The Interrogation WC 288

The Interrogation

“Charles, how did that make you feel?”

“I felt like a kid again. My childhood came flooding back.”

I paused.

“Go on.”

“My mother was an accuser. I'm not saying she didn't have valid reasons; I'm just saying I wish she had found another way.”

“In what way?”

“She could’ve turned the other cheek!”

‘How would that have helped you learn right from wrong?”

Dr. Shrink was a smart cookie, but I wasn't paying him to make me feel bad about myself.

“Charles?”

“What?”

“What was the trigger?”

“I did something bad in my wife's eyes. A sin. A crime.”

“But not in your eyes?”

“It was already done. It couldn’t be undone.”

“Go on.”

“My wife said, ‘What do you have to say for yourself?’ And suddenly she was my mother, and I was a little kid.

“What did you do then, Charles?”

Dr. Shrink looked over the edge of his readers, pen poised. The session was almost over; the timer was about to ding. I would not be coming back. I did not need to be paying someone to make me feel worse about myself than I already did.

“Charles?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“In order to heal, you must.”

I took a deep breath and continued.

“I went to the kitchen and got a knife out of the utensil drawer.”

Dr. Shrink was on the edge of his fancy chair.

“I went to the dining room.”

I stopped as the scene flooded back.

“And then what did you do, Charles?”

“I cut off the other drumstick. Everybody gasped. But it was too late, the deed was done.”

“And then what?”

“I ran out of the room with the drumstick in my mouth.”

*DING*