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Mr and Mrs Smith arrived on time. Someone else came out of the lift in front of them. This was extraordinarily perturbing. Mr and Mrs Smith shook hands with each of us as usual.
In the room, both looked fairly relaxed. Mr Smith began. There were no traumas to report. Mrs Smith agreed. Mr Smith said awkwardly that, of course, this should be the case. There did not have to be a crisis or dramatic event. But he worried about our time when there was not much to say. Therapist A said that, if there was not a trauma or a crisis, was it worth coming? Would it justify our time if there was nothing dramatic to report? Mr Smith said that it was something like that. Mrs Smith looked relaxed and nodded in agreement. Mr Smith said that he had noticed on the way here that there was not much that he wanted to say; there had not been any major arguments.
Mrs Smith then said, affably, but in a way that made Mr Smith wince, that they had not of course seen much of one another to argue. They had both spent lots of time in the house but at different ends. He had been occupied in his workroom rearranging the shelving. Mrs Smith laughed. Mr Smith explained that he had been at home for a few days holiday. He admitted that he was in the workroom a lot of the time. Sometimes he needed space and this was his way of recharging himself. Mrs Smith accepted that he needed a complete break but there were all sorts of jobs that she needed doing, things to be sorted out in the kitchen. She accepted that Mr Smith needed his rest, saying that these jobs could wait.