"I'm fine," Robbie said out of habit. He hadn't really talked with anyone - a little bit with his siblings on the phone every now and then - but he had not been able to talk to any of his friends let alone even think of going to see a psychiatric. A lot of people he knew had offered him the numbers of the psychiatric's they went to, but Robert was an Irish man - a real man! - and thought it was all American humbug.
And so he had been alone. Being Irish and having grown up in a Catholic family did not help either - it still somehow felt that it was appropriate to feel miserable and undeserving all the time.
"Thanks but I'm just fine," he repeated but sounded more like he was trying to convince himself about it.