The Induction

Samatha Conley was and has been Mrs. Maney’s best friend since she married her late husband. In fact Lily who her son would soon be marrying was Samantha’s daughter.

“Hey, girlfriend, you look really lost today what’s up?” Samantha asked as she sat across from Mrs. Maney at her kitchen table sipping a bit of wine from a big glass. “Look, I’ve got something to cheer you up!” Samantha pulled a couple of brochures from her purse and handed one to Cynthia.

Mrs. Maney looked at the pamphlet in her hand. In soothing blue letters there was only one word ‘Reset’.

Samatha and Cynthia drank a few more glasses of wine. The brochures contained a couple all-service passes to a new day spa and tomorrow they were looking forward to using them.

………………………

As the masseuse applied the lotion to Mrs. Maney’s neck and shoulders the **** began to kick in and Wyatt’s techs quickly moved into the room and got Mrs. Maney wired up. A nursery song played in the background as the word ‘remember’ flashed in Mrs. Maney’s minds eye. In the next room a similar thing was happening to Mrs. Conley.

...I'm a little teapot ...

It was as if Mrs. Maney was watching a movie over and over again each with a slight variation in the frame of reference as the story unfolded in her mind and then became part of her memories … yes, she remembered, and tears steamed down her face. She knew that she had to do that other awful thing to make things right for the sad little boy whose life she ruined. The one she hurt so … deeply.

Mrs. Maney’s mind would rather rationalize this absurd story as the cause for her self hatred instead of the real reason that was to her much much worse. She embraced this false memory because it allowed her to compensate Wyatt with a sacrifice of the thing she loved most to bury the awful truth that she couldn’t face.

The modified memory was at times dream like and other times as rich as any visceral life experience. The modified memory was truly audacious and diabolical, bending Mrs. Maney’s reality to forget her guilt of that singular event and to replace it with another. This augmented moment was the week of Lily’s 18th birthday party. Her and Davey who was just a month older would be graduating high school this year. As in real life Wyatt was eliminated from Mrs. Maney’s thoughts. But in this blossoming variation Wyatt the step son was consumed and re-projected as Arlo the bully. In this memory Davey was still Davey, a bright young man, slight of build and very dependent on his mother. A young man who had never really bonded with his step father who had passed away a few years earlier.

………………………

Oh my! Davey what happened ... ? Come here sweetie, mommy loves you.

Mom, please nothing happened ... ow ... my eye hurts ... whimper ... he’s a big bully … he ... sob ...

Oh honey, I'm so sorry. Why don't you come and sit next to me on the couch? We'll get the icepack and I'll make us some hot cocoa to warm you up. We need to talk about this. I can't have you suffering at the hands of that awful boy. Hmm, maybe we should tell the principle about this. It may help to get Arlo in line. We'll just do it tomorrow. For tonight, why don't we watch your favorite movie and forget about all this? I love you so much and want to make everything right.

… slowly … slowly …

In the middle of the movie that night Mrs. Maney's friend, Samantha, called just to talk to Cynthia a bit and to tell her that she and her daughter, Lily, would be having a birthday party this weekend. In a hushed tone so Davey didn't hear, Mrs. Maney told Samantha about Davey being bullied by Arlo. Samantha sympathized but then in a lusty voice told Mrs. Maney that Arlo was such a strong, handsome young man and that she would let him bully her anytime.

Hearing this Mrs. Maney blushed and scolded Sam for being so naughty.

Davey called out to his Mom telling her to hurry up because she was missing the best part of the movie. But Mrs. Maney couldn't get the naughty description of Arlo out of her head and was looking forward to talking more with Samantha at school tomorrow.

… slow

Oh, I'm so sorry darling. I got lost for a bit and now it’s time for bed. Let's finish this movie some other time and tomorrow I'll try to get to the bottom of this bullying. I promise. Mommy loves you so much. Goodnight, sleep tight.