Misanthrope

Re: Claire Dombey. I do not know how women feel about their men-hating sisters. I suspect that the ones who have been abused sympathize and with just cause. But of all the others, I wonder if after so much public haranguing, many don't say enough-already. Do some say that of course men aren't perfect --- we're not either --- so why not accept them the way they are and lay off? But this is not the place for conjecture. Here I only want to pass on my observations of the rich array of Sugar Loaf Residents.

After Clarence Domby had secretly left Sugar Loaf, his wife had done everything to find him, and she became so imbalanced that she couldn't function in normal society so her sons had to commit her. My notes show that she became "a real case." Like many of the Residents, she was psychologically impaired , but this woman was more: she possessed a unique flair in her abhorrence toward men. I don't know what she would have done had she ended in a facility catering to women only and run by her gender. Attacked males in the abstract? But since half our Residents were male and I was on Staff,wegot the broadsides.

At first there were few problems because Claire was sedated. Then it took the woman some time to get her bearings. Realizing she was at a Health Center alone took six months. She thought it was a health spa. But once she fell into the Sugar Loaf routine, her passion against men returned. We did our best to avoid her: who wants to be degraded every

time he meets someone in the hall? Or at Juice Break, meals, mail call, activities, and on Outings? After enough time to vent her hatred, we made it known that her poisoned attitude would not dominate the facility.

God bless psychiatrists! And glory to all psychologists! Hallelujah to all rehabilitators, counselors, and medicators! With all of them, plus frequent therapeutic time-outs, the great man-hater did learn to divert her hatred. In time she swore at the food, complained about the weather, and even blasphemed God for the poor laundry service. How she treated the facility TV reception I don't know and don't want to, but at least the professionals had done their job and diverted her wrath from destroying males. Once again it was safe to walk down the halls.

As is usually the case, after a patient has stabilized and most of his symptoms have settled down, the person's true character comes through. At her core, Claire Dombey was a worthy competitor. She loved to shoot pool, basketball free throws, bowl, and play cards. In time, what shone through was that because of her great energy, no woman could keep up with her. Which meant only men would play with her. But most men beat her at the very games she loved. She hated to be beaten by men, yet they were the only ones she could play with. So what was her greatest therapy turned out to be the very thing that re-imbalanced her.

My notes show that Claire Dombey was a constant threat, like tightrope walker on a razor blade. She became a prime candidate for joining the Resident-revolving Health Care Circuit where she would be transferred from one facility to the next so no single institution would have to bear the full brunt of her imbalances.

But before she joined the circuit, her conditioned worsened. She reverted to her past and aimed her hate toward men and especially her run-away husband. As she regressed, she said that Clarance had returned

in the middle of the night and threatened her. The nightmare/hallucination set her therapy back years: the psychiatrists had to start all over. The thought that Clarance might return at any moment shook the woman to her core. It was as if her worst fear was manifesting: a MAN was attacking HER. Worse than that, she was convinced he was returning from the dead. This meant she couldneverrid herself of him so she was doomed to suffer for the rest of her life. This new twist altered her therapy and sent her on the Circuit.

We all know the saying that we should be careful what we wish for because we just might get it. In Claire's case, I think this could be amended: we should be careful what we put our attention on because it will grow. Claire was preoccupied by the fear of persecution by men, and who better to do it than the very one she had picked on. Like the conditions of so many of the mentally diseased, her plight was a never-ending, vicious circle.

One Christmas, years after both Dombeys had become only faint memories and distant Journal entries, I got a postcard from Florida. The picture showed Santa lying in the sun on the beach. There was no signature, and only one clue to who may have sent it. The greeting said, "The world is perfect." Not much to go on, but just enough to suggest it was from Clarence Dombey alluding to the comfort his World Lobotomy theory would bring once implemented. Whether he sent it or not, I wished the man the best of life and hoped that Claire, wherever she was, would find comfort too.