"Hello? Doctor!" my wife Beck said as she put her suitcase down in the foyer. Her cab was coming any minute now to take her to the airport for her weeklong business trip in Chicago. "Hi. Yes, this is she. Is everything alright?" She paused a moment, looking at me, concerned. She'd taken our daughter to see a therapist earlier in the day for some kind of extreme depression... and now his office was calling her.
"No she's... she's acting normal," she said, looking at me. "What's going on? Is......" She paused as the doctor said something I couldn't hear. "The side effects?...... To the medication you just prescribed? I wish I had known there were side effects before I agreed...... Well...... No, I haven't noticed any changes in her, but... um... what should we be expecting exactly?"
I was going to ask questions, but it looked like she was getting enough of an earful of information from the doctor.
"She already had her first dose...... I dunno, maybe 10 minutes ago. Can you just tell me exactly what the side effects are?" The doctor ticked off several, to which my wife nodded. Until the last one. "A change in behavior? How?...... appetite...... a loss of inhibition...... confusion...... What does that mean exactly?"
The doctor seemed to describe the symptoms, but it seemed too general for Beck to fully comprehend. "Can you give me an example of what your patients have done while using this medication?... She's not going to do anything inappropriate is she?...... Ok...... Can you just tell me what I need to do to best... help her... when she gets like this? When she changes." Beck nodded uncomfortably. "Just go along with it?...... You're telling me that we should just let her do what she wants to do while she's on this?...... There's got to be something......"
Now that sounded like trouble to me. Beck looked at me, concerned, shaking her head.
"Ok... ok... I got it." She sighed heavily, as if she wasn't sure this was going to work. "I'm sure we can figure this out...... Ok. Thank you doctor." She pulled the phone from her ear and hung up.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
"Well, it seems that the medication she's on has some side effects."
"That I got," I said. "What kind of side effects?"
"Increased appetite... increased energy... a loss of impulse control and inhibitions."
"What's that supposed to mean for a teenage girl exactly?" I asked.
"I think our little 19-year-old is going to act like a bratty 13-year-old for a while," Beck smiled at me. "She should be less moody, though. So this should get her out of her shell. And he said that she should get used to it and be better at handling it after a month or so."
"Lovely," I said sarcastically.
"Until then, he said it was important not to argue with her when she wants something. He said it would only make her more upset... and potentially violent or even self-destructive."
"But... we can't just let her do what she wants." I said.
"He suggested that we try to keep her away from things that will get her into trouble, first of all. No going to restaurants or shopping. And keep her away from her friends for now. Otherwise, he said to just steer her in the right direction. Maybe show her something else that she might like better," Beck said.
I shook my head, wondering how I could do something like that. I could imagine this was going to be pretty frustrating until we get the whole dosage right.
"I have her phone, so you won't have to fight her over that." She put her hand on my shoulder. "You can do this, right hon?" she asked.
I knew she had to get to the airport if she was going to make her flight. This was an important work conference for her. She couldn't miss it. I knew she'd be worried about both Emmanuelle and me, so I had to show some confidence. "Of course I can," I said with all the confidence I could muster. "It'll be just fine." I took her in my arms and gave her a big hug, then kissed her. "You have a good trip."
"I'll call you when I get to the hotel, ok?"
"That'll work. I'll talk to you in a few hours,I said kissing her again. "I love you."
"I love you, too!"
Beck opened the door and rolled her suitcase behind her to the taxi waiting in the driveway. I stood in the doorway, watching as the driver helped her into the back seat and put her suitcase in the trunk. I waved as they backed away and then drove down the street.
And then, I was alone with my deeply depressed stepdaughter. For a whole week.
The day passed uneventfully and after dinner, I had arranged to watch Em's favorite movie, Aladdin. The new live-action one from just a few years ago with Will Smith, Mena Massoud, and Naomi Scott. I enjoyed it, too, but when it came out, Em was infatuated with it. I just knew it would make her happy.
I changed into a pair of loose shorts and a t-shirt that I normally slept in, popped some popcorn, and slid onto the couch. I located the movie on the streaming service and called out to Em.
"Hey pumpkin! You ready to watch the movie?" I yelled.
"Coming!" she called back.
So far, she hadn't shown a hint of the side effects the doctor had warned us about. She came bounding down the stairs and jumped onto the couch beside me, cuddling up next to me with her head on my shoulder. She was wearing her long t-shirt she slept in, one with her favorite boy band from when she was 16.
"Ready!" she said and I pressed the play button and the movie started.
It wasn't 20 minutes into the movie when I could feel her squirming next to me.