Chapter 7

They were not even onto the freeway yet when Andy pulled out his phone and called Julia. He spent several minutes explaining how he knew Andi and how they had picked her up. Julia asked if she had any pills with her, and when asked, Andi said 'no' and started to cry. Julia then asked if she knew what the pills were, getting a tearful shake of the head.

Julia told Andy that there was not much she could do to help the girl. It was going to be a very, very rough night. She warned him that Andi could get abusive and violent, although she suspected the worst would not happen until they arrived home.

She asked if they had left town yet, and when told no, she told him to find a twenty-four hour Walgreen's and wait for her to call back. It took them ten or fifteen minutes to get to one and they were nervous about still being in town. They were quite sure Hector had no idea Andi was in their van, but they were still tense.

When Julia called back, she got the number of the pharmacy and ordered a prescription. She told Andi it would only help delay the worst of the withdrawal for a few hours, giving them a chance to get Andi into a hospital. She promised to call later about which hospital and to have a doctor waiting. She told them to get some food into Andi and suggested what would be best. While waiting for the prescription to be filled, they drove to a nearby supermarket, only then remembering that they had missed their own meal when they encountered Andi.

Finally, about forty-five minutes after picking up Andi, they were on the freeway headed home. Andi was alternating between maudlin and irritable, exactly as Julia had predicted. Here she was with a guy she knew pretty casually and a girl she did not know at all. Life with Hector had been terrible, but it was security of a sort, something that had been totally torn away from her with the dissolution of her family.

A big part of her 'security' with Hector had been her pills. She knew how bad she felt when she was overdue. She could not imagine what quitting cold turkey was going to be like. The medicine they got from Walgreen's had helped some. It had definitely calmed her and lowered her pulse, which had been pounding after they got her into the car.

As she calmed, she took time to examine the brother and sister. Even in her impaired state, she could sense the closeness between the two. She could sense it because it was the same as she had with her brother Matt - correction, used to have. That thought was all it took to bring on the tears again.

Then the sister, what was her name - Beth - was asking how she got there. She did not frighten Andi, even made her feel like she really cared. Not thinking about her answers and not even sure later what she had told, she just started talking. She told about the night in the bar, the dancing, the long ride, the apartment, the string of guys. On and on she talked in a stream of consciousness. The more she talked, the more she wanted to say. She wanted so badly for the two to care what had happened to her. It had been so long since anyone cared.

When the tale of her abduction and forced prostitution ended, Beth asked about Andi's family, and once again, she could not stop talking. When talking about her life with Hector, she had remained surprisingly calm. Not so as she talked about her family and its disintegration. There were long periods with no words, only sobs.

As Andi talked, the miles slid by. They switched drivers and Beth sat in the back with Andi. Julia had warned about the probable panic, anger, and hysteria that could very well overtake Andi before they got her to the hospital. Andy was thankful for every minute she could talk as it shortened the time they would have to deal with the withdrawal.

When they stopped at a rest area, Andy remembered to call their mother to let her know what was happening. Gretchen should have been surprised and concerned, but she knew her kids well enough to understand why they had done it, and that they would be careful.

When she ran out of words from sheer exhaustion, Andi was feeling enormous gratitude to her two rescuers. As she got farther from her last pill and the effects of Julia's prescription wore off, the withdrawal effects set in. She felt some physical pain, and her mind seemed to be whirling in all directions. Fear of what was ahead had her whimpering almost constantly.

At the same time, her reasoning ability was a little sharper and she did not want to hurt the Bergs. Over and over, she vowed not to scream and swear at them. She knew she had done that the times Hector had withheld her fix as a punishment. They did not deserve that treatment. She just didn't know if she had that much control.

To her credit, Andi held out very well. The last hour and a half were very hard on her, but she kept her vow and held it mostly inside herself. Julia was waiting at the ER with a doctor friend who took immediate charge of Andi. Julia wrapped brother and sister in a hug.

"What's going to happen to her," Beth asked.

"The next two or three days she will feel like she is in Hell," Julia answered. "After that, it will be a typical addict's struggle to stay clean."

"But she has nowhere to go, no home, no more family," Beth lamented.

"Well, we need to talk about that," Julia said thoughtfully. "There is the issue of the medical bills, too. Tomorrow, we'll find her father and see what happens after that. You guys get some sleep. You really cannot help her at all tonight."

This was one more thing Julia had no business taking time for, but when it came to her employees, she just couldn't find a 'no'. All the traits that had made Andy a perfect employee of Transformations had caused him to rescue his erstwhile friend. Certainly, Andy could contact Andi's father on his own, but she knew the weight of her position was important for the girl's long-term prospects. Thus, she and Andy were ushered into Warren Kessler's office late the morning after the rescue.

After introductions, Warren said "Your phone call said this meeting was about my daughter."

Julia had debated how to break the news to the man. She was not feeling particularly charitable toward him, having heard how he reacted to his wife's infidelity. Though his reaction was perhaps understandable, she felt he deserved a little shock therapy.

"I don't know how to make this any easier, so I will just say it," Julia began. "Last night, Andy and his sister rescued Andrea from a situation of forced prostitution. She is now in the hospital being treated for drug withdrawal."

Warren's reaction was at least encouraging to Julia. He looked like he had suffered a stroke for several seconds. He went absolutely rigid and his face lost all color. His first movements where his eyes darting back and forth between his two visitors. That went on for nearly half a minute, as if he was trying to decide if they were pulling some kind of joke on him.

"P... prostitution? H... how?" Andy told him the story, starting with how he knew Andi. He went into great detail and talked for about twenty minutes.

"So, sh... she was already on drugs?" Warren asked when Andy finished his narrative. "Why? How could she?"

Julia, despite her professionalism, was tempted to lash back sarcastically. She did not, of course, but she did not soften her tone. "Mr. Kessler, everything she knew fell apart. That is a classic situation in which young people fall into drugs. It helps them deal with the pain and the loss and the emptiness."

"I suffered all those things, too. I didn't turn to drugs," Warren protested.

"How many fifths did you go through in the first month?" Julia shot back, and received no response. "You had a career and twenty more years of dealing with life's struggles. She came from a happy, rather sheltered childhood, and was thrown into chaos. Now, I'm not making excuses for her. I'm just telling you from experience how and why it happens."

"Andi has pretty much rejected me, you know," Warren said, obviously eager to change the subject.

"Yes, I know. Now is the time you have to decide if that's the way you want to leave things. She needs a parent now more than at any time in her life," Julia told him.

"Then maybe she should look to her mother. She seems to have decided I'm the bad guy, even though I'm not the one who had the affair." Warren did not try to disguise his bitterness.

Deciding there was nothing else to be accomplished, Julia stood and Andy followed. They said goodbye and turned to leave. "Wait!" Warren said. "I assume there are some medical expenses. What hospital is she at?"

That, to Julia, was a major victory, and she told Warren and left, not wanting to put any more pressure on the man.

Warren Kessler's world had been destroyed in the last year and a half just as surely as had his daughter Andi's. He was a kind, principled man who had dedicated his life to the happiness of his wife and his family. During the final years of his marriage, as his wife became less and less stable, he spent every drop of emotional energy he had.

When Dottie's infidelity was revealed by her miscarriage, Warren's emotional tank was empty. Against everything he believed, and against what he intended, he lashed out, seeking to hurt and punish the woman who had ripped out his heart. In the process, he divided the loyalties of his children. Andi, the daughter he always worshipped, had become an enemy.

After the break with Andi, he had often longed to just talk to her, to be with her for while. But she had made her choice. She was strong and had been brought up right. She would be OK. He missed her, but she would be OK.

He had just found out that his daughter had most definitely not been OK. There were not many worse things that a father could hear about his daughter than what he had just heard. Apparently, the prostitution was not her choice, but she had gotten into drugs on her own. The doctor had made it very clear, without saying it, that it was his fault.

It was very clear to Warren that he would accomplish nothing at work that day, so he left. Almost without conscious intent, he drove to the hospital. He did not know what to do about Andi, but there was one thing that was easy and obvious. Money was not a problem for him, and he stopped and arranged coverage for Andi's medical expenses.

He did not go up to her room, and he did not even seek out a doctor for an update. His mind was in too much of a turmoil to handle any more input about his daughter just then.

Back at his condo, he looked around as he walked in, and it seemed even more strange than it usually did. He had moved here after selling the long-time family home, but in a year and a half, it had become no more sheltering or welcoming than a hotel room.

Despite his long-term aversion to an alcoholic buzz, and despite the role of booze in the destruction of his family, Warren had found occasional escape in the strong stuff. The doctor had been correct. He sought his bottle now.

He had always been proud of his metal toughness and discipline. He had needed it to be married to a mercurial force like Dottie. Through all the years of marriage and child-rearing, he had been able to call upon that toughness and do what was needed to hold things together.

Once, just once, he had found nothing left and he had done the normal, human thing. He already knew what that had done to Dottie. He had surreptitiously kept track of her condition. Well, she had deserved it, and that was the end of things.

Now, he knew it was not the end of it. The ripples, more like a tidal wave, had engulfed his precious daughter. That was something he would have done anything to avoid. Would he? Really? Would he even have forgiven Dottie?

As he pondered that question, he held up his glass and looked at the golden liquor swirling in it. No, that was not nearly the end of it, was it? Here he was, sitting alone in his slightly disorderly, nondescript condo, drinking whiskey. The tidal wave had swept him up, as well.

Carol had made the suggestion that she have lunch with Chelly in a fit of euphoria over Ryan's obvious love for her. Now, she was not so sure, and when she saw Chelly, the knot in her stomach made eating seem improbable. The woman was gorgeous! How could she expect to compete with that?

Things changed very quickly, though, when the two were seated at the table. Without warning or apparent provocation, Chelly teared up and started to sniffle. Carol looked at her quizzically, but just waited, not saying anything.

"You put me to shame, you know," Chelly said. "Fran has told me some of your story. She told me how worried you were that you couldn't hold Ryan, too. Well, he is very lucky to have you. If I had just little of your courage, my life wouldn't be the mess it is."

That was not at all what Carol expected, and she did not know how to react. Seeing her surprise and confusion, Chelly went on. "I want you to know that there was absolutely nothing between me and Ryan. He was probably going to kiss me on our third date, but before he could, I kissed him off for that asshole surgeon."

"Even if there had been some feelings," Chelly went right on, "I would never do anything to disturb your relationship with him." Carol still had not gotten out a word. "OK. Now I've taken care of the heavy stuff. Can we do some girl talk now?"

Finally locating her voice, Carol reached across, took Chelly's hand, and said "Thank you!" After smiling for a moment, she asked "So how's the lawsuit going?"

"Well, Fran is practically laughing herself to death," Chelly answered, more than willing to change the tone. "She decided to do the suit herself. She even thinks she might leave the corporate job and specialize in harassment cases."

"The hospital is in an absolute uproar. The surgeon is their star, and they would hate to lose him. But he is digging in his heels and saying if they take me back, he's gone. Fran filed for $400,000, so that's what it will cost to keep him. The good thing is that I will either have my job back or a nice chunk of cash. Even if they take me back, Fran is insisting on punitive damages."

Chelly then asked about Transformations and Carol's job, and things went on from there. When they had strung out the meal as long as they could, the two new friends strolled through some of the mall shops and continued their chat.

Sometimes, a therapist is inspired, and finds exactly the inquiry or analysis that reaches the patient's innermost psyche. Certainly, mothers passing their beliefs and styles to their daughters was nothing new. Julia, as any professional, frequently explored that pattern in her sessions. With Mary, she found a surprising level of duplication, and tragically, a sad similarity in outcome.

When the psychiatrist had compared her to her own mother, Mary Hall had wanted to scream at her in anger. It was not that the doctor was wrong. For years, Mary had disquieting flashbacks to her own childhood when she was lecturing or scolding Lindsey. She had suppressed any admission of similarity, and she never allowed herself to compare her daughter's reactions to her own.

Now, Dr. Waxman had gone through a point-by-point comparison of things Mary had done with things her mother had done. All those years, Mary thought she had been helping Lindsey avoid the guilt she herself had felt by keeping her from those sins. It was hard to accept that she was really doing her best to pile on that same unwarranted guilt.

After the second session with the doctor, Mary had been disturbed and concerned, but not ready to concede that she had become her mother and driven away her daughter in the same way. But at the very end of the meeting with Lindsey, one of her answers struck home. When Lindsey had said that if they chose court, she would see them as often as they saw their parents, it was like closing the loop. The doctor had made the comparisons, and Lindsey had verified the diagnosis.

Mary was a very strong-willed person, full of religious fervor and the certainty of her own experience. The change was not sudden. During the ride home from the meeting with Lindsey, she still railed against the girl, expressing disbelief that she could be so cruel to her own parents.

The major blow occurred when Mary's parents flew in for a brief holiday visit, a fairly regular event. They stayed only two nights, and they never saw Lindsey because Mary could not bring herself to call and ask her to come over. Just before leaving, Mary's mother berated her for her cruelty in seeing them so seldom. Mary heard some of her own words, and pretense and denial were no longer possible.

The night her parents left, Mary hardly slept at all. Suddenly, she could no longer protest her devotion to righteousness and her daughter's willful rejection of her values. She knew in her heart that she herself had not been lascivious and disobedient as a girl. She knew that her mother had gone far beyond reason. And she knew that she had indeed done the same thing to the innocent Lindsey.

Christmas was a sad, bleak affair at the Hall home, as Mary's descent into depression dominated everything else. Floyd found himself wishing for a return of her fear, paranoia, and anger. It was so unlike her not to care about anything, but that was what was happening.

Motherhood had been the single most important aspect of Mary's life, even more than being a wife. Preparing a daughter to be a mother was a special mission, and she knew now that she had failed completely. Even worse, she finally saw that she had been trying to do the wrong things. She knew that Lindsey's accusations about Brett were true, and there was little they could do to change things at that stage. She faced the very real prospect of having no children she could relate to in her later years.

Julia had been concerned about Mary, and had wished for more sessions. She realized she had taken some risk with her very direct approach, but she doubted she would get a chance at a full course of treatment. Her biggest hope was to get the woman into Transformations.

At the end of the second session, Julia knew she had made a significant impact, but there had been no chance to follow up. Thus, it was with some surprise that she received a call from Floyd the first work day after Christmas, asking if she could see Mary again.

The Mary that Floyd assisted into Julia's office for the third session was hardly recognizable as the combative ideologue from the earlier sessions. Julia was a little concerned that she had been too heavy-handed the previous time. But she had to consider what her objective had been and the time she had to work with the woman.

It was a clear case of intervention. Here was a family well down the path to disintegration. The root cause was a mother obsessed with her daughter's purity but oblivious to any of her son's shortcomings. Both mother and father were miserable physical specimens, certain candidates for all the prevalent lifestyle diseases.

And then there was the daughter, Lindsey. She had the ability to just walk away and never look back, probably the safest personal option. Yet, she was willing to endure even more personal stress to give her parents a chance at something better.

No, Julia told herself, she had not been too heavy-handed. She owed it to Lindsey, and to her miserable parents, to do everything possible to force change. That was the whole reason Transformations was started, after all. Mary's condition was alarming, but re-birthing was starting from nothing, and at least she was well-positioned.

Floyd was in the waiting room, and Julia called him right back in. As soon as he was seated, she addressed Mary. "Mrs. Hall, Mary, have you decided whether you are going to court or to Transformations?" Mary's only response was to look at Julia and break into tears.

Acting on instinct and taking a huge risk, Julia told Floyd "Get her into the car and follow me. We are checking her into Transformations right now." He gaped at her for several seconds, unable to respond. There was a good deal of risk if he went along with Julia's request. Mary could very well feel that he had betrayed her. He was not at all sure her stay would get her past that - he had not acquired any real belief in Transformations himself. It was still more punishment than treatment in his mind.

But what was the worst that could happen? Much as he hated the idea of divorce and assumed it could never happen, he had to admit that Mary leaving him at that point would not be the worst tragedy of his life. Ever since the ridiculous report from the principal of Lindsey having sex with three boys, he had been on a hurtling emotional roller coaster.

Sex was a dim memory, and there had been very few expressions of affection between them. She was constantly moaning, crying, or yelling, sometimes at him, sometimes just seeking his sympathy. Never an easy woman to live with, she was now impossible. Selfishly, he wanted to get some relief from her.