Official Happiness Services occupied three floors. The consultant handed me a brochure.

“Which package interests you?”

“What’s the difference?”

“Basic Happiness begins at three thousand dollars. Silver at fifteen thousand. Gold at fifty thousand.”

Back home at last after a long day at work, I head straight to the kitchen for the amber pill I’ve been yearning for ever more desperately over these past couple days. Once I’ve swallowed the gleaming oval with a gulp of water, I take a shower then wait on the sofa for the medication to take effect.

As always, ae appears first as a haze of colors then coalesces into a definite form. A kangaroo this time.

“It’s been a little while,” ae says. “Did your prescription change?”

“Yup. Down to twice a week now,” I answer.

“That means things have improved!” ae cheers, ever enthusiastically supportive.

“So my therapist tells me.”