She was tall, blonde, and dressed all in white; suit, blouse, hose, and pumps.She was tall, blonde, and dressed all in white; suit, blouse, hose, and pumps. A small name tag pinned to her jacket said "von Damme". She wore little make-up and her hair was gathered up in roll on her head. "Hello Gloria. It's a pleasure to meet you at last," said Dr. van Damme extending her hand. "I'm glad your recovery went so well." Gloria took the proffered hand, shook it, and the two women sat down on the couch where Dr. van Damme opened the conversation. "Gloria, I want you to tell me in your own words what happened to you. How you wound up here, and how your experience here will enable you to function in the real world again." "Well, Doctor." "Please, Gloria, call me Justine." "My troubles started after I married my ex-husband, Joseph Watson. He was everything any girl could ask for. Fantastically wealthy, handsome, and sexually insatiable. He was thirty and I was twenty. Being young and coming from a lower middle-class family, I was in awe of him and his wealth. I always felt inadequate around Joe and he did everything he could to reinforce my perception. What did the marriage, and me in, was his continual betrayal of me. Joe just could not resist bedding any blonde with a big chest. I'm sure you've noticed that I conform to his ideal. I later learned that he has always behaved in this manner, why he even has a son who is almost my age; he got a girl pregnant when he was only twelve!" "After a year of my trying to get him to settle down, he divorced me. I blamed myself and my shortcomings for this. He provided me an extravagant settlement and I tried to loose myself in drugs and alcohol. When that didn't work I tried to kill myself. A friend shipped me here to your clinic for treatment and to avoid any scandals in the tabloids." Dr. van Damme poured out coffee for them. "And what have you learned from your treatment here?" "Well, I don't blame myself anymore. None of what happened was my fault; it all lies with that son of a bitch. I really believe he wanted to make it with all those women because he's really insecure about himself. Take his height for example, Joe is only five foot seven but always wanted to be six feet tall. |