I asked Tom how he was holding up, without confronting him with his extreme passivity and submissiveness. He used terms like, ‘adore,’ ‘worship,’ ‘dependent upon,’ when describing his relationship with Vanessa. We were having a beer for the first time in a month when his cell phone rang. He listened without speaking, got up, and said he had to go.
“Aren’t you going to finish your beer?”
“She said to get home immediately,” he explained, as he moved toward the door. (Tom had his own transportation as Vanessa loaned him money to make a down payment on a used Ford Escort). The next morning I asked if he made it home on time. He said, “No. I guess she has me on a short leash, eh?” I asked what happens when he comes home late, and he said he gets spanked bare-assed with a paddle. “Then we have
