“I’ve seen worse,” Dr. Jones said, flat. Then he turned away from Kavita and started tapping at the keyboard, adding a few lines to Sunil’s file. “I’ll write you a new prescription, since you didn’t like my last recommendation.”

“It’s not that I didn’t like it.”

Dr. Jones jerked his head to look at Sunil, his gaze a piercing challenge. “Pardon me?”

Sunil seemed to shrink. “Never mind.”

“As I was saying,” Dr. Jones went on, once again facing the computer. “We’ll try something else, and I trust you’ll stay on the medication this time. We don’t want to go through this again, now do we? I’ll also write you a script for some sedatives to help you sleep, to be administered by your family, of course. After a few solid nights of rest, you’re bound to feel better. You should probably take some time off work, too, if you can. Do you have benefits? Okay, good. Well, I’ll write you a note for that as well.”

Dr. Jones arranged appointments with a social worker and a psychiatrist for the following week.

“Are these the earliest appointments we can get?” Kavita asked. “I was hoping for something today or tomorrow.” But according to the cards, Sunil wouldn’t see the social worker, the first of his appointments, until next Wednesday, six days from now. Keeping Sunil safe for six days felt like an epic task. As Kavita thought about the length of time between now and then, by some cruel magic, time expanded, days becoming longer than days, hours longer than hours.

“What can I tell you? The waiting lists are long, even for cases like yours. There’s always someone who’s worse off.”

“When will Sunil see you again?”

“Oh, well, I think we could touch base in about five weeks or so. We should know if the medication suits him by then. The ladies at the front desk will help you arrange a follow-up on your way out. And try to get in before I go on vacation.” Dr. Jones rose from his chair, signalling that their allotted time was up. They had already backed up the rest of his appointments for the day. “Hang in there, Sunil,” the doctor said as he opened the examination room door. “It’s a good sign that you came in today.”

As they left the doctor’s office with the appointment cards in hand, despite the bumps during the consultation, Kavita nevertheless felt a lightness swell in her torso, a buoyancy that could only come from their new course of action, their new plan of hope, which they would use to replace that of Sunil’s hopelessness.

Kavita winces against the glare of a passing car’s headlights.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have gone along with it.”

“What?”

“Not admitting Sunil to the hospital.”

“But he didn’t want to go.”