"Why should I? It was something personal between the two of us."
"Isn't that why you're both seeing me?"
"Not really. I'm here to deal with my relationship with my mother and my guilt while Karen is dealing with her relationship with her mother's death. At least that's my understanding."
"The two matters intertwine; your relationship with Karen and vice versa. Don't you agree?"
"Okay. Truce. I admit I was hedging. What did Karen say about what occurred?"
The doctor smiled. "You go first. What prompted you to suggest such a radical, unpleasant old-fashioned procedure; something so universally loathsome? Surely a bottled remedy or pills would have sufficed."
"I didn't suggest it. Karen asked what my mother would do in a similar situation and I told her. She's always asking about my family and how my mother handled matters. I've told you that about a hundred times."
"Because that's what you constantly tell her."
"My childhood might not have been ideal, but it was pretty damn good!"
"Including enemas and spankings?"
I jumped to my feet. "What are you saying? That an enema is some kind of cruel and unusual punishment? Maybe it's a bit radical nowadays but it's an accepted medical procedure even if it is a bit old fashioned. We had enemas dozens of times growing up. I didn't force it on Karen. I tried like hell to talk her out of it! I bent over backwards to use other means. I even bought a bunch of other stuff."
"Then why didn't you use what you'd purchased instead of putting her through a difficult procedure?"
"Because Karen wanted me to do what my mother would have done and she abhors the thought of taking medicine of any kind."
"What did you want to do?"
"I wanted to do whatever it took for Karen to feel better and not be upset about it. I was reluctant to force her to take medicine against her will. We discussed alternatives and she made a choice." He gave me a-you're -full-of-shit look. "Really. We must have spent a couple of hours batting it around. I'd purchased a bunch of stuff, liquid, tablets, even a suppository. She wouldn't choose any."
"How did you feel about administering the enema once she'd allowed you to proceed?"
"It scared the shit out of me if you really want to know. I could hardly fill the bag I was shaking so much."
"You could have refused."
"And given Karen one more example of how much less adequate I am at mothering than my own mother? That's all I needed to put our relationship back six months."