The Therapist Pt 01

THE FIRST SESSION

I've tried something different with this new series. The sexual encounter between Karen and her 'partner' is related in the form of a therapy session as it might appear in a therapist's case file. The session is bookended by standard third person sections, first from Karen's POV and then from Valerie's (the therapist) POV. This format will continue for the next few stories before we revert to third person POV for the final story.

*****

Karen paused outside the suburban house. Like the houses on either side it was a two storey dwelling, half of the ground floor was taken up by a double garage shut off from prying eyes by a roller shutter. She stepped away from the letterbox and onto the nature strip and saw the screen door opening onto the sheltered porch.

So she used her residential address as a business address too Karen mused as she started up the concrete driveway. It made sense from a tax exemption perspective. No doubt Jonah would approve of the business strategy.

She reached the beige-coloured shutter and turned left and then hard right. Now that she was this close she could see the brass plaque on the wall beside the door that confirmed she was at the right address. She touched the hair tie at the back of her head as a woman's voice answered.

"Good morning, can I help you?"

"Yes," she pressed the button, "I'm here to see Doctor Warren? I have a ten o'clock appointment."

"Certainly, and your name?"

"Karen Anderson."

"Come right in, Mrs Anderson."

She was about to ask how when the door clicked and she heard a light buzzing sound. Karen turned the handle and the door opened and she stepped inside. An attractive young woman in a checked shirt and jeans tucked into ugg boots greeted her in the enclosed foyer.

"Hello there, how are you?"

"Fine, thank you," Karen took her measure. The woman looked quite young, perhaps mid twenties, she looked Middle Eastern but the accent was definitely Australian. She had a slim build and an attractive face, Karen took her measure, aware she was indeed checking out a much younger woman, secure in the knowledge the woman was probably unaware of it.

"I um, I wasn't sure if this was the right address, I was expecting an office building."

"Doctor Warren lives here as well, if you'll come this way?"

The woman led her down a hallway to a pastel-coloured door at the very end and knocked.

"Come in," a woman's voice called out.

"Your ten o'clock," the woman entered the room, "Mrs Anderson."

Karen was a couple of steps behind her and thus didn't see Doctor Warren until she stood up, she had been on her knees sorting through the books in a bookshelf and Karen felt a slight flutter in her breast as the other woman stepped aside.

Dr. Valerie Warren looked about thirty five but that was only a wild stab in the dark. She had thick blonde hair that fell in soft waves past her shoulders, framing an angular shaped face. Her bone structure was immaculate, her eyes a light green and when her bow-shaped lips parted in a smile she boasted a winning smile that must have made some dentist rich. She was wearing a dark green satin blouse with generous ruffles down the front and puffy sleeves that ended in long cuffs, the garment looked expensive and her eyes lingered for a moment as she tried to place the retailer. The outfit lent an aura of elegance, a far cry from Karen's plain cream blouse and brown skirt, Dr. Warren wouldn't look out of place in one of those fancy city offices.

"Something wrong?" Dr. Warren tucked the blouse further into a knee length skirt adorned by a wide fabric belt and Karen winced. The younger woman might have been unaware of Karen's sexual orientation, but Dr. Warren was closer to her age and probably well aware that she was being checked out.

"Sorry," she pulled her eyes from her wedding ring, "just admiring your blouse."

"Oh, this old thing," her eyes twinkled, "I've only just been able to fit into it again," her lips parted in a smile, "I had to lose the post-pregnancy tyre."

"How long ago?"

"Damien is eighteen months old, Aludra is my babysitter," she nodded at the younger woman.

"I was just about to have a coffee. Would you like some?"

"I, um, thanks."

"I'll get it," Aludra spoke up, "Damien has just gone down now."

"Thanks," Dr. Warren's smile widened to expose dimples, "bring some banana cake too."

Aludra nodded and backed out of the room. Karen looked around at the furnishings. There was a large desk with a chair on one side and two chairs on the other side. A bookshelf took up one entire wall and underneath the window was a three seater couch. A coffee table was on one side of the couch and Dr. Warren waved her to one of the chairs.

"Please, take a seat."

Karen sat down and dropped her handbag on the floor while Dr. Warren touched the pad on her laptop. Their eyes met briefly and then she tapped the mouse button and her fingers moved over the keyboard.

"So, just let me bring up my notes. Your doctor referred you to me for counselling, specifically to do with your marriage, is that right?"

"That's right," she crossed her legs and smoothed out the skirt.

"And your husband," Dr. Warren looked at her, "he wasn't willing to come along?"

"He doesn't know," she bit her lip, "I was supposed to tell him but I made up some story about seeing a therapist for grief counselling. I lost my mother a few years ago. It seemed a plausible enough story for a depressed wife."

"And are you?"

"What?"

"Depressed."

"I'm not sure," she fiddled with the cuff of her blouse, "confused, pissed off, hurt, and yeah, sometimes I look at all the happy laughing people and wonder why I can't be like them."

"Okay," Dr. Warren leaned on the desk, "here's how it works," her eyes shifted to the couch, "that couch is your safe zone. You can lie back, kick off your shoes and tell me anything you want. No subject is taboo. I've heard it all before, I may look young but I'm older than I look. We usually find that just talking acts as a natural release valve."

She glanced at the laptop.

"I will record our conversation but that recording stays secret. The only people to hear it are you and I. Not even a judge can get me to release it."

"That's a relief," Karen sighed, "my husband would probably be relieved too if he knew."

Dr. Warren studied her for a moment.

"It's quite normal for couples to book separate sessions together but now and then I find one partner is willing to seek help while the other doesn't think anything is wrong at all. Are you sure this is the way you want to do it?"

"Positive," Karen replied, "the things I have to tell you could impact my job and his career, he's paranoid about keeping our private life away from the public eye. There have been too many Royal Commissions and ethical standards inquiries."

To her credit, Dr. Warren didn't react to her reply but she did tap out some more information on her keyboard.

"Okay, just getting the basics out of the way first. Your name is Karen Anderson and you live in Epping. Your listed vocation is teacher, and you're a lecturer in biology."

"That's right, I'm a biologist."

"And now you're a teacher," she looked up.

"Yes," she flicked at her hair nervously, "I had to resign after our first child was born, and by the time she was a year old I got pregnant again. I've got four children and after so many years out of the workforce my best option was to teach part time at first but five years ago I accepted a full time contract."

"How did that affect you personally?"

"I accepted it at the time," she propped on her palm, "I mean the part time positions were around but I was having to spend too much time travelling in between laboratories and home. Jonah seems unable or unwilling to take on normal home duties and to be honest the job at Macquarie was ideal. I was close to home, I could duck home whenever I needed and I was able to be there when the kids came home from school. I was twenty seven and at the time I was coping well. We had an active social life and everything seemed quite normal, on the outside."

Dr. Warren looked up at that.

"How long have you been married?"

"Twenty five years last month," she fiddled with her watch, "it seems like only yesterday he was a handsome young man with a six pack and class. Now he's a middle aged man with a beer belly and more arse than class."

Dr. Warren smiled at that.

The next ten minutes were spent giving out basic information that was added to the file Dr. Warren had started for Karen Anderson.

Name:

Karen Anderson.

DOB:

05/05/1970

Marital Status:

Married (husband, Jonah Anderson)

Children:

Linda (22), Veronica (21), Susan (19), Mandy (17).

Vocation:

Teacher.

Reason for visit:

Marital problems. Add to this.

Some fifteen minutes after she'd arrived, Karen found herself lying back on the couch with her feet on a cushion and her head resting on another cushion. Dr. Warren was seated in the recliner opposite her, a tray of coffee and banana cake was on the table between them. The tape recorder was her second phone, customised for work purposes.

"I didn't have the heart to dispose of my old Samsung," she tapped the record icon, "it's been all over the world with me."

Her eyes shifted as she leaned back in the recliner.

"A therapy session is just a conversation between two people. I ask questions and you answer them if you feel comfortable," she propped on her palm, "and because it's a conversation between two people let's dispense with titles. You can call me Valerie. Now, are you comfortable with that?"

"Very," she wiggled her buttocks, "I wish we had a couch this comfortable at home."

"Then let's begin."

Case Notes for Karen Anderson.

Date:

30/03/17

Valerie:

Give me one positive word about your marriage.

Karen:

Loyalty.

Valerie:

Tell me about this loyalty.

Karen:

Jonah is loyal and that I suppose is the thing that frustrates me the most. He's meticulously loyal to the point that if we're watching the news and the newsreader happens to be more attractive, he always says, 'yes but not as attractive as you.' The same thing happens if we're watching a movie, it seems to be a standard response.

Valerie:

Does he do this off his own bat or does he need an outside influence, such as your kids commenting on the other woman's sex appeal?

Karen:

Not so much, although as they've grown up and developed physically they've come out with comments about my wardrobe or hair and Jonah always agrees with them. Now and then they do come out with those comments and yes, he does tell them she's not as attractive as their mother. More often than not these days it's when I'm feeling awkward, I've had a hell of a battle shedding the weight. I went from a size sixteen to a size twelve but it nearly killed me. He was very supportive when I was bigger and kept reassuring me.

Valerie:

Are you comfortable with your weight now?

Karen:

I am these days. In my late teens and early twenties I was a size eight, I filled out quite a bit when I had my second child and from then on the weight just seemed to keep piling on. I used to say all I had to do was look at a cake and the weight would just appear on me.

Valerie:

In your recent phone call you mentioned that your husband is a swinger.

Karen:

Yes, him more than me, by the way. I've swung from one extreme to the other trying to maintain the balance and it's killing me. I'm not a church goer but my mum was involved with the Uniting church while she was alive although she wasn't fanatical about it. Dad is not religious at all, Sunday is for doing chores and reading the paper.

Valerie:

Were you a willing participant in this swinging?

Karen:

The first time I was absolutely shitting myself but after that I kind of slowly lost my fear. It initially started nearly twelve months before when we hired a movie that had girl on girl sex. Jonah had hired several porno movies from the local video store, most were straight ones but this lesbian one was a movie I recall quite vividly.

Valerie:

Why was that movie significant?

Karen:

I guess it was the first time I'd seen lesbian sex. It wasn't one movie, there were several shorter films on this one tape, it was all very Eighties glam judging by the fashions. One couple were dressed like something out of

Dynasty

and these short films were all set to music. There was no dialogue, it was all action. At the time I recall being quite embarrassed but I could see Jonah was turned on by it and so a couple of days later I watched by myself.

Valerie:

Why?

Karen:

It was curiosity, I wanted to see what it was about those women that had turned on my husband so much but instead I found I was getting turned on by it. Perhaps it was because there was no cheesy dialogue it was all music, similar to a dance routine and there were moans and groans of course. I watched it twice and then went and laid on the bed and started, you know?

Valerie:

Masturbating?

Karen:

Yeah, I masturbated and it disturbed me.

Valerie:

Why did it disturb you?

Karen:

It was the first time I experienced an orgasm. I mean I thought I'd had something similar to orgasm while having sex with Jonah but this was so, so powerful. It was like coming apart at the seams. It made me feel guilty because Jonah couldn't do that for me and I hadn't been thinking of Jonah at all when I was masturbating. I felt like I'd been cheating but in hindsight it was that video that eventually led to my first time with a woman.

Valerie:

Tell me about your first time with a woman.

Karen:

The year was 1996, Linda had just turned one and we were having a dinner party at our place. Jonah had invited some colleagues from the law firm along with their wives, and another couple he'd met during the course of his legal work. The couple stood out because they were, how do you put it? Different. Helen was one of those free love types with the tie-dyed dress and very little makeup, Jose was her boyfriend. They lived out at Dee Why in a beach house that belonged to her parents. Helen might have been the hippie but her dad was a bookmaker and I think the mother owned a restaurant in Rose Bay. Jose was born in the Philippines but had been in Australia since 1981, I think his father had angered the Marcos regime.

They seemed quite happy together although they were an odd match. He was nearly twelve years younger than her and very reserved. Helen was one of those outgoing types. She liked a bit of a smoke and actually offered to share a joint in the back yard. I said no thanks but Jonah had a few tokes and that's where it all started.

Valerie:

Go on.

Karen:

They were both part of the swinger community and at first I thought it was just plain weird. I mean this woman was beautiful, to think any man would share her with another man was way out there with druggies and seedy Kings Cross clubs but they insisted that their parties were nothing to do with the Darlinghurst scene. They held their parties in private homes or bed and breakfasts, and there were strict rules governing the activities. Your partners agreed with each other before the act and even when you were engaged in sex there were other rules.

Valerie:

Such as?

Karen:

Well, bondage for a start. Not everyone is into it and I certainly wasn't at first but some guys would want to tie a woman up and then take them while they were immobilised. Helen told me that one guy had tried that with another man's wife, after she'd explicitly told him no. He and his partner were removed from the house and banned from further parties. You could also refuse an offer to sleep with someone without any blowback, you could in theory do this all night but you'd soon find yourself in the kitchen or outside on the porch feeling left out.

Valerie:

So, walk me through a typical night.

Karen:

You had a ninety minute window to arrive there, after that you'd be told that you'd missed your slot and I only saw one occasion where one couple were admitted outside the window, but he was a magistrate so I think the people running the party were afraid he'd drop their names to the police. We would all meet in a lounge room for drinks, but drugs were banned because they wanted to give the police less call to pay them a visit.

When you arrived you were given a card with your name on it and a space under it for someone else's name. At some point over the next ninety minutes you had to write down someone else's name and put the card into a bowl. The host would then read out the cards and if two people had chosen the same person there was a discussion before things went further. That would mean other people had to rethink their choices and pick someone else.

After that you'd retire to a bedroom or if it was held in a bed and breakfast a room. The larger parties were held in commercial establishments. We had an agreed upon time for sex, one or two hours, after that you returned to the lounge room to meet your partner.

Valerie:

So, what about security?

Karen:

That was all taken care of, we had one man who acted as eunuch. He was paid money to stay fully clothed and it was his job to make sure the rules were being adhered to.

Valerie:

It certainly sounds above board, so your first time. How was it?

Karen:

Look, I was dead set against it. I had a one year old girl and I thought that should be enough to keep us together but Jonah was persistent. In his view men and women weren't supposed to be purely monogamous. Monogamy was a state of affairs imposed on society by religion and civil institutions, who took their baseline from church edicts, more or less. I was educated and I came up with logical arguments but he kept coming back to the beginning. If you and I want to stay together then we should broaden our horizons, give ourselves the chance to expand. It took the better part of three days before I finally gave in. I only agreed when he told me that he wanted to go anyway, I could turn up with him but I didn't have to take part.

Once I'd agreed though things seemed to take on a life of their own. Jonah actually took me out shopping for clothes, which was very unusual for him. Jonah always said that going clothes shopping with me was like going to to the dentist. It hurt like hell and it cost too much money but that Thursday night we went out to the mall and he seemed almost turned on watching me try on different dresses. I eventually chose a red dress with a wide skirt and a plunging neckline. I did look fabulous in it I have to admit although I'd struggle to fit into now. I eventually passed that dress onto Linda just a few years ago.

The night of the party we talked it over on the way out to Dee Why. He told me he wanted me to try it out with a woman, he said it might make me feel better. I said at the time that I'd think about it but maybe I'd screw some hot guy. It was a cheap throwaway line that made me feel guilty afterwards.

Valerie:

Why guilty?

Karen:

Because he was so excited, I'd never seen him this excited since before we were married, it was like going back a few years to our youth. By the time we got to the party I was apologising and then we were inside and meeting the other guests.

Valerie:

How many were there?

Karen:

Five couples and they actually had two eunuchs there that night, one was Helen's brother, an off duty cop and the other was a guy whose wife couldn't make it. As it turned out I knew the other guy, he was Eddie, a guy I'd known from university. That made me feel a little easier and we sat and talked for a bit about the old days, he understood my nervousness and told me that this was a time to explore my sexuality in a safe environment. "Nothing happens here without mutual consent, it's why we have eunuchs." I decided then and there to explore and if Jonah wanted me to try it with a woman then I'd better make damn sure I picked the right one.