Chapter 1: The Odd Couple

CASE FILES - PERSONAL NOTES - PATIENTS 104 & 105 - PRELUDE

The doctor was finishing up with a patient when I greeted the oddest pair of individuals I had yet seen while in the service of my passionately fanatical physician. I had trained for this moment, and I tried very hard to be professional and not let my feelings show toward the surprising pair. You see, the doctor has two very legitimate jobs. On one hand, he’s a private psychiatrist and practicing professor at the largest, most prestigious medical school in Providence. However, he also does a little “Evil Mad Doctoring” on the side; and he had let me know this morning in bed, while I was playing gracious hostess to his body inside my body, that his 10:30 appointment would be part of this illegal sideline. I had tried to assure him, after the final convulsing strains of my orgasm had eased their way to a grudging halt, that I would not let him down. In point of fact, I would do anything for the man. I literally owed him my life ... and my health (both physical and mental). My heart I had given him freely ... and completely. I belonged to him.

“The doctor will be free right on time,” I assured them both. “Please have a seat. May I get you a cup of coffee?”

The man, tall and gruff-looking, lifted his eyes from my chest to my eyes and smiled warmly, unapologetically. “That’s very kind of you, but none for me, thanks.” He went to a chair, then turned and stared at my breasts again while lowering himself to the seat, still smiling. He didn’t seem to care about the woman with him at all, so I turned to her and made a gesturing offer, to which she replied warmly: “Oh. Yes, thank you. I don’t want you to go to all that trouble, though. Where’s the pot? I can get it myself.”

I smiled at her. “Come on, I’ll show you,” and I led her back into the foyer and down the hall to the examining room, where I’d insisted that the doctor set up a coffee machine. She smiled again and fixed herself a half-full Styrofoam cup with a little cream and sugar.

She took a sip. “This is good,” she said. “Thank you.”

I smiled as I led her back toward the reception room. I liked her. She was a large woman, about my height or a little more, maybe five feet seven or so; and, I would guess, about a hundred eighty pounds. Not quite obese, but I think anyone (including, I’m sure, she herself) would admit she was seriously overweight. She was African American with straightened hair in sort of a pageboy cut. She was young, perhaps twenty-five, and her chubby face seemed to sport a permanent sweet smile. It changed, however, when I asked her about her companion, and her countenance clouded perceptibly. “Oh, we’re not together,” she confided. “I’m not really sure WHY I’m here. Mr. Chumbley is the senior member of my company’s board of directors. He came into Mr. Rockland’s office this morning ... Mr. Rockland is my boss ... I’m his secretary ... and he told him that I needed to accompany him somewhere. He told Mr. Rockland that I was the only secretary who would do. Mr. Rockland couldn’t very well turn him down. So ... here I am.”

I stopped and frowned. “So ... you’re not together, personally or professionally?”

She leaned toward me confidentially. “To tell you the truth, Mr. Chumbley has always sort of made my skin crawl. He’s the kind of guy that constantly undresses women with his eyes ... even, believe it not ... me. I feel sort of guilty that you’ve given him someone better to fixate on.”

I laughed and hooked my arm into hers. “Don’t sell yourself short, honey. And ... I’m immune. I’ve known so many categories of creeps in my day, that I got his number the moment I saw him. He’s harmless, for the most part. He’s the type that’s consumed with only one girl ... and he transfers fantasies about her into other women. If you’re not that one woman, you’re safe ... as long as you can take the leers. But ... I pity that woman, whoever she is. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s thrown a little stalking into the equation.”

She regarded me with a bit of wonder. “You really HAVE been around if you can pick up all that from a guy in just a few seconds.”

I smiled at her sadly. “Yes, I guess I have.” I couldn’t help breathing a heavy sigh. “Well. Let’s go see what the creep has up his sleeve, shall we?”

She giggled at that, and we made our way back to the waiting room just as the doctor opened his inner office door and walked out with the forlorn housewife who had been his 9:30. She was forlorn no longer, though; and she smiled brightly at the doctor with a bit of longing in her sparkling eyes. The longer I worked for him, the more I saw that look in his female patients. I busied myself with scheduling a future appointment while the doctor ushered his two newest guests into the office. When I was finished and had shown the enamored woman out, I looked up to see him still in the doorway. “Loretta, I want you to sit in on this, please.”

I nodded. Well, here goes. My first actual stint as Evil Mad Nurse. Was I really ready for this? “Yes, doctor,” I told him quietly. I closed his door behind me as I entered. He had arranged the spare computer chair near the door, and I sat. From this position, I could see everything: the two strangers, she on the couch and he in the big easy chair, and the doctor, who took his place behind his desk.

“Doctor,” the man began, leaning forward and gesturing with his hands, “I’d like to begin by thanking you for seeing us and considering this course of action.”

“Mr. Chumbley,” Dr. Herringwick interrupted, “I thank YOU for agreeing to see me in this setting. However, this is MY meeting, and I intend to conduct it in the manner I believe most appropriate. If everyone is in agreement that this particular course of action is necessary,” and he paused to indicate me, “including my nurse, Miss Jones, as well as Miss Connors here,” he smiled and nodded to my new chubby friend, “then we can proceed to plan for your ... rather unorthodox scheme. Do I make myself understood?”

Mr. Chumbley was not pleased. “I am offering you a substantial sum of money, sir,” he countered.

“In exchange for something that no one else on earth can provide,” the doctor said softly. “If you wish to defy my rules, sir, you may leave. Quite frankly, I don’t need your money.” He stood up.

Chumbley raised both of his hands in surrender. “Please forgive me, doctor,” he said. “Sit down, I implore you. Please proceed in any way you see fit. I am entirely in your capable hands.” He slid back in the easy chair and tried to look calm, an endeavor in which he failed.

My doctor nodded his consent and slowly lowered himself back to his seat. He turned smiling eyes toward the woman on the couch. “Miss Connors ... May I call you Evelyn?”

“Please.”

“Evelyn, do you have any idea what is going on here?”

She looked over toward me, but I shook my head almost imperceptibly, letting her know that I didn’t have a clue about what this was all about either. “No, sir,” she said succinctly.

“You are the personal secretary to Mr. Donald Rockland, is that correct?” he asked. She nodded, and he continued. “He is the president and CEO of Rockland Enterprises?”

She hesitated. “Well ... yes.”

The doctor contemplated this. “You seem a little uncertain.”

“Um ... Mr. Rockland ... Mr. Donny Rockland, that is ... has only been there three months. His father was president before that. I was THAT Mr. Rockland’s secretary for almost four years before he left. He had to sell off controlling interest in the company because of his poor health. He took the money he earned from taking the company public, and he and his wife moved to Hawaii. There’s a clinic there that can care for him. So he left the company in Donny’s hands. But...”

When she’d hesitated too long, the doctor prodded. “But?”

“Well, he’s in a little over his head.” She suddenly put on an emboldened face. “He’s going to make it, though. He’s working really, really hard. WE are working really hard! We’re putting in a lot of extra hours, and he’s coming out with two new ideas that are going to make a real difference! And we’re going to make it, I know! We just have to convince the board of directors!”

“Ah, yes; the board of directors. Who are they, exactly?”

Evelyn blinked, obviously unsure why she was being asked these questions. “Mr. Rockland ... the last Mr. Rockland, I mean ... split up fifty-one shares of the company and sold them to five different people. The other forty-nine shares went to Donny, along with a contract that assured he would maintain operational control of manufacturing for one year. However, a month ago, two of those shareholders sold their shares to Mr. Chumbley here. He now owns twenty-one percent. Recently, he and the other three board members have been blocking Donny’s request for new products.”

Dr. Herringwick nodded, smiling pleasantly at her. “Tell me about Donny’s wife,” he said.

“Mindy?” She seemed confused by the changes in topics. “Um ... I’ve only met her once. She seemed ... very nice. She’s ... um ... really pretty, and ... uh ... small. Petite, I mean. I tried to talk to her at their welcome party, but she’s ... um ... extremely shy.” She shrugged. “I haven’t seen her since.” She seemed to be struggling with whether or not to tell us something. “Lately, Donny has been ... preoccupied. I get the feeling that there are problems at home. I’ve asked, but he won’t talk about it.”

The doctor sat back and regarded her pleasantly for twenty long seconds. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind about something, and he leaned toward her. “Evelyn, here’s the deal. Mr. Chumbley here has gone and fallen head over heels in love with Mindy Rockland. Believe it or not, he lives in their neighborhood, and he sees her often. He has come to me and asked if I could break up the Rockland’s happy marriage. Well ... he insists it isn’t happy; but that remains to be seen. In exchange, he has agreed to pay me nineteen percent of the shares of Rockland Enterprises. And ... for your cooperation, he has further agreed to pay YOU two percent of the company, non-transferrable. What would you say to an idea like that?”

Evelyn was on her feet, with a look of shocked incredulity on her face that exactly matched the way I felt myself. She must have seen it in my eyes when she turned her accusing gaze my way, but I felt unable to even move, I was so stunned. Chumbley was smiling, but refused to turn his attention toward her, as well; so she fixed her gaze on Dr. Herringwick and left it there as she moved slowly toward the door. “You ... You’re all crazy!” she hissed. “You’re ... evil! You can’t do that to Donny! I won’t let you!” She spun toward the door, fumbled the with the knob for a moment, opened the portal and fled through it.

The doctor, still smiling pleasantly, looked my way. “Go after her,” he ordered softly. “Explain it to her. She doesn’t understand the math.”

For the first time since I’d come to live with the doctor, I felt like flatly refusing an order. However, I did actually see what he was suggesting by making this request. I regarded him curiously. Could he read something in this odd set of events that wasn’t evident to me? I nodded to him and turned toward the door, which Evelyn had left open; but I paused and turned to look back at him. “Who’s driving this weird bus?” I asked him pointedly.

He seemed to immediately guess what I meant. “Miss Connors is, my dear. You have my word that I will not proceed with any course of action without her explicit confirmation. Please relay that to her.”

I nodded again, a little more firmly this time. “We ladies are going to take some time off, doctor. I’ll see you later. This afternoon, perhaps.”

He gave me his brightest smile. “Take all the time you wish, my darling.”

The use of the endearment in public staggered me for a moment. Chumbley was raising some rather vociferous objections, but I neither cared what they were nor hung around to find out. I gave the door a rather sturdy slam behind me and sprinted after Evelyn, who I found just outside our building, leaning heavily against a street lamppost and crying like a baby. I walked swiftly down the steps and took her by the shoulders, hanging on when she recognized me and tried to pull away, then gathering her bulk into my arms as she seemed to give in and accept my comfort. I ignored the curious glances from people driving past, and I continued to hold her. I stroked her back comfortingly, and I rocked her back and forth a little as I shushed her.

Finally, after her tears were spent, she backed away from me and looked pleadingly into my eyes. “Are they really planning to do that to him? Try to ruin his marriage? Can your doctor actually DO that?”

I decided to be completely open and honest with her. “Probably not by himself. And ... I don’t think he would ever do anything like that unless he actually thought it was best for everyone involved.” I tried to let her see how upset I was by all of this, as well. “Listen,” I told her levelly. “I need to talk this over and try to understand it better, myself. There’s a nice little café around the corner. Can we talk? I promise not to try to sell you a bill of goods. But I think I’m seeing things from a different angle that you need to understand, as well. Please? Please, can we just talk for awhile?”

Surprisingly, she didn’t hesitate; she nodded quietly and let me lead her down the street. It was still early for lunch, and the place was practically deserted when we walked in. I chose a booth at the back of the dining area, and we sat facing each other. Grilled chicken salad sandwich was the daily special, and we each ordered it, as well as coffee. I had chosen the wrong seat, however, and I sat facing the door so that everyone entering the place could see me. The doctor had chosen my uniform, which was mostly a standard white nurse’s outfit. However, it was designed to show off quite a bit more of me than most nurses are willing to display. He’d bought ten of the things, and they’d been custom designed to fit my rather overabundant bust perfectly, so that they sort of put my cleavage on display for anyone who cared to look. And, of course, just about everyone did. It actually helped me in several of the tasks the doctor had me do; but in public, it tended to be a real pain in the ass.

After the coffee had been served, I leaned forward toward my companion, and felt gratified that she trusted me enough to lean toward me confidentially, as well. “Evelyn, do you understand why Chumbley offered you two percent for your help?” I asked. She struck me as an intelligent person, but I suspected that her concern for her boss’s well being had blinded her toward any thought of personal gain.

Sure enough, she shook her head and regarded my question with wide-eyed wonder. “He’s got to be crazy if he thinks I’d ever try to harm Donny! And even if I WAS the greedy type, what could I possibly do with two percent? You have to have at least ten percent to gain a seat on the board! I mean, it’s not as if I could make a difference...” And she froze and sat back hard in her seat. She was finally starting to figure it out. “It would give Donny fifty-one percent,” she muttered. “He could implement his ideas. No one could stop him. He would really be in charge.” Her face suddenly clouded, and she looked up at me and leaned forward again. “But the doctor said it would be non-transferrable. I’m sure he did.”

I gave her a patient smile. “You could own it jointly,” I told her.

“But that would only work if we were marri...” And again she stopped abruptly and sat back. Finally, finally, she had put it together.

I raised both of my hands defensively. “Please don’t yell at me about this,” I implored. “It’s a really, really weird idea; and I swear to God, I didn’t know anything about it until the doctor said all that to you. But ... I got the feeling that you weren’t seeing it the way he was explaining it. I wanted to make sure you understood.”

“He’s suggesting that he can somehow ruin Donny and Mindy’s marriage ... and then that I would get involved with Donny romantically? That I would convince him to marry me? Doesn’t he have eyes? Can’t he SEE me?” She held out her arms, presenting herself.

I laughed at that, which threw her into a state of consternation. “We all saw you,” I told her gently. “When you were talking about him, we all saw a woman in love. You’ve got it bad for him.” She regarded me in shocked silence for a moment. I smiled. “You can’t possibly tell me that isn’t so,” I said softly.

For a moment, I thought she might try anyway; but instead she asked: “Have you ever SEEN Donny Rockland?” She waited while I shook my head. “We couldn’t be any more opposite if we tried!” she explained. “He’s short, I’m tall. He’s small, I’m big. He’s skinny, I’m fat. He’s white, I’m black.” She stated that last little bit with added emphasis.

I laughed again. “He’s a man, you’re a woman,” I told her emphatically. “Trust me, girl. I know whereof I speak. That is the only important thing.”

We paused as the food arrived and the coffee cups were refilled. “I’m not the type of woman who bats her eyes and suddenly has her boss groveling at her feet,” she muttered.

I considered this. “The doctor’s ... um ... field of expertise seems to be ... well ... the interplay between dominant and submissive personalities. Is it possible that Donny and Mindy are both of one type or the other?”

That made her pause, and we ate in silence for awhile. “I don’t know,” she told me at last. “Like I said, I hardly know Mindy at all. She did strike me as sort of meek, I guess. Nervous, you know? But ... it was her welcome party, and she didn’t know anybody there.” She paused another long moment, considering. “And ... you’re right about Donny. He does lack self esteem and confidence. I’m having to give him pep talks more and more. I try to get him pumped up before big meetings ... and I’ve started sitting in with him when he’s with clients. I’m afraid that they’ll pressure him into agreeing to something that’s unacceptable.”

“It sounds to me as if you’re running the company yourself.”

She shrugged. “I’ve been there a lot longer. I know the people ... and the products we produce. Sure, he leans on me. But, all bosses do, to some extent. That’s what secretaries are for.”

I let the conversation lapse for awhile so she could contemplate what I’d told her. Finally, I continued. “You are ... at the very least ... the second most important woman in his life,” I said emphatically. “Without you, he’d fall apart, professionally. And if his marriage DOES fail, then you are the one that’s going to have to catch him before he falls apart emotionally, as well. Trust me, there’s almost always a dominant person in a true romantic pair. It would be normal that he’d turn to you for understanding and emotional protection ... just like he turns to you for everything else.”

“You think this is some sort of reverse Me-Tarzan-You-Jane type of thing?” she asked. “Are you crazy? I am not a naturally dominant person!”

I smiled and leaned back again. “No, but you can be, if you want. THAT we CAN help you with! The doctor and I can help you to become the person you want to be. For him ... and for yourself.” I motioned to the waitress for the check. “I will not try to influence you about your decision concerning your boss and his wife. Oh ... and by the way, it IS your decision. The doctor will not proceed with whatever his strange scheme is without your explicit okay. He promised me that. However, I do think you should let us help you with your assertiveness.”

I took the check and walked to the front of the now-busy restaurant to pay at the counter. Evelyn followed me, waited and then walked with me outside and back toward my building. “Are you and doctor lovers?” she asked.

“Oh, yes; we are.”

She nodded, deep in thought. “And ... in every romantic pair, there’s almost always a dominant lover. That’s what you said, right? I’m assuming he’s it in yours.”

I smiled and linked my arm in hers. “Yes, he is. However, he has never lied to me. Not once. Not ever. You do not have to take his advice ... or mine. But, if I can stress anything at all about him, it’s this: He’ll tell you the truth.” She walked along with me until we arrived at the apartment building that contained our offices. “Do you want to come in and talk to him?”

She considered this. “Will you be there?”

“If you want.”

“Okay.”

I led her up the steps, inside, and through the reception area. I knocked softly on the doctor’s office door and led her in. Thank goodness Chumbley was gone.”What did you decide, Evelyn?” the doctor asked, giving her his most disarming smile.

“Loretta told me that you can help me with my assertiveness,” she responded, refusing the chair he gestured to.

His smile changed to one that was a bit more professional. “Oh, that’s an easy one.”

“How?” she asked seriously.

“Hypnosis.”

She let the word hang in the atmosphere, and I could tell that it portended all sorts of things in her mind. “If I let you do that ... then you would influence me in my ... decision about Donny.”

“No, Evelyn. I could. But, I would not. You have my word.”

Without looking at me, she pointed my way. “I have HER word, as well.” She let that sink in. “I have the word of a friend.”