The Verificationist

Twenty psychoanalysts meet for dinner in a pancake house. The narrator, Tom, finds himself locked in a bear hug by Bernhardt, the towering father figure of the group. Bernhardt is merely trying to keep Tom from a food fight, but the effects are disastrous. Tom is forced into an out-of-body experience, floating up to the ceiling and from there looking down on himself and his companions. Over the course of the evening he watches as his friendships, his marriage and even his professional...
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Twenty psychoanalysts meet for dinner in a pancake house. The narrator, Tom, finds himself locked in a bear hug by Bernhardt, the towering father figure of the group. Bernhardt is merely trying to keep Tom from a food fight, but the effects are disastrous. Tom is forced into an out-of-body experience, floating up to the ceiling and from there looking down on himself and his companions. Over the course of the evening he watches as his friendships, his marriage and even his professional identity, unfold and unravel until, in a catastrophic finale, he loses the very sense of himself as a man.