Best Intentions by Joseph T Klempner

Author:Joseph T Klempner [Klempner, Joseph T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction/Legal
ISBN: 9781612309798
Publisher: New Word City, Inc.
Published: 2016-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

Ada and Penny Barrow showed up at Cathy Silverman’s office at 9:25 Saturday morning. “Sorry we’re late,” said Ada. “This one finally slept, for the first time in a week, would you believe, and I didn’t want to wake her up. She’s been through so much, you know. Right, sweetie?”

Penny shrugged. Silverman’s first impression of the child was that she looked pale and drawn, seemed nervous, and was reluctant to speak. Hardly the textbook picture of a normal six-year-old girl. “Why don’t we sit down,” she suggested, “and get ourselves acquainted?”

For the next twenty minutes, as Penny sat between the two women in near silence, Silverman had Ada Barrow describe her daughter’s behavior over the course of the past week. A few of the doctor’s questions were open-ended, such as, “How has she been acting in general?” But only a few. Most were specific to the point of being suggestive, what lawyers tend to object to as leading questions. “Have there been any episodes of bed-wetting?” the doctor wanted to know. “Is she having nightmares?” “Has she been sucking her thumb?” “Throwing temper tantrums?”

Ada answered yes to just about all of them. There finally came a time when Silverman asked Ada to step outside and have a seat in the waiting area, so that she could speak with Penny alone.

“Is that really necessary?” Ada wanted to know. “I mean, she’s so nervous. Even with me here.”

Silverman explained that it really was necessary. “Suppose I’m asked at some point if I ever bothered to interview her without your being present,” she pointed out. “It would look much better all around if I could say yes.”

Ada complied reluctantly, but she complied. In a later written report describing the session, Silverman would make a point of commenting on the mother’s obvious devotion to her daughter.

“So,” she said, finally turning her full attention to the little girl seated in the adult-sized chair, “how are we feeling today?”

“Fine,” said Penny.

In a gentle voice, Silverman asked her if she loved her mommy.

“Yes.”

“How about your daddy?”

“I love him, too.”

“I see. You and your daddy were living alone, is that right?”

“No.”

“No?”

“We weren’t living alone,” Penny explained. “We were living with each other.”

“I see,” Silverman said again. “Tell me, did you ever used to get into your daddy’s bed?”

“Yes, when it was cold.”

Silverman made a written note of this. Personally, she considered it a taboo, parents allowing children of the opposite sex to get into bed with them. She couldn’t understand why so many people did it. Pen poised in hand, she asked, “What happened on the times you got into bed with your daddy?”

Penny took a moment before answering, leading Silverman to suspect she was on to something. Finally Penny said, “I got warmer?”

“No. I mean, did your daddy tickle you?”

“In bed?”

“Yes, in bed.”

“No.”

“But he did tickle you?”

“Sometimes.”

Silverman made another note. She considered tickling highly problematic. “How does it make you feel, when he tickles you?”

“I don’t know. I laugh.”

“Tell me, Penny. Do you like it when your daddy takes pictures of you with his camera?”

A shrug.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.