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Ms. Green:
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Hello, Doctor.
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Dr. Balis:
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Hello, Anna. Come in...
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Ms. Green:
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Before you ask, I have no idea.
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Dr. Balis:
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No idea about what? Kathy?
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Ms. Green:
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She went to take the test last Monday--she goes to the free prenatal clinic, and her appointments are always on Mondays--and I don't know.
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Dr. Balis:
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The results haven't come in yet?
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Ms. Green:
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I don't know. They might have, or she might still be waiting. She's being very weird about it. I guess it's her aunt.
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Dr. Balis:
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I'm having problems following you today, Anna. What about Kathy's aunt?
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Ms. Green:
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Well, her aunt called the apartment last weekend. She wanted to talk to Kathy, but Kathy wasn't around. I've never met her aunt before, and I've only spoken to her on the phone a few times. She always seemed nice to me.
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Dr. Balis:
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Uh huh.
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Ms. Green:
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Well, I just assumed she wanted to know about the result of the amnio test. So I told her that we didn't know yet whether the baby has Down's syndrome or not. But it turned out that she didn't even know that Kathy was pregnant. Well, how was I supposed to know that? Kathy just spent an entire two weeks with this woman, you'd think she'd have noticed all the puking and whining, you know? But apparently she didn't suspect a thing. It was a total shock to her. And on top of it all, I introduced the whole thing by bringing up a birth defect. It was not good.
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Dr. Balis:
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Hmm. So how did Kathy's aunt take all this?
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Ms. Green:
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She insisted that she needed to come over and stay with us for a few days until we know. And I said, "Sure." She's been staying at the apartment since Sunday night.
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Dr. Balis:
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I see. And is Martin back?
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Ms. Green:
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No. I think it's better this way given the current situation. He knows about the aunt, though.
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Dr. Balis:
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Hmm.
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Ms. Green:
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Yeah. I thought that Kathy and her aunt would talk a lot and kind of take the pressure off of me, right? Wrong. Kathy has been coming home only to sleep. I have no idea where she hangs out; she doesn't work at the store any more. So I'm stuck entertaining her aunt. I've learned a lot about Kathy in the past few days.
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Dr. Balis:
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Do you want to tell me about it?
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Ms. Green:
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You bet. Now, let me see. First of all, her parents did die when she was young, but it was in a car accident. They were picking up her uncle from the airport, and a truck run into them. All three of them died on the spot. Kathy was raised by her aunt, or I should say her aunt tried to raise Kathy.
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Dr. Balis:
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But what about...
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Ms. Green:
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Yeah, all that stuff--her mother dying from breast cancer and her father being a certified pedophile--it was a total fabrication. There was no physical abuse. There was no sexual abuse. In fact, there was no father figure who could have abused her in the ways that she described at all. Her aunt never remarried after the accident, or even dated, for that matter. She said that she tried to raise her niece as well as she could. Kathy supposedly went to a private school and had lots of psychiatric help ever since she was five--the year that her parents and uncle died.
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Dr. Balis:
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I see.
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Ms. Green:
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She is a diagnosed pathological liar. She also has some kind of personality disorder, but I couldn't get a straight answer from her aunt as to what exactly it was. Kathy did run away from home when she was eleven, and again when she was twelve, and then again when she was fifteen. Each time, her aunt hired a private detective, tracked her down, and made her come home. The last time she ran away, she came to San Francisco. She was doing drugs and started to do the live piercing acts. The cops picked her up one night, and she had a choice of going to some reform school or joining a drug rehab program for teens in San Francisco and staying with her grandparents.
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Dr. Balis:
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Her grandparents?
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Ms. Green:
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Oh, you'll love this. Remember Mrs. Borderstein? She was Kathy's landlady? Well, she is also Kathy's grandmother.
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Dr. Balis:
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What?
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Ms. Green:
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I had a similar reaction, believe me. She is not actually her grandmother. She is her grandmother-in-law, but it's close. Kathy's aunt was married to Mrs. Borderstein's son. Kathy's mother was her aunt's sister. So this makes Mrs. Borderstein her grandma-in-law. Does it makes sense to you?
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Dr. Balis:
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I hate trying to folow family relations. I think I followed that. Kathy was raised by her aunt and Mrs. Borderstein was her aunt's husband's mother, right?
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Ms. Green:
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That's it. Well, Kathy lived with her grandmother on and off for almost twenty years!
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Dr. Balis:
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How old is Kathy?
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Ms. Green:
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Well, we all thought she was twenty-five or something. But she is thirty-four. That fits with the Down's syndrome, too.
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Dr. Balis:
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I see.
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Ms. Green:
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So all that stuff about having a landlady who never takes care of her tenants or wouldn't fix her leak...it was all a lie. She never paid a dime to her grandmother. And Mrs. Borderstein tried to take care of her, like any grandmother would. But Kathy wouldn't even allow her to be called "grandmother," imagine that? Mrs. Borderstein lost her one and only son in a horrible car accident. She didn't have any other grandchildren. And Kathy wouldn't even give her the simple pleasure of feeling like she is her relative. And after all the stuff she did for her. That's just so...it's so like Kathy. She manipulates everyone she comes in contact with. And she played Martin and I like violins--"Oh, I have no place to live. My landlady is just so horrible." Kathy was earning enough money at the store to help her grandmother fix the roof of her house if she wanted to. This was the house that she lived in herself for free for almost twenty years. I still can't get over all this. God!
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Dr. Balis:
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Anna...
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Ms. Green:
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She's just connived herself into our lives and took over. Helen, Kathy's aunt, asked me what Martin's intentions were, you know, regarding the baby.
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Dr. Balis:
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And?
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Ms. Green:
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I said, "Honorable?"
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Dr. Balis:
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You're not sure?
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Ms. Green:
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Well, I told her that I knew that Martin would be financially responsible for the baby.
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Dr. Balis:
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I'm sure that's not all she was asking.
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Ms. Green:
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No. She asked straight out whether Martin was going to marry Kathy.
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Dr. Balis:
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And what did you tell her?
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Ms. Green:
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I said that I didn't know what Martin's plans were. It's true, I don't. I really don't know. I hope he's not stupid enough to marry her, but...I didn't tell Helen that, don't worry.
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Dr. Balis:
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Hmm.
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Ms. Green:
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But then Helen got me.
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Dr. Balis:
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How?
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Ms. Green:
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She asked me if I was in love with Martin.
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Dr. Balis:
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And?
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Ms. Green:
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I said I wasn't. I didn't know what else to say. She was looking at me, and I just froze. I think she knows that Martin and I were...that we were probably planning to...well, she saw the way our bedrooms were laid out. I still sleep in the same room with Martin. I guess it's more accurate to say that Martin still keeps his clothes in our room. Before he left after the Down's syndrome thing, he was taking turns sleeping with Kathy and me--she insisted. In any case, Helen noticed that Martin's clothes were all hanging in my room. It was an ugly moment, Doctor. She is a nice woman; I didn't want to dump even more bad news on her all at once. But I think she knows what the true situation is. She didn't really question me about where Martin was. So I think she knows. And Kathy has been such a bitch to her. She screams at her all the time. She called her a liar and told me not to believe anything Helen told me. I saw Helen cry. I think this is all really hard on her. I think she thinks it's all her fault--she raised Kathy badly or something. But I think Kathy is just screwed up and Helen did the best she could with what she got. I understand that having both of your parents die on you when you're only five years old could completely screw you up for the rest of your life. But...I just don't know. And now, I don't even know what's up with the baby.
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Dr. Balis:
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Take it easy, Anna.
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Ms. Green:
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I feel like the whole world is spinning out of control. I have no power to do anything. Martin just left me to deal. And Helen is looking to me for moral support and to stand up to Kathy. And Kathy...I don't even want to talk about Kathy. I wouldn't be surprised if she went and had an abortion.
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Dr. Balis:
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Why? What makes you think that Kathy would do that? You've always said that she was totally against it, right?
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Ms. Green:
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She's just completely screwed up. Maybe she thinks that Helen will come in and take over now. You know, take the baby and just deal the way she dealt with Kathy when she was a little girl. I know that Kathy doesn't want to lose control over the baby, she made that pretty clear last week. I can totally see her destroying the baby if she thought that Aunt Helen was going to raise it instead of her. And with Martin gone, I think she's really scared that things might not turn out the way she planned. She's just completely irrational, Doctor. She could do anything. Anything.
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Dr. Balis:
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Is there any way you can get her to go for some counseling? I'm sure the prenatal clinic recommended it when they found out that there was a possibility that the fetus was suffering from Down's syndrome.
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Ms. Green:
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I don't know. I don't think she would do something like that willingly. Maybe Helen can make her, but she thinks that Kathy is just not certifiably insane enough to be put away against her will. So I don't think she'll go. Sorry, Doctor.
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Dr. Balis:
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Can you call the clinic and try to find out the result of the test?
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Ms. Green:
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I already tried. They don't give out that kind of information to anyone but the patient. In Kathy's case, I don't even think Martin would be allowed to find out. We'll see how things turn out in the next couple of days. But I have to tell you, Doctor, I'm tired. This is not what I bargained for when I started my relationship with Martin. He owes me big.
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Dr. Balis:
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Yes, he does. I'm not happy that Martin is just ducking the situation. When is Helen leaving?
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Ms. Green:
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Who knows? God, look at the time. I've got to go. It's late. I'll see you next week, Doctor. Wish me luck.
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Dr. Balis:
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Good luck, Anna. Call me if you need my help.
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Ms. Green:
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Thanks. Goodbye, Doctor.
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Dr. Balis:
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Goodbye.
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###
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Doctor Balis' Notes on this Session
Transcripts of Anna Green's Communications
