Chapter 4 - The first time
I asked Benson about the first time Stellan took food away.
Carefully.
Not repeatedly.
Not with leading questions.
He said:
“I was crying because peas touched chicken.”
That sounded like him.
Stellan removed the plate.
“Did he give it back?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Were you still hungry?”
“Yes.”
“Did you eat later?”
“Yes.”
No starvation.
No missed day of food.
But the emotional lesson bothered me.
Stop crying to earn your plate back.
Then another incident.
Benson cried because Stellan would not let him have juice before dinner.
Plate removed.
Returned after he stopped.
Again:
Short.
Not deprivation in the extreme sense.
Still coercive.
Then Agatha.
Apparently she did not always return the plate.
One Saturday she told Benson:
“Dinner is over.”
He got a snack later from the nanny.
Another time:
No dessert and no second serving.
That part by itself might be ordinary discipline.
May you like
The problem was the pattern.
Food became proof of obedience.
