Wrong Object
By Mona Simpson, first published in Harper's Magazine
When a Southern California psychologist learns that her seemingly normal middle-aged client is a pedophile, she sets him on a morally dubious course of treatment.
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Plot Summary
In contemporary Southern California, a middle-aged, female psychologist sees a new client. At first, the client seems normal: he's married to his wife, albeit somewhat unhappily, has children, and is a Harvard-educated lawyer. The psychologist, bored by her client, confesses to her supervisor that she doesn't know what to do with him; her supervisor suggests that she refer her client to more serious help, despite his seeming lack of a problem. The psychologist sticks with the client, drawn to him for some unknown reason. One day, he reveals that he is a pedophile: he is only attracted to young girls around the age of thirteen, but he has never acted on those impulses. Torn about what to do, the psychologist keeps this information to herself and advises her client to try to to ward off these feelings by kindling more intimacy between himself and his wife. That strategy fails. Her client confesses to having seen child pornography once before turning it off; his fantasies are very specific. Eventually, the client stops showing up. The psychologist, itching to speak about him, confesses to her supervisor that the man is a pedophile and that he watched child pornography once. The supervisor reports the man. The psychologist is visited by the man's beautiful wife and learns that their relationship was strengthened by the accusations directed toward him.
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