Chapter 29 Chapter Twenty Nine

Two days later, she was called into Dr. Lewison's office.Dr. Keller was there.Ashley will be discharged from the hospital and will return to her home in Cupertino, where she has scheduled regular treatment and evaluations with a court-approved psychotherapist. Dr. Lewison said, "Well, today is that day. Are you excited?" "I'm excited, I'm scared, I'm... I don't know. I feel like a bird that just got free. I feel like I'm flying," Ashley said, her face glowing. "I'm glad you're leaving, but I...I'm going to miss you," Dr. Keller said.

Ashley took his hand and said passionately, "I'll miss you too. I don't know how I... how I can thank you." Tears welled up in her eyes, "You gave me a second life. " She turned to Dr. Lewison. "When I get back to California, I'll get a job with a computer company there. I'll let you know how I'm doing, and how my outpatient treatment is going. I'm going to make sure that what happened before never happens again happened to me." "I don't think you have anything to worry about," Dr. Lewison assured her. When she was gone, Dr. Lewison turned to Gilbert Keller. "That makes up for many, many unsuccessful cases, doesn't it, Gilbert?"

※※※ It's a sunny June day, and as she walks down Madison Avenue in New York City, people look back at her with a blissful smile.She has never been so happy.She envisions the wonderful life ahead of her, and all the things she plans to do.She might have a terrible end, she thought, but now this was the happy end she had prayed for. She walked into Penn Station.It's the busiest train station in America, an unglamorous maze of stuffy halls and passages.The station was crowded with people.And everyone has an interesting story to tell, she thought.They all went to different places and lived their own lives, and now I'm going to live my own.

She bought a ticket from a vending machine.Her train was just coming in, good luck, she thought. She boarded the train and sat down.She's full of excitement for what's to come.The train jolted a bit, then began to pick up speed.I'm finally on my way.As the train rolled toward the Hamptons, she began to sing softly: "Every corner of the mulberry bushes, The monkey chased the weasel, The monkey thought it was really fun, Puchi!The weasel ran away. "