Popcorn

The narrative moves back in time to Andrew’s first appointment with Dr. Cain, which took place during the summer before seventh grade. He feels distracted and very uncomfortable because a crumb on her desk makes one of her picture frames crooked, as illustrated by the seventh Anxiety File, “What Looking at That Crooked Frame Felt Like to Me.” Andrew feels embarrassed when Dr. Cain notices him staring at the picture frame, but she assures him, “You can’t do anything ‘wrong.’ There are no bad answers. I’m not testing you or anything” (92). He tells her about the tension he feels, his fear of germs, his panic attacks, and his relentless worry that he will have another panic attack. His first panic attack was triggered when G forgot who he was and locked him out of his old room, and he felt as though he was trapped in a nightmare.

Andrew is stunned when Dr. Cain correctly infers that he sometimes does things like tapping because he feels like disaster will strike if he doesn’t, and he tears up when she assures him that she’s helped many people with his conditions. When the doctor asks to hear more about his life, Andrew shares that his parents divorced five years ago and that this was for the best because his father was unkind to him and his mother, that he mows lawns after school to make money, and that G had to move in with him and Susan because of her Alzheimer’s.