The Setup

This brings us to Clark. Goodman had asked me whether I knew a Dr. Clark. The name did not ring a bell. Goodman did not pursue the matter. Only much later, as I was reading the Goodman 'progress report,' would I come across the name. The context would tell me immediately who Clark was, and will bring us back to, 'the plan.'

Kootch and I went to see Clark at her suggestion. We had been having 'communication problems' beyond what you would normally expect in an intercultural marriage: Kootch could not believe what I was telling her. For example, she absolutely refused to believe that someone had a key to our car, and would periodically follow me, enter the locked car, and tweak the rear view mirror. No matter how I explained it to her she refused to believe it. We had a problem. Kootch proposed a solution.

In retrospect, I think that this 'solution' was 'planted.' I've never asked her how she came up with the idea. It was a bad idea. It was a setup, and part of 'the plan.' Clark was a psychiatrist with Kootch's HMO at the time. I don't recall whether I belonged to it or not in those days in the early '90s. Clark was waiting for us, ready to 'help' the way Goodman 'helped.' I thought we were going to talk to a marriage counselor of sorts, who would assist us in our attempts to communicate. It turned out to be something very different.