Jitters

By Ted Atoka

Jitters is a short story about a professional journalist suffering from severe anxiety disorders. The most difficult thing for her to do is to recognize she has a problem. A very strong person, she overcomes that hurdle and makes an appointment with a medical specialist. What begins as a business-as-usual patient-doctor visit suddenly goes awry when she takes matters into her own hands.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Huntington House Press
• Release date: Sep 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386524519

Ted Atoka

Ted Atoka lived the first half of his life in Boston, MA. He made a Christmas visit to friends in Oklahoma in 1981, and fell in love with country life. Five weeks after returning home—to a raging snow storm, he packed up and moved to OK. He and his wife live on a piece of land on the side of a dirt road. They share the fresh air with a peacock named Penelope, two dogs, a small herd of deer, and a feral cat.

Book preview

Reaching out

Lying won’t help me find the answer to my problem. I’m an honest person by nature. There’s a cheap ballpoint pen chained to the clipboard, and I use it to print my answers on the questionnaire. Name: Sylvia Taylor. Height: 5 feet 7 inches. Weight: 134 lbs. Age: 32. Hair color: Red. And by golly, it doesn’t come from a bottle.

The next question: Reason for visit?

That makes me giggle even though it’s not funny; I’m scared shitless of everything. The reason I’m here is that I’m living in a constant state of jitters. When I drive to my assignments, sit in a restaurant, or visit my off-site storage locker—I’m nervous as hell. Even when I lock myself in a restroom stall, I get spooked. That’s it, I’ve had enough of this shit. I need a doctor to tell me what’s wrong.

I’m a little early for my appointment.