Chloe huffs for breath as she flips her mattress back into place. She collapses on the bed and shuts her eyes. She considers the emotional train wreck her day has been -- from happy about receiving the Nixon packet to terrified to relieved. Now she is exhausted and oddly resigned.
Chloe sits up. If she's going to be murdered…
She grabs her bag from beside the bed and dumps the contents on the mattress. She chooses a tape at random and puts in the tape player.
What had seemed like a horrible intrusion now somehow seems justified. Someone had just attacked her in her home and spent an inordinate amount of time going through the bureau that held her undergarments.
She presses play.
The tape crackles to life. An older woman's voice mutters, "I can never tell when this thing is going. You'd think someone with a degree in psychiatry could figure out how to use a tape recorder. I'm more a notes gal but for legal reasons… "
"May I?" Lex asks and there is soft scrape as the tape recorder is moved. "It's working."
"Thank God. And how is your stay with us working out for you?"
"Fine."
"I'm going to smoke. You won't tell, will you?"
"The tape?"
"Smart-ass. I'm smoking anyway." There is a soft rustle of paper. "According to the staff you've had 612 calories over the last two weeks."
"I've been really trying…"
The doctor stutter laughs. "You'd be in a coma if you had only had six hundred calories in that amount of time. Margo, the girl who works in the kitchen, says you've been eating about two thousand calories every evening. And you really like chocolate cake and lemon meringue pie."
"I don't really like pie. I just didn't want to hurt her feelings."
"Thanks for playing along Alexander. Your father will probably appreciate all the charts and graphs we can offer him about you starving yourself."
"Are you going to tell him?"
"About your nocturnal kitchen ingestions? Hardly. I like to give the impression that I've earned my money. Leading you away from starvation and toward four square meals."
"I think you're fast becoming my favorite counselor of all time." His voice sounds remarkably relaxed.
"Well, if you want to take some real advice from your favorite doc then get your hands on as much cash as possible and depart for parts unknown."
"You're encouraging me to run away?"
"I think some of my colleagues might argue the point but I think escaping from something and running away from something are two completely different things."
"And my father is something from which to escape?"
"Your father is a sick…I shouldn't say it. On tape at least. From our last session remember when I asked you how you had come up with your alias for your hospital check in? And you did your "I'm smarter than you are" dance? I found out whom Julian was and that it was your father who signed you in under that name. You've got to get away from him, Lex."
There is a long pause and then a sigh. "Even if I wanted to, do you think I could?"
"You're the only person on the planet who I think could outmaneuver Lionel. Maybe you're just not ready yet." There's a rattle of paper. "Only fifteen. You seem like fifty. Be sure to pick your own college."
"It sounds like you think I'm cured?"
"Oh, you have anorexia like I, with my ample ass, have anorexia."
Lex laughs.
"You father just wanted to embarrass you by putting you in this place. At home you were probably staggering your meals so you wouldn't have to eat when he wanted you to eat. And he just wanted to prove to you that he could make you eat any time he wanted. Sound familiar?"
"In so many ways."
"I personally have to thank you for not sleeping your way through the bulimia wing."
"No one really appealed to me."
"Keep it that way. You don't need to fall into a series of relationships with girls who abuse themselves because they can never live up to what mommy or daddy want. I can see that happening to you pretty easily."
"Why?"
"Well, you can relate to their situation of course. Why else do you think?"
Lex remains silent.
"You've got a good heart Alexander. And I think you're more than strong enough to save yourself. You know you are. A little bruised maybe, but strong when it counts. And you want to help people so you're more than likely to fall for someone who needs a lot of help."
"Who should I fall in love with?"
"If I were fifty years younger you'd have to watch out."
Lex laughs again.
"Whenever the girls leave here I always make them promise to keep food diaries and start making lists of emotional triggers about their eating. Raise your hand."
"What? In the taking-an-oath position? All right."
There's a shifting sound that presumably accompanies the pledge.
"Alexander Luthor…aka Lex…solemnly swears to get away from his father as soon as he can. He also promises that he won't fall in love with any tragic heroines."
"I swear." There's the sound of a shifting. "And as fond of you as I am Dr. Steeves I also swear I'm never going to end up in another of these treatment centers. Let me get that for you." There's a scraping sound and the tape goes to static.
Sprawled on her bed, Chloe turns the tape off and blindly reaches for another.
Chloe sits up. If she's going to be murdered…
She grabs her bag from beside the bed and dumps the contents on the mattress. She chooses a tape at random and puts in the tape player.
What had seemed like a horrible intrusion now somehow seems justified. Someone had just attacked her in her home and spent an inordinate amount of time going through the bureau that held her undergarments.
She presses play.
The tape crackles to life. An older woman's voice mutters, "I can never tell when this thing is going. You'd think someone with a degree in psychiatry could figure out how to use a tape recorder. I'm more a notes gal but for legal reasons… "
"May I?" Lex asks and there is soft scrape as the tape recorder is moved. "It's working."
"Thank God. And how is your stay with us working out for you?"
"Fine."
"I'm going to smoke. You won't tell, will you?"
"The tape?"
"Smart-ass. I'm smoking anyway." There is a soft rustle of paper. "According to the staff you've had 612 calories over the last two weeks."
"I've been really trying…"
The doctor stutter laughs. "You'd be in a coma if you had only had six hundred calories in that amount of time. Margo, the girl who works in the kitchen, says you've been eating about two thousand calories every evening. And you really like chocolate cake and lemon meringue pie."
"I don't really like pie. I just didn't want to hurt her feelings."
"Thanks for playing along Alexander. Your father will probably appreciate all the charts and graphs we can offer him about you starving yourself."
"Are you going to tell him?"
"About your nocturnal kitchen ingestions? Hardly. I like to give the impression that I've earned my money. Leading you away from starvation and toward four square meals."
"I think you're fast becoming my favorite counselor of all time." His voice sounds remarkably relaxed.
"Well, if you want to take some real advice from your favorite doc then get your hands on as much cash as possible and depart for parts unknown."
"You're encouraging me to run away?"
"I think some of my colleagues might argue the point but I think escaping from something and running away from something are two completely different things."
"And my father is something from which to escape?"
"Your father is a sick…I shouldn't say it. On tape at least. From our last session remember when I asked you how you had come up with your alias for your hospital check in? And you did your "I'm smarter than you are" dance? I found out whom Julian was and that it was your father who signed you in under that name. You've got to get away from him, Lex."
There is a long pause and then a sigh. "Even if I wanted to, do you think I could?"
"You're the only person on the planet who I think could outmaneuver Lionel. Maybe you're just not ready yet." There's a rattle of paper. "Only fifteen. You seem like fifty. Be sure to pick your own college."
"It sounds like you think I'm cured?"
"Oh, you have anorexia like I, with my ample ass, have anorexia."
Lex laughs.
"You father just wanted to embarrass you by putting you in this place. At home you were probably staggering your meals so you wouldn't have to eat when he wanted you to eat. And he just wanted to prove to you that he could make you eat any time he wanted. Sound familiar?"
"In so many ways."
"I personally have to thank you for not sleeping your way through the bulimia wing."
"No one really appealed to me."
"Keep it that way. You don't need to fall into a series of relationships with girls who abuse themselves because they can never live up to what mommy or daddy want. I can see that happening to you pretty easily."
"Why?"
"Well, you can relate to their situation of course. Why else do you think?"
Lex remains silent.
"You've got a good heart Alexander. And I think you're more than strong enough to save yourself. You know you are. A little bruised maybe, but strong when it counts. And you want to help people so you're more than likely to fall for someone who needs a lot of help."
"Who should I fall in love with?"
"If I were fifty years younger you'd have to watch out."
Lex laughs again.
"Whenever the girls leave here I always make them promise to keep food diaries and start making lists of emotional triggers about their eating. Raise your hand."
"What? In the taking-an-oath position? All right."
There's a shifting sound that presumably accompanies the pledge.
"Alexander Luthor…aka Lex…solemnly swears to get away from his father as soon as he can. He also promises that he won't fall in love with any tragic heroines."
"I swear." There's the sound of a shifting. "And as fond of you as I am Dr. Steeves I also swear I'm never going to end up in another of these treatment centers. Let me get that for you." There's a scraping sound and the tape goes to static.
Sprawled on her bed, Chloe turns the tape off and blindly reaches for another.