Karen called me one evening to tell me that she was finding it difficult to handle the situation around David's peculiar illness and could I meet her at her place. David was my long time friend, also a teacher in a local college. He had married Karen, his classmate from college, about 4 years back. Karen was working as a research associate in another institution, having returned from England with an economics masters. She was also associated with a radical group. David was a sympathiser but was not an active member. I knew several members of that group. Again I wasn't active.
I asked if David was in town. "No, he has gone to Bowling Green to visit his aunt." It was a difficult decision to make, to visit Karen when David wasn't there. But the desperation in her voice told me that she needed help.
Both of them were intellectually alert, but I would have rated Karen a notch or two above David. It was her more active life in radical politics that had given her that edge. She had an earthy attractiveness about her while David certainly had a debonair air about him. Nobody could have suspected anything amiss in their happy relationship.
When I reached their place, I found Karen quite distraught. She immediately launched into narrating her tale. "Our man has been terrified of stepping out of the house. You know there is this trouble going on at his college with some staff going on strike. The Principal thinks David is behind all this. David believes she is going all out to get him. He suspect foul play. He has gone paranoid. Any small noise and he gives a start and asks me to check if there is some one at the door. I had to drop him at the bus station, he was so nervous." This sounded quite weird to me. I could not have imagined David going nuts. But more was to come.
Karen got up to get some coffee, her nightie fluttered to reveal a little bit of her thigh and I thought it a little odd. She came back to continue her tale. "He suspects me of having a fling when he is not here and constantly inspects our bed and bedsheets for any telltale signs. That's the most upsetting part."
I told Karen that there was nothing that I could have done to help the situation, as I felt David needed psychiatric help for his hallucinations. I asked her if I could talk to a Psychiatrist whom I knew. She readily agreed to the suggestion. I told her that she would have to be careful about not mentioning my name to him in all this. He would then suspect me of having an affair with Karen.
In fact he had dropped hints of a strange kind in the past few months. When we happened to be together one evening, he said something to the effect that Karen and I could enjoy a discussion better than Karen would with him, as we were more compatible intellectually. I had ignored that comment then. But it came back to me now. If David found out that I had asked Karen to put him on psychiatric treatment, he would make her life difficult.
What were my feelings towards her? As I mentioned she had an earthy sensuality about her. She had a filled out figure, though her hips weren't feminine according to me. She had a natural warmth about her. She respected me and trusted me. Beyond this there was nothing between us.
She was alone, distraught and it was difficult to gauge what was happening between us at that moment. The bridge of trust could have taken me to the other side of passion. Promising to pass on the doc's details, I took her leave and left with a sense of relief that I had saved myself.
In course of time, David was put on medication for his manic depression and resumed his normal work. A year passed, but things did not proceed smoothly for Karen. She finally left him and married a comrade from her radical group. David moved on to do another master's in Media and married a coursemate of his, who was 10 years younger to him.
Years later I still wonder: there was nothing between Karen and I, then how come David sensed our rapport and suggested an affair?
I asked if David was in town. "No, he has gone to Bowling Green to visit his aunt." It was a difficult decision to make, to visit Karen when David wasn't there. But the desperation in her voice told me that she needed help.
Both of them were intellectually alert, but I would have rated Karen a notch or two above David. It was her more active life in radical politics that had given her that edge. She had an earthy attractiveness about her while David certainly had a debonair air about him. Nobody could have suspected anything amiss in their happy relationship.
When I reached their place, I found Karen quite distraught. She immediately launched into narrating her tale. "Our man has been terrified of stepping out of the house. You know there is this trouble going on at his college with some staff going on strike. The Principal thinks David is behind all this. David believes she is going all out to get him. He suspect foul play. He has gone paranoid. Any small noise and he gives a start and asks me to check if there is some one at the door. I had to drop him at the bus station, he was so nervous." This sounded quite weird to me. I could not have imagined David going nuts. But more was to come.
Karen got up to get some coffee, her nightie fluttered to reveal a little bit of her thigh and I thought it a little odd. She came back to continue her tale. "He suspects me of having a fling when he is not here and constantly inspects our bed and bedsheets for any telltale signs. That's the most upsetting part."
I told Karen that there was nothing that I could have done to help the situation, as I felt David needed psychiatric help for his hallucinations. I asked her if I could talk to a Psychiatrist whom I knew. She readily agreed to the suggestion. I told her that she would have to be careful about not mentioning my name to him in all this. He would then suspect me of having an affair with Karen.
In fact he had dropped hints of a strange kind in the past few months. When we happened to be together one evening, he said something to the effect that Karen and I could enjoy a discussion better than Karen would with him, as we were more compatible intellectually. I had ignored that comment then. But it came back to me now. If David found out that I had asked Karen to put him on psychiatric treatment, he would make her life difficult.
What were my feelings towards her? As I mentioned she had an earthy sensuality about her. She had a filled out figure, though her hips weren't feminine according to me. She had a natural warmth about her. She respected me and trusted me. Beyond this there was nothing between us.
She was alone, distraught and it was difficult to gauge what was happening between us at that moment. The bridge of trust could have taken me to the other side of passion. Promising to pass on the doc's details, I took her leave and left with a sense of relief that I had saved myself.
In course of time, David was put on medication for his manic depression and resumed his normal work. A year passed, but things did not proceed smoothly for Karen. She finally left him and married a comrade from her radical group. David moved on to do another master's in Media and married a coursemate of his, who was 10 years younger to him.
Years later I still wonder: there was nothing between Karen and I, then how come David sensed our rapport and suggested an affair?
