Therapy

restaurant are married to each other because they’re eating in silence. But does this mean that they’re unhappy with each other’s company? Not at all. They’re merely behaving as they do at home, as they do all the time. It’s not that they have nothing to say to each other, but that it doesn’t have to be said. Being happily married means that you don’t have to perform marriage, you just live in it, like a fish lives in the sea. It’s remarkable Kierkegaard intuitively understood that, even though he was never married himself, and threw away his best chance of having the experience.
     
    Sally just came into my study to tell me she wants a separation. She says she told me earlier this evening, over supper, but I wasn’t listening. I listened this time, but I still can’t take it in.
     

 
    * * TWO * *
     

* * BRETT SUTTON * *
     
     
    Statement of…………….Michael Brett SUTTON
    Age of Witness…………Over 21
    Occupation of witness…Tennis Coach
    Address………………….41 Upton Road, RUMMIDGE R27 9LP
     
    This statement, consisting of 5 pages, each signed by me, is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.
    Dated the: 21st March 1993.
     
    I first noticed Mr Passmore behaving strangely towards me about two weeks ago. I’ve been coaching his wife for some months, but I know him only slightly, as someone I would say hello to if we passed each other at the Club, nothing more. I’ve never coached him. Mrs Passmore told me he had a chronic knee injury which hadn’t responded to surgery, and it handicaps him considerably as regards tennis. I’ve seen him playing occasionally, wearing a rigid brace, and I thought he managed pretty well, considering, but I imagine he finds it very frustrating not being able to move around the court properly. I think perhaps that’s why he got this crazy idea into his head. If you’re keen on sport, there’s nothing worse than long-term injury. I know - I’ve been through it myself: cartilage problems, tendinitis, I’ve had them all. It really gets you down. The whole world looks grey, everything seems against you. You only have to get some crisis in your personal life and you flip. Mr Passmore doesn’t look the athletic type, but I gather sport matters to him. Mrs Passmore told me that before his injury they used to play each other a lot, but now she doesn’t like to because he can’t bear her to win, but he complains if she doesn’t try to. Actually I think she could beat him now even if he was fully fit: she’s come on a lot, lately. I’ve been coaching her twice a week all through this winter.
    The first time Mr Passmore behaved oddly towards me was in the Men’s locker room at the Club, about two weeks ago, though I hardly registered it at the time. It’s only in retrospect that it seems significant. I was stripping off my tennis gear before taking a shower, and I happened to look up and saw Mr Passmore, staring at me. He was fully dressed. As soon as he caught my eye, he looked away, and started fiddling with the key of his locker. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it except that before he caught my eye he was fairly obviously staring at my private parts. I won’t say it’s never happened to me before, but it surprised me coming from Mr Passmore. I actually wondered whether I’d imagined it, it was all over so fast. Anyway, I soon forgot all about it.
    A few days later I was coaching Mrs Passmore on one of the indoor courts, in the evening, and Mr Passmore turned up and sat watching us from behind the netting at the end of the hall. I presumed that he’d made an appointment to meet his wife at the Club, and was early. I smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back. His being there seemed to bother Mrs Passmore. She started making mistakes in her play, mishitting the ball. Eventually she went over to Mr Passmore and spoke to him through the netting. I gathered that she was asking him to leave, but he just shook his head and smiled in a sneery sort of way. She came over to me then and said that she was sorry, but she’d have to stop the coaching session. She looked angry and upset. She insisted on paying me for the full session though she’d only had half-an-hour. She walked out of the court without a glance at Mr Passmore, who remained seated on the