Transcript
NOTE: Square Peg is intended to be heard, not read. If possible, please listen to the audio, which relays feeling and tone not captured by the transcripts.
ROB: All right so Frank and I are at Parkcafé in Berlin.
FRANK: Right in the middle of—
ROB: Right in the middle of Berlin. It's an outdoor biergarten. The only bad thing we can say about Berlin so far is we haven't found Guinness.
FRANK: That's right. Absolutely right. But the guy in the hotel said-- [fades out]
ROB COLLINS (narration): After getting checked into the hotel, Frank and I went out for a walk and a drink. The weather is perfect, sunny and cool. And it’s a beautiful city. Who knows if I would have ever made it here if not for Frank?
It’s invigorating to travel to a new place. I try to let myself just enjoy it. But in the back of my mind, I’m nervous. We’re meeting Dr. Linden in the morning, with the potential that Frank could get really mad at me, and for some reason Frank decided not to bring his cell phone on this trip. He said he could just use mine if needed. I’ve also never seen him use a credit card. Frank’s totally dependent on me.
[music]
This is Square Peg. I’m Rob Collins. Part 6: Monuments
[microphones cut on]
FRANK: Eh, OK.
ROB: Lots of microphones.
We meet Dr. Linden at the Institute for Behavioral Therapy in the western part of the city. It’s a large office in a stately five story building. We’re in a room that I think they otherwise use for group therapy.
Dr Linden is in his late 60s, tall, maybe 6’2”. He wears a jacket but no tie, stylish, with some fashionable tortoise shell glasses. But he isn’t as stylish Frank, who’s sporting a crisp beige safari suit.
I feel uneasy, in that I’ve got a lot riding on this. All the money of course. It’s an expensive trip, plus I’m paying Dr. Linden for his time. It feels like more of a gamble, and a lot more pressure than when I went to England to meet Frank. That trip was like an open-ended adventure by comparison.
Now I’m on a mission. I’ve got a couple of hours to get Dr. Linden to confirm a diagnosis of Post-traumatic Embitterment Disorder, then explain to Frank how this condition has affected him, and hopefully redirect him toward a better understanding of himself. Oh, and also find a safe moment to tell Frank about my meeting John.
ROB: We are recording by both of your permission. If at any point, Frank, you want me to stop recording—
FRANK: No comment.
ROB: Just let me know [laughs]. The same thing for you Dr. Linden too. Yeah, this is a new experience for me. I haven't quite done something like this, so we’ll have to—
DR. LINDEN: Probably for the two of us also [laughs].
ROB: I think it definitely is.
My first impressions are encouraging. Dr. Linden has a calming presence but seems fully engaged. He likes to laugh and joke, and so does Frank. I’m sure a lot of it is nervous laughter, at least from Frank, but that’s OK.
We start with some small talk and preliminaries. Dr. Linden wants to make sure that Frank knows that this wasn’t treatment, which is a longer-term process. He then goes on to get some more basic biographical information about Frank.
LINDEN: So you started a career in the army? And ah—
FRANK: Yeah, I was happy.
LINDEN: And all your life you have been with the Army or--?
FRANK: No, no, no. I only did three years.
LINDEN: Three years and after that?
FRANK: Well, I got this glass pushed into my face, and I finished with the army.
LINDEN: This was an accident at the army? Or no it was?
FRANK: Deliberate.
LINDEN: Deliberate. Yeah, I understand. We come to that later. Okay. Then after the army?
FRANK: I found it very difficult to get a job. So I ended up going to the Royal Hotel as a trainee manager. I married the boss's daughter.
LINDEN: This is clever [laughs].
FRANK: That was a good move. Yeah. Actually, the reason that ended up… [FADES OUT]
For the next 45 minutes or so, Dr. Linden tries to piece together a basic outline of Frank’s biography. It’s tough, because Frank gets lost in lots of unimportant details. Dr. Linden repeatedly tries to bring him back on track, but is largely unsuccessful. Now to me, this just seemed like it was just Frank being Frank: telling shaggy dog stories, and going off on tangents.
Dr. Linden then asks Frank a series of questions, first about his mood. Frank says he feels good, and is happy at the moment.
LINDEN: How about, let's say irritability, explosiveness? How quick could I get you to explode and go up to the ceiling?
FRANK: Pretty damn quick.
LINDEN: Another question in that direction is, for example, well, I understood you were raised by an Army man and so have quite some experience in your life. You're a-- how you say in English?
FRANK: Disciplined.
LINDEN: A disciplined man. But still, if, for example, you're exposed to something which is going to your heart, maybe in the TV, you see a little—
Frank mimes tears coming down his cheek.
LINDEN: That was my question. So then, the tears are running.
FRANK: Very emotional. Very, very emotional.
LINDEN: Yes, very emotional, that was my question. You're a very emotional man?
LINDEN: One further question in all of that, let’s say, did you ever have kind of a, let's say, accident where your brain, the brain damage something in all these years?
FRANK: Well, accidents? Yes, plenty of them.
LINDEN: Yes. So, how often were you unconscious?
FRANK: Oh, gosh. When I got blown off the boiler— [claps]
LINDEN: How long did it take till you—
FRANK: I was unconscious for probably four or five minutes.
LINDEN: How many of such nasty experience did you have approximately?
FRANK: Of that same?
LINDEN: That you have been unconscious for?
FRANK: One, at the side the house when I was a kid, off the drain pipe. One in the garage at Tancray, when I fell onto concrete and I was in a coma for four days. The one I've just described to you. Oh, hell, I've probably—more than a half a dozen. Where I've actually fallen—
LINDEN: More than what? More than half a dozen?
FRANK: I would say about half a dozen. Just off, yeah.
[music cue]
You have got to be kidding me. I had sort of heard about a couple of these accidents, but did not at all realize that Frank had been unconscious due to head trauma half a dozen times. Yet Dr. Linden apparently saw something in Frank. Just to replay his question, which to me was out of the blue:
LINDEN: Did you ever have kind of a, let's say, accident where your brain, the brain damage something in all these years?
Brain damage? I do not feel ready for this development. But Dr. Linden moves on. Up to this point, about an hour in, he’s asked Frank to hold off talking about John and the incident that caused Frank to lose his eye and then his dream of a career in the military. But then Linden says:
LINDEN: What I understand, correct it, please, if I say something which is not how you feel it, please correct me. Feel free, [laughs] because I just want to understand. Let's say a subject, one memory, whatsoever, which can still, let's say, a little bit drive you crazy, to put it this way, is when you think about your brother, right?
FRANK: Yes, but not actually him. It's, why? Why did he do that to me? Why?
LINDEN: And what happened exactly?
FRANK: Exactly, the guy that knocked my drink over with the empty glass, he was tall. A lot taller than me…
Frank tells Dr. Linden the story. New Year’s Eve, 1964. A guy knocked over Frank’s drink and didn’t apologize, so Frank took a swing at him but missed and fell over, humiliating himself, and John. John tossed Frank from the pub and later, at home, kept going at him. Frank called John’s wife a cow—
FRANK: And with that, bang, I felt it.
Then at the hospital, Frank was most upset by:
FRANK: The fact that my brother came to see me at the hospital and he stood at the end of the bed, and he never spoke a word. He never said sorry. He never said a word.
LINDEN: He didn't say sorry?
FRANK: No.
LINDEN: Well, he couldn't have said sorry in the moment, sure, because everybody was taking care of you, bleeding, the eye and so on and so forth. What is it you would have expected? That he'd come to the hospital and take your hand and say sorry or what should have he done?
FRANK: If I was in his shoes?
LINDEN: Yes, exactly.
FRANK: Well, if I was in his shoes, number one, I wouldn't have stuck a glass in my brother's face. That's number one.
LINDEN: OK. You tried to hit the waiter and you shouldn't have done that either, especially missing him and falling to the ground.
FRANK: Knowing what I'm like--
LINDEN: Neither you nor your brother were really clever. Let's put it this way.
[music cue]
Dr. Linden goes on to ask Frank to recreate the scene at the hospital where John supposedly did not apologize.
LINDEN: What happened when your brother came? Can you remember? Well, it's long ago. Can you remember the precise situation?
FRANK: Not precise, but I would remember if he'd spoken. I would have remembered that and he didn't.
LINDEN: But you remember that your father was on your right side?
FRANK: Dad was here.
LINDEN: You were lying on the bed?
FRANK: Yeah.
LINDEN: Right-hand side was the father.
FRANK: No, he was standing at the end of the bed.
LINDEN: Yes, your father was-- All right. Who came in first?
FRANK: Dad. Followed by mom.
LINDEN: Dad came in. What did--?
FRANK: He came in last.
LINDEN: What did dad say when he came in?
FRANK: My father?
LINDEN: Yes. Let's start this story. You were lying in bed, nobody there then it knocks at the door.
FRANK: No, no door, it’s a big ward.
LINDEN: A big ward. There were plenty of people there. Yes, I know. I've seen that. There was a big ward. There were all the other patients, nobody of your family there. Then what happens? Who comes in first?
FRANK: The visitors came and I'm looking and I see mom and dad there.
LINDEN: Mom and dad come together.
FRANK: Yes.
LINDEN: They come on the far end of the room and they walk over to your bed.
FRANK: Yeah.
LINDEN: Okay, so here are mom and dad. Who started to speak, mom, dad?
FRANK: Dad.
LINDEN: Dad? This is funny. Typically, mom starts talking first.
FRANK: Yes, but she was so--
LINDEN: Mom didn't talk, okay.
FRANK: Dad did all the talking basically.
LINDEN: Mom didn't say any word?
FRANK: If she did, it wasn't a lot.
LINDEN: She didn't come and hug you?
FRANK: Oh, yeah, she put her arms around me but she was--
LINDEN: Did she cry?
FRANK: Oh, yeah.
LINDEN: Yes, she should. She’s your mom. Okay, now she's visiting her dear son in the hospital and he's hurt and the eye is hurt and all that.
FRANK: You don't see dad with tears.
LINDEN: She cries but doesn't say a word. That's funny. I would have expected that she mumbled something saying, “Oh my dear,” and I don't know what.
FRANK: Nothing--
LINDEN: What kind of a woman comes to visit her son and doesn't say a word? Well, she hugs you, that's okay, but she should have said something. But probably you can't remember. I'm sure she must have said something.
FRANK: She didn't say an awful lot like that because if she had have done then I would have remembered.
LINDEN: It's long ago, sorry.
FRANK: Dad said to me--
LINDEN: It's 50 years.
FRANK: I know, but dad said to me, he said, "Don't worry. I will see the surgeon and I will get him to transplant one of my eyes to you.”
LINDEN: Okay, that you remember well.
FRANK: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
LINDEN: Wow, your father really here he is--
FRANK: You know you can't do that. It's impossible.
LINDEN: I understand that that's something you remember and all the other small talk you don't. That's why I asked, because I'm sorry, but I'm almost sure that there must have been kind of an exchange.
I had never heard this, about what Frank’s father said about an eye transplant. And it makes sense that Frank would remember this, but maybe not other small talk.
But I’m also starting to think about what John told me, that he cried for a week after the incident. Was he crying at the hospital? Silently crying? And Frank just couldn’t see well enough to notice?
I think I need to ask Frank. That’s after the break.
[break]
We’ve been with Dr. Linden now for almost two hours. I still need to tell Frank that I met John. But Dr. Linden hinted that Frank may have brain damage from a number of incidents of head trauma over his life, which I was largely unaware of. I feel like that might change things. But as I’m considering this, Dr. Linden shifts his questioning again. He begins to ask Frank about his current relationships with his family. He starts with Frank’s sister, who lives near Scotland. Frank hasn’t spoken to her since 1990.
LINDEN: And why didn't you meet your sister?
FRANK: Because she locked me and Freda out of the house. Where I was staying, I'd just come back from Africa on a visit.
LINDEN: And that is a reason to not meet her for 25 years?
FRANK: Yeah, absolutely.
LINDEN: Couldn't you just call her and say, “Listen, locking out for 25 years ago is not a reason to die without having seen your sister again,” is it? Why don't you just give her a call and say, “I wanted to come to Scotland--”
FRANK: Well, probably. I'll give you a probably there. I probably won't and don't because I cannot tolerate the word “no.”
LINDEN: OK.
FRANK: When anybody refuses me of a commonsense, reasonable question or a request and I get “no,” that makes me ill. And the reason for that is, when I got out the army and got this job in that garage, the very first job that I got out of the army, I wanted to borrow some tools, and I knew that John had a whole shed-full. And when I phoned him to ask him if I could borrow a few spanners to start me off in my new job, he said no. I almost collapsed with shock. That is where that comes from, I'm sure.
LINDEN: Okay. So it's not only the story with the eye, but let's say your relation to your brother John has quite a lot of, let's say, marks to it.
FRANK: Oh, yes.
LINDEN: When did you meet him last time?
FRANK: When did I speak to him?
LINDEN: Yes.
FRANK: Hell. 30, let's go back to, probably 28 years ago.
LINDEN: Okay. Again, just a question. Well, you're all going to die. Why wouldn't you say, “Well, now we are, let's say, grown up.” It's your 70th birthday. I would say people are starting to be grown up. Until then they play around. So having said that, being grown up, you would want to die without having, let’s say, coffee with your sister and your brother.
FRANK: Well---
LINDEN: So you understand my question.
FRANK: Yeah, I know what you're trying to say.
LINDEN: Try to explain.
FRANK: I'll answer that for you and I'll tell you a little story before I answer it. I've got a son, Clinton. One son.
LINDEN: Yes, I understood that.
FRANK: He's 45-ish. Now, grandkids. They are now 12. Why haven't they contacted their granddad?
This kind of shocks me. I only know about Frank’s grandsons second-hand. This is the first time he’s ever discussed them in my presence. You might remember that Kiki told Marie about this when they were speaking in French. She said that Frank has never met his grandsons and didn’t want to, which struck me as being so sad. I wanted to ask Frank about this, but didn’t quite know how.
FRANK: Why haven’t they-- You're saying to me about this getting me talking to John--
LINDEN: How many grandchildren do you have from Clinton?
FRANK: As far as I know, there's two. Two boys. I would have thought when I got this cancer and I was in hospital and I was close to death on three occasions, I would have thought that he would have at least made an inquiry about me being in hospital having cancer. Not one. And I'm supposed to be tearful about that. No, I'm not. I am totally blank about it. They don't care about me, and I certainly don't care about them. I'm not wasting my life any more worrying or thinking and upsetting myself about people who I don't want to know.
LINDEN: I understand, you can react like that but then you can't buy presents for your grandchildren.
FRANK: I know. I'm aware of it.
LINDEN: Why are you hurting yourself?
FRANK: Well, I'm not hurting myself. I would have thought that they would have made an effort to find me. They've got—
LINDEN: Yes, but not grandchildren. Don't expect that.
FRANK: I don't know.
LINDEN: You're the grandfather. Grandfather care about their grandchildren.
FRANK: Well, they do if they see them.
LINDEN: Not the other way around.
FRANK: They care about them if they meet them and see them and get to know them.
LINDEN: Yeah, but you must give them a reason to see them. I have grandchildren myself. Grandchildren are selfish like hell, sure, they are, they're kids. It's for the grandfather to give the grandchildren good reason to come. You know that.
FRANK: Granddad--
LINDEN: The parents don't like this because they call it spoiling. [laughs]
FRANK: I know that.
LINDEN: Why don't you spoil your grandchildren? Just a question. You're missing something, you know that?
FRANK: Oh, I know that.
LINDEN: Yes. Why are you--?
FRANK: I'm well aware of it.
LINDEN: Why are you punishing yourself?
FRANK: Because I know that if I make an attempt, I'll be turned down. That word, “no.” It'll come back again.
LINDEN: Well-- You're a fighting man. How come that you can be kicked out with one “no”?
FRANK: Yeah, but you get fed up of fighting when you've been fighting all your life.
LINDEN: Yes, but still. Now that was what I was saying, you're 60—ah, 70 now. So you can't be insulted anymore, can you?
FRANK: I don't want stressed out anymore.
LINDEN: Yes, but I'm talking about your grandchildren.
FRANK: I know.
LINDEN: The impression I get from talking to you, that you're really a very, well, a man which is fun to talk to. You have a lot of stories. Your grandchildren are about 10 you said or something. If I would be your grandchild, I would listen to your stories rather than watch TV.
[laughter]
You really could tell stories. That's why I'm surprised that a nice person like you, and an experienced one, and a 70-year-old one, isn't able to figure out a way to leave it as it is, and tell your grandchildren whatever they want to hear.
Wow. I’m kind of overwhelmed by what’s happening. Dr. Linden seems to be getting through to Frank. I feel like we’re on the verge of a something big.
But we take a break for a few minutes and have some coffee. And as we’re reconvening Dr. Linden indicates that he had some thoughts to discuss about whether Frank did, in his opinion, suffer from Post-traumatic Embitterment Disorder.
Short answer: no. Some of the reason is kind of technical: PTED stems from one traumatic event; Frank has had several. Also, Dr. Linden didn’t think Frank was embittered so much as angry. I wonder whether Frank doesn’t have PTED on top of many other things, but who am I to question a world renowned psychiatrist?
LINDEN: One thing which is educational and which is maybe military, I don't know what is, as you said, I cannot tolerate the word, “No.” That makes me crazy. I think all the situations we have talking about are a little bit related to that. The second thing is, I don't know exactly when it starts or not, but there is a kind of, let's say, brain part to it, which may go back very long. That's what I was asking how often you had been unconscious. It's like having a boxer. If you get on your head very often, you start to have an emotional problem because emotionality is overreacting.
ROB: So you're saying you think Frank has some sort of physical brain damage from his accidents?
LINDEN: Yes.
ROB: And that's—
LINDEN: That results in his, let's say, impulsiveness.
Dr. Linden would later write up in a more formal way this diagnosis. He based it on six distinct factors he observed in Frank, and said that he was quite sure of the diagnosis of “organic brain syndrome,” or traumatic brain injury. He said it’s possible that this could even be visible on an MRI.
MARY KAY (on phone): We are not paying for an MRI.
That was later, when I told my wife about this discovery. But regardless, this kind of brain injury can cause changes in personality such as: erratic emotions, aggression, and impaired memory and impulse control.
LINDEN: If you can't stand, “No,” for example, and somebody says, “No,” this is a good reason to become angry. If you then have a brain damage thing which makes you a little bit explosive, you won't only react to it, but you will overreact to it.
There’s so much going on in my head right now. I came here because I was sure Frank had PTED. But no, apparently. It’s traumatic brain injury. What are the implications? Has this been the cause of some of the dysfunction in Frank’s relationships? Shouldn’t Frank’s family know about this? Maybe they’d be more understanding, more forgiving, if they were told.
Which leads me back to Frank’s brother, John. I still haven’t told Frank about meeting him. Dr. Linden didn’t set any particular time limits, but I feel like we’re winding down. I don’t think I have much more time in this room.
When we were taking a break, I tried to catch Dr. Linden alone for a minute. I wanted to get a sense from him as to whether this would be a good idea, telling Frank about John. Dr. Linden left the room to get coffee, and after a minute I told Frank I was going to find a bathroom. But just as I walked down the hall to the kitchen and approached Dr. Linden, Frank popped out and I had to instead awkwardly ask Dr. Linden for die toilette. It was like a bad sitcom.
So I really don’t know what to do. Maybe I’m a coward, but I still feel like I need to have this conversation in front of Dr. Linden. I feel like Dr. Linden gets Frank, and that Frank respects and likes Dr. Linden. I feel like it’s now or never.
ROB: You know, I got drawn into telling this story because it was a mystery to me. It was a mystery about what happened to you. And as part of that unraveling mystery, when I was in England in October, do you remember I said, “Well, I want to try to talk to John.”
FRANK: Oh, yeah and I said to you, “Don't bother because he will not talk to you.”
ROB: Well—
FRANK: And he didn't.
ROB: Actually he did.
FRANK: He did, did he? You've never told me that.
ROB: I'm telling you this now. And the reason why I am, and it stems back to what we were talking about earlier about the possibility of— I want the best, I've grown to care for you a great deal, Frank. I want you to be happy. You've expressed to me before a desire to potentially reconcile with your brother. You're getting older. You have potential lung cancer. When I did speak to John, he— The hospital, he said, and again, I don't want to get into memories. I know everyone remembers something different, but he said he—
LINDEN: Everybody has his memories. If you think, for example, you are in a court and two people are explaining how it came to a car accident. Don't believe one word is identical with the other. It's just to say that whatever your brother is telling is his memory. Whatever you’re saying is your memory. It's just that everybody has his memory. So I'm interested to hear what John was saying.
ROB: Well, I would too, and I agree with that. I'm not trying to say who— Yes, everyone has a different memory, but what struck me was that he to this day seemed heartbroken over what happened. He acknowledged that he did, was responsible. He didn't say that you fell onto a glass.
FRANK: I didn’t.
ROB: I think it's a losing effort to try to say what really happened. But what I know right now is that I would love for you to have better relationships. You have Kiki, and I'm thrilled that you have Kiki. I love your relationship with her. But otherwise, you seem like you have been isolated from your family for all these years. Like Dr. Linden was saying earlier, all this time has passed, you're both getting older. Wouldn't it be nice to have a brother?
LINDEN: But different from him, I didn't give you an advice. I only asked. He's giving you an advice and that's his view of the world.
ROB: Yes.
LINDEN: As what I said is, I only wanted to know why you didn't take the pleasure to talk to your grandchildren and spoil them. No. That was only the question.
I think Dr. Linden’s questions implied quite a bit of advice, but OK.
ROB: Not that it matters what I believe, but I actually believe that he did try to push the glass to your face. I don't think in that moment he thought the glass was going to break and it was going to slice your eye. I don't think in that moment--
FRANK: Probably not. Probably not.
ROB: And I just had a brief— He said that he cried for a week after he did this to you. It makes me think of that bedside. I believe he didn't say anything. I just wonder, when you were in that bed, you've lost one eye, you don't see well out of the remaining eye. He came to the hospital. He didn't say anything. Could he have been silently crying at that moment?
FRANK: It could've been. It could well have been.
It could well have been. John may have been standing at the foot of the bed, crying, probably trying to keep it in with that British stiff upper lip. But Frank couldn’t see it. Literally couldn’t see it. And now, 54 years later, here we are. I feel kind of shell shocked that Frank would even acknowledge this.
ROB: I definitely got the sense that he has regretted for the past 54 years that whatever he did, however much force it took, he didn't intend for the glass to break and for it to destroy your eye. But I sensed a lot of pain from him now. Pain that you have had this broken relationship with him.
LINDEN: But there is both. The interesting part maybe for podcast, what you are looking for is also, think about the devastating effects of memories. Memory is bad. Being reminded always is an aggressive act. Memory is so bad. People always say, “You have to be reminded. You have to think about history, the past in order not to forget. We must not forget—” especially in Germany, “we must not forget.” This is nonsense. Memories are bad and if you look for monuments, give me one monument which is not an aggressive act.
[music cue]
LINDEN: One single monument, which is not an aggressive act. And he’s carrying monuments around in his head instead of just bringing them down and say, “That's gone.”
ROB: But Frank—
FRANK: How?
ROB: But if you think about it…
I regret that I kept talking here and didn’t just let this exchange happen. Dr. Linden said that Frank was carrying around monuments, aggressive acts, in his head instead of bringing them down—and Frank asked, “How?”
I go on to note that it’s especially hard for Frank to let go of his monuments because he literally can’t open his eyes without being reminded.
ROB: The other reason, when I read Dr. Linden's work on embitterment I wondered if it might apply to you, Frank was, you write about, there's something addictive about the embittered feelings and it makes me think, in this context, is there any part of you, Frank, that somehow at some level enjoys the conflict, the controversy with your brother? That if you were reconciled, would you lose something? Do you know what I'm asking?
FRANK: Yeah, I know exactly what you're saying. I would lose the battle. I have been fighting all my life in different respect. Fighting to get a job, fighting to keep it, fighting to do this. Fighting to get to a, to b, to c. I can't read the bloody thing. How am I going to do it? Nothing but fight, fight, fight all my life.
LINDEN: Mmm hmm.
FRANK: And that is what I would lose. I'd lose that… who am I now?
ROB: And I don't mean to push, I'm not trying to tell you what you should do either, Frank. I just want to, I feel like I've come into your life—
FRANK: Oh yeah you have.
ROB: And in the end I just want to make sure that whatever impact I've had on it, doesn't leave you worse off. That would be terrible for me. But we can continue. We can talk about that. We don't need Dr. Linden to keep talking about that, probably.
LINDEN: I think your last sentence was a wonderful, let’s say, conclusion. [laughs] I think one could leave it as that.
We go back to the hotel to rest a bit. It’s quiet and peaceful in the taxi as we drive over. I’m so relieved that the truth is out in the open, and I kind of feel like Frank had a bit of a breakthrough. And to be honest, I have also let a thought enter my mind, that this podcast could have a really good ending after all.
I had thought that a diagnosis of Post-traumatic Embitterment Disorder might help Frank and John understand each other. But this is better. I mean, I don’t want to say that I’m glad Frank has brain damage, but it’s surely a lot easier to understand than PTED.
I needed to know why Frank is the way he is, and I think I have an answer. I feel like this answer could make a difference. It could be the key to healing these wounds. To bringing down these monuments.
[music]
Square Peg is a LUSID48 production. It was written and produced by Ashley Hall and me. Visit our website, squarepegpodcast.com, to learn more.