New Residents:

Oh boy.

“Bonnie,” Kuma said, “I received a call today from Dr. Bell, at the hospital.”

Ohno.

“He told me that there had been some errors in getting information to me and that while you are staying with the Possible’s, there is adult family supervision and that I shouldn’t worry about the twins.”

Okay, what am I-huh?

“What?” Bonnie asked before her brain engaged.

“Oh, I’m certain all will be explained to you, dear.” Kuma said, “Just remember—one doesn’t always have to do everything alone.”

“I…okay.” Bonnie said, “Thanks.”

On the way home she wondered what Kuma had meant, but when they got to the Possible’s, there was only one car in the driveway and it wasn’t Dr. Possible.

Where is she? Bonnie wondered, but when she came in, there was one of her…less then favorite persons sitting at the table. Dr. Simonson.

“Hello, Ms. Rockwaller.” He said calmly, “Hello, Jim, Tim.”

“Where’smom.” They both said, eyes darting back and forth.

“Getting help. Seeing your father.”

“But mom hasn’t seen dad-“

“Since not long after Kim-“ Stereophonic Tweebs, Bonnie had once heard Kim describe them as, and she had to admit it was descriptive.

“I know. We’re working on that. She left you a letter.” He paused, and handed it to them. “Jim, Tim, your mother didn’t want to leave as quickly as she did, but sometimes, you have to do something…before you become too afraid to do it even if you know it’s right.”

“Is…is dad coming back?”

“That’s what they’re working on, yes.”

But you didn’t say he was. Bonnie thought.

“In any case, you’ll be staying here with Bonnie and…someone else. For a while.”

Not you, please God no.

“I can handle-“

“And if something happens like a car wreck? The authorities might get sticky. Trust me, you’ll like this adult and she’s not me.” He paused, and looked over at Jim and Tim. The two took the hint, and headed upstairs.

“Now, you probably want to know a little more of what is going on, so you can let Jim and Tim know and reassure them.”

Well, reassure me. Bonnie silently commented.

“Okay, what’s happening?”

“Dr. Possible has agreed to go and see her husband. Rabbi Katz had been speaking with James, and they’ll both be meeting with… a marriage Counselor.” He shrugged, “They’ll be gone for a while.”

“How long?” Bonnie asked.

“I don’t know.” Simonson paused, “Ms. Rockwaller, I received permission to speak to you…but I’m not certain how er… competent Andrea was at that point. On the other hand, there are things you need to know, so I’ll have to trust you and remind you that you need to keep this information in the strictest confidence, until Andrea or her husband release you from that charge—if they ever do.

What else is new?

“Okay.” Bonnie said.

“Very well.” Simonson paused and looked across the room. “The first thing you have to realize is that the myth that domestic troubles only happen to poor, or stupid people is just that, a myth. But that myth often leaves people like James and Andrea less prepared, because they don’t believe they should be prepared—having always overcome every obstacle, they aren’t ready for one that they can’t over come.”

“Okay…”

“And that leads to a perfectly human desire to find a reason for everything that has happened, a reason that lets them off the hook.” He shrugged, “Understand, I’m not condemning—this isn’t a failing, this is a universal constant of human behavior. It’s especially serious because until this moment, the Possible’s had never encountered a challenge they couldn’t overcome themselves, and more importantly never a challenge that called so many of their assumptions into question. Andrea is a doctor, and yes she’s lost patients, but she never would have dreamed that her daughter would have self destructed so dramatically. Nor had her husband.”

“So why did he leave?”

“Because…” He paused, “He blamed his wife, and she blamed him. It’s not fair—it’s not fair at all, but even knowing that you can’t help but think it, which is why these situations can get so terrible. She was the silly idiot who didn’t notice her daughter was self destructing even though she was a doctor, and to her, he was the man who happily abandoned Kim in favor of his little space hobby.”

“But it’s a job-“

“That he likes to do, and James’ reluctance to get involved with Kim’s personal decisions was a joke around the hospital—and one of our first warning signs, before you even arrived here was that her jokes about it became more edged, less funny. She told Dr. Bell that “James talks about how he has to stay out late and let me take care of the twins because he has a project. If I show up for work tired, it’s not some rocket that suffers, people die.” That was when Dr. Bell started seriously watching her and tried to convince her that she needed, that James needed some help. Because of course it wasn’t just him she blamed, but herself, a kind of mental feedback loop.”

“She did force you to suspend her.” Bonnie said. Simonson raised his eyebrow at her.

“You caught that? Yes. If she had been working in another field, where it was easier to back stop her, we could have let her continue for a time…whether that would have been wise…” He shrugged, “Regardless, not only couldn’t we risk a patients heath, Andrea knows, even if she refused to admit it, that she’s not anywhere near the top of her game, if a patient died, or was harmed under her care right now, it would destroy her. We had a responsibility both to her and our patients to make certain that did not happen—and she refused to accept that she wasn’t capable of giving proper care right now.”

“But in any case,” he continued, “That’s why they separated. I haven’t spoken to James, but I bet that the reasons in his case were about the same. You hate and love the person next to you and sometimes you think that things will get better if you just separate. Maybe the problem will stop, because you can’t figure out any other way to make it stop. Seldom does it work. The phrase “one flesh” isn’t just a biblical one, it’s a very good nutshell of the psychological state of many strong marriages.”

“So, they’ll be talking with Dr. Bell?”

“Oh heaven’s no.” Simonson said, “I’m afraid, Bonnie that you may not understand just how ugly these sessions might be. If they’re going to work through this they’ll have to confront terrible issues of sorrow, rage, and yes, hate. Things are going to be said, things are going to be spewed out, that will be more hateful then you could ever imagine them saying. There will be hysterics, rage, and tears, and everything in between, and for that reason, among others, it’s a good idea that they not say it to people they’ll have to be working with professionally and socially in the future. Equally, the person working with them has to be someone who can make a decision of what is best for them—not what he thinks the really wonderful coworker he wants to see back at the hospital will want—which is another reason to avoid one of us. I’m not certain if it came down to it that I would be able to avoid taking Andrea’s side, and that would be utterly destructive to the marriage and their healing.”

“What-what are they going to have to do?” Bonnie said, cursing the stutter. Part of her had expected, had hoped that they would just go and have one of those quickie 30 minute sessions and everything would be alright. Her mother and father had done that and come home happy according to her sisters…

Of course, your father no longer lives at home.

“They’re going to have to admit some ugly things. They both screwed up, and yet it wasn’t all their fault. Terrible things can happen to good people and sometimes, things just don’t work out.” Simonson said bluntly. “Kim Possible has loving parents, you know that, and I know it, so why didn’t she go to them for help instead of crawling into a pill case?”

“That’s not fair!” Bonnie burst out. “She was-“ She paused, “Afraid of what I- of what everyone might say.”

“Maybe.” He said, “Or maybe like her parents she just wanted this horror to go away, no matter what it took.” He frowned, “I don’t know, I hope wherever she is, the people she’s with do know, and help her.” Then he nodded, “But in part you’re right. I’m a mental health specialist, and every time I see a movie with some mentally ill person held up for ridicule, or worse yet, as a ticking time bomb, I fall into a frothing rage. She was mentally ill, Ms. Rockwaller, just like a person with a broken leg or serious infection is physically ill, and the fact that she was at all functional was in and of itself amazing. Of course the problem is that our society has such a collection of myths and phobias about mental illness that people are terrified of even thinking about getting help.” He laughed, “Imagine if someone with a broken leg told you they were just going to stay home with it without going to a doctor because they were afraid people might laugh at them.”

“Is it going to work with her parents?”

“I don’t know.” He said, “I think so, I hope so, but… this isn’t mathematics. 2+2 doesn’t always equal four, especially in the psychological disciplines.” He paused, “I can tell you that I think that if it’s possible at all, pardon the pun, they will be able to do it.”

“And someone from the hospital is staying here with us.” Bonnie said.

Simonson laughed, “Oh heavens no!”

“Huh?”

“Ms. Rockwaller, when told Ms. Kuma that there would be family here, we weren’t misleading her. In fact, she was preparing to come over when we called her last night.” He shrugged, “Apparently she had decided that it was time for her to show up, no matter what the others said, and we were already thinking about having an intervention.” He paused, “Though I must thank you on that. Andrea told us about your question, and believe me, Ms. Rockwaller, you have directly impacted this situation and for the better. There is a tremendous difference between trying to force someone to seek help and convincing someone that they need to seek help. You were able to do that, and you should be proud.” There was a ring at that door, and Simonson got a small smile on his face.

“And I believe she is here.” He quickly moved to open the door, and there was an old woman, gray haired, looking at Simonson and Bonnie with a thoughtful expression.

“I don’t know if you’ve met Kim’s grandmother, Bonnie, but she’ll be the one staying at the house.”