr. Faye C. Schüß here
COUNCIL-OF CONCERNED-CONSERVATIONISTS…..Between Jest And Earnest….. 
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