Based on Hey Arnold! characters created by Craig Bartlett. Based on Rugrats characters created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo and Paul Germain. Author claims no copyright.
For any MFT, couples counseling can be brutal. Arnold was no different. Often times he played the middle man when one wanted to be there and their spouse did not. He knew what to expect after being in practice for a few years. Plus his office used to be his childhood bedroom at Sunset Arms boarding house, just down the hall from where Susie and Oskar Kokoshka often bickered. He had heard it all before.
Just after a couple working on their marriage, Arnold had his first appointment with a new client. A young bachelor, and thus a good change of pace. The guy had been referred to Arnold through his job at Hillwood State University and their staff assistance program. His name was Phillip DeVille.
When Arnold was done going over notes from his couples session, he called Phil in from the lobby. They shook hands. "Phil, that will be an easy name for me to remember," said Arnold, "it was my grandpa's name, its my son's name and its my middle name. Come on in and have a seat."
After the door was closed, Phil sat down on the couch in Arnold's office. They went over the standard confidentiality, insurance and liability issues that Phil and any new client had to sign papers in agreement of.
Phil proceeded to tell Arnold as much of his story as he was willing to.
He was the manager of the Evergreen Cafe, an HSU campus eatery. He had got a bachelor's degree from HSU and decided to take a job there to save some money once he graduated.
He had grown up in Southern California. He had a twin sister. Lillian, or Lil for short, the twin sister, was his best friend. But ever since their adolescent days they had felt the need to prove that they are two different people. That was part of why he went all the way up to the Pacific Northwest for college and she went to UC Santa Barbara. To have some space once they hit adulthood. But their dream was to one day start their own food truck or restaurant together. Their mom ran a coffee shop. Phil liked cooking. Lil was studying finance and accounting. So it felt like a natural thing to do.
"So do you like living in Hillwood?," Arnold asked. "Yeah," said Phil, "mud has always been one of my favorite things. There are lots of lush trails around here to get down and dirty in, good for training for Tough Mudders."
Then Phil talked about how, from an early age, he had been drawn to seemingly off-putting flora and fauna like worms. That reminded Arnold of Nadine, a girl he went to school with that was fond of insects.
Phil went on about what really brought him to therapy and provoked his anxiety. It was about an obsession he had with finding a girlfriend. To the point of spending too much time on Tinder and Googling matches he got. None of the matches he got or any short-term hook ups in college had worked out. Part of why he felt this way was because Lil had figured out courtship and he had not. Lil had a long-term boyfriend she met at UCSB and was basically part of the family by then. He thought that he needed someone that could infiltrate the twin bond the same way as Darren, Lil's partner, had. He thought not having a partner was the one way he and Lil did not connect.
The story of the DeVille twins instantly made Arnold think of Ellie and Kellie, the twin daughters of his best friends Phoebe and Gerald. He was like an honorary uncle, or godfather, to Ellie, Kellie and their brother Gerald Jr. He thought Phil had given him a preview of what was to come when the Johanssen twins got older.
"Well all of that definitely gives us things to cover in future sessions," said Arnold once the time was up and scheduled a second appointment for Phil. Then Phil walked out.
Arnold thought that he was right, that Phil DeVille was a good change of pace from the couples session. However, when it was starting with someone new and hearing what felt like their entire life story, it was still one of those overwhelming days. He loved his job, and had come to realize that therapy was what he was meant to do, but some days were more challenging than others.
Helga had just finished brushing her teeth and taking her medication when she walked out of the bathroom towards her bed. She was wearing a purplish pink nightgown. Arnold, in a black shirt and tartan pajamas, was lying on it and staring at the ceiling after a long day. He had left the bedside light on for her. They had just finished dinner and watching a few cartoons with their son and daughter that night. He didn't need to tell her all about Phil DeVille or the unhappy couple, and couldn't anyway out of confidentiality. She knew how it was.
"Couples therapy and a new guy," said Arnold. Helga knew that her husband had an instinct to want to solve everyone's problems no matter what the cost. In elementary school it was anyone from his boarding house neighbors, Coach Wittenberg, the Jolly Olly Man to Chocolate Boy. In his teenage years it was his parents to get them reacclimated to life out of the jungle. More recently it was her to ger her sober. Now it was his clients. That instinct to help everyone was part of why she had wanted to marry him since the day they met, in preschool. But in times like these when he felt like so much was expected of him, she learned how to be the soothing presence.
"You're only human, football head," said Helga as she got into bed, "remember that." Arnold smiled and nodded before they turned the lights out. He could never have imagined her as a soothing presence when they were kids. They had come a long way from "move it, football head."