Infantile Commitment
“He is such a cocky dick. Jack really thinks he’s mister business man,” Sally stared out the window, as if she couldn’t see the apple orchard outside. “He actually believes the business is all his doing; however, he inherited the whole company from his family. Now he’s thundering around, with a swollen ego, believing the whole world revolves around him.”
Sally paused for a few moments. “What really gets me angry,” shaking her head. “Is his refusal to see my expertise, let alone, ingenuity. I do have an MBA you know.”
Kathrin Benson MD, was seated behind Sally. “And your MBA is from an Ivey League school,” she added.
Sally was 30, looked 20, and had the poise of woman in her 50s. She was extremely attractive, and had gotten used to ignoring people unable to resist looking at her. Summa Cum Laudae from Vasser, and Magna Cum Laudae from Harvard Business School, her credentials were intimidating. Yet, she had a childish, playful side she revealed to only those she was close to. It was this side of her that was disarming; moreover, it could render a person completely helpless to her will.
But now she was the one who appeared vulnerable. Lying back on her psychiatrist’s couch, spilling her feelings for a marriage she needed, but didn’t want to experience. Her lean, athletic, motionless body lay on the leather sofa, while she appeared deep in thought.
“You earned your way into the company,” Kathrin said. “By competing with hundreds of others who applied. Now, you tell me the company is in peril, you believe you can pull them out of it, yet Jack refuses to act on your suggestions?”
Sally nodded, “It’s not only that. He wants me to be his fucking trophy wife, and play the part of some bimbo. He wants to give everyone the impression he is in charge, everything is his idea, every problem is someone else’s fault, and every success is his doing. He wants to create this persona of being the man that wasn’t a good college student, but is smarter than people like me. He expects me to play the coquette, while he assumes the role of some star out of a Hollywood film.”
Sally sat up, “I give him every chance to steal my ideas, hoping he will just do what I suggest; I tell him he can present my business plans as his, but he will have none of it. He just can’t accept the idea I’m smarter than he is, let alone, the fact that he doesn’t know how to run a business.”
Once another moment of quite had passed, Kathrin chimed in again, “How many people does ‘J. House’ employ?”
“About 550, give or take a few.”
“So,” Kathrin probed, “His feeling above everyone, including the woman he married, is more important to him than the welfare of over 500 people?”
Sally didn’t answer.
Kathrin continued, “And he seems to lack the ability to see he is without business skills. Just like a baby.” Kathrin looked up to the ceiling, as if searching for a profound metaphor, “The infant is completely incapable of knowing anything other than himself. For some people, as they become adults, this continues for the rest of their lives.”
Sally began laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Kathrin looked serious.
“Oh, my God!” Sally’s laughing spell continued for several moments before she was able to speak again.
“I never told you this. How could I? I mean,” she started laughing again. “It’s not something you want to let anyone know about.”
Kathrin patiently waited, inviting Sally to release her secret. Finally, Sally opened up. “He has a diaper fetish!” Shaking her head, “He is so fucking bizarre, I mean, he’s a freak. He likes me, or any adult woman, to change his fucking diapers. And that’s not the worst of it,” Sally stood up and walked over to the window. “He likes to piss himself, and he…”
Kathrin nodded, “Does he soil?”
Sally laughed, “Yes! He shits himself and smears around in his poop while he masturbates! He is fucking sick—OK?!”
Kathrin kept a poker face and slowly nodded.
Sally went on, “We finally came to an agreement, an arrangement. He goes to this courtesan once a week at an apartment he owns. It’s all decorated like a giant baby nursery. That way, he can sit in his piss and shit, and get off while she changes and wanks him. Normally, I would divorce him immediately. But…”
“But?”
“OK, say I’m a terrible person, say it!”
“Why do you think you’re a terrible person?”
“Because I need the fucking money! I need my work, I need this whole scene; it’s a life I lose if I divorce him.”
“So,” Kathrin offered. “You earned your way into a company, you are trying to do a great job at something you’re great at, you are trying to save the jobs of 550 people, and you’re being prevented from what you should be doing, by a man who is incapable of running a business, and who is regressing further and further into this fantasy of being a baby.
This condition he has, is almost always permanent. It’s mainly men that have this condition, though there are some women who do. And while you’re longing for a healthy sexual relationship with someone, Jack is happier having bowel movements in diapers and experiencing himself as a baby.
I understand this must be very difficult for you, to say the least.”
Sally picked up a pen on the stand next to her, and threw it at the wall. “Damn it!” turning to Kathrin. “I can’t take this anymore! I can’t. I want to take him out of the picture, or I am going to do something insane, so help me…I want…I want some kind of revenge, or something…but I don’t want to really hurt him.”
Kathrin nodded, “OK.” She paused while staring into Sally’s eyes. “I have an idea: a treatment that will allow you to have a healthy, satisfying life, and excel at your career; save the jobs of all those people, giving them happier lives; and allow Jack what he wants, and perhaps needs. And all without you feeling a bit of guilt. No one will ever know about this, but the two of us. Now, it will be quite expensive, but I’m certain it’s going to be the best thing for everyone.”
Sally thought for a minute or so, and then nodded. “What do you have in mind?”
“Here’s what I want you to do,” Kathrin began jotting some things down. “Don’t be alarmed,” she said confidently. “I’ve had cases like this before, and it really turns out for the best. In fact, patients like Jack, tend to like this course of action. Sooner, if not later.”
After accepting the list of instructions, Sally put her arms around Kathrin and embraced her. Kathrin gently patted her on the back. “It’s going to be alright,” she whispered.
Kathrin watched Sally walk down the brick path through the orchard. She took a few deep breaths. Her fantasies rushed inside her, overflowing the synapses with sweet, irrational pleasure.
All those months of probing, inspecting, and inferring were finally paying off, for Kathrin had just found the relationship’s g-spot. Feeling the perfect golf or tennis hit, the ultimately timed orgasm, conducting a psychiatric symphony to a resonant crescendo, Kathrin closed her eyes for a moment, only to vision her new activities.
Months of sessions, hours of listening, and all now finally distilled into a valuable nugget for her own interest. It was hard work to uncover: Sally’s sexual desires, fantasies, and subconscious drives; uncovering her curiosity about relationships with other women, and even bisexual interests; along with her attraction to Kathrin, and the nuances of those fantasies.
Jack’s Achilles heel was the last piece of information needed. Now, she had identified the situational pressure points. Only a few arrangements needed to be made, and things would be compartmentalized, Kathrin thought, leaving the players open for her exercise.
“We’re going to be together” she said, watching Sally walk through the gate. “All three of us.”