• Fooled by the medic, Chris flirts with his oppressor
Image: PEXELS
After surviving the seas, the reception centre, winter and job hunting with no papers… After surviving all that he now lay in hospital infected with Covid-19 that he had picked up in Italy.
All those other things could not take him out but a simple virus was going to. And he had to cross an ocean, cheat death many times only to now stroll into its arms. Yes, if you are having a bad day, have some perspective.
Perhaps I should say that to Chris? He called. Should I call back? I called him an ambulance and passed out the last time we saw each other. I didn’t brag about what I did to his face. I didn’t mock him. I didn’t laugh at him. I called for help. Now IF he has been told that I have oromandibular dystonia, he has no reason to believe that I bit off his trumpet on purpose. Perhaps that’s the reason he is calling. If he hasn’t been told, this could be my chance to tell him. I’ll call him back. I take a deep breath and dial his number. It rings just once.
“Samantha…” he says. “Are you ok?”
“Yes, yes I’m fine,” I respond. “How are you? Oh God, Chris I’m so sorry…”
“It’s ok, you couldn’t help what happened,” he responds.
There’s silence as we both take in my fictitious condition.
“It must be hard to live with that… that thing you have,” he says.
“It is…” I say. “I can normally control it. I do. I take drugs for it. I don’t know what happened that night. I guess I was too excited.”
Might as well make him think he is the most attractive man on earth.
“Yes, the doctor mentioned that you may have been overcome with passion,” he says.
Did he now? That doctor gets more and more mysterious with each passing day.
“Your effect on me that night was bittersweet,” I say softly.
“Yes, so sweet…” he says.
Wait. What? Does Chris have Stockholm Syndrome? Is he bonding emotionally with an abuser? How fascinating. Falling in love with your oppressor is something scientists have tried to understand for years. I cut this man’s penis off, for heaven’s sake. And he’s busy flirting with me.
“Are you out of hospital?” I ask.
“No, not yet,” he answers. “I need to give you a head’s up about my wife.”
In the midst of all this commotion, I had forgotten about his wife and what she thought about all this.
“She doesn’t know it was you. Let’s keep it that way,” he says.
“Ok… What does she think happened?” I ask.
“Well, I was obviously with someone. I just didn’t mention who it was,” he says.
That’s a relief. On top of everything else, I’m not interested in facing a very angry wife. And she introduced me to her husband. I will die if she tries to discuss this with me. As if reading my mind, he adds:
“She was brought up in the type of home where dirty linen is not aired in public.”
Yes, I suppose she was. She seemed quite prim and proper when we met. Such a nice lady! How did she end up with this guy? Pleasing her parents? The rich marrying the rich? God forbid they let the rest of us get a shot at a grand life.
So it will be a stiff upper lip for the public and no one will ever know why her husband is in hospital. Perfect. The rich also cry, they just don’t ever let you see it.