Experiment

After he put the pieces of the experiment into the trunk of his car and drove off, she couldn't stop thinking of it, even while she was preparing lunch. The more she thought, the more upset she got.

When they sat down to lunch, she hesitated, but then she decided to share her concern with Erwin.

"When I saw how fast you disassembled my experiment this morning, I was pleased at first," she said. "But then this idea came into my mind, and I can't get rid of it.

"I didn't really order you to do that. I just brought it up as something to consider. But you acted like it was a command and completed it quickly. Was it because you were enthusiastically responding to an implied command? Or was it because you hated looking at it and what it reminded you of and you were just interpreting my words to do what you were dying to do? I can't stop thinking about that question.

"You could say that we weren't in bed, so it belonged with the rest of your life, where I want you to think for yourself. But that argument doesn't stand up. Those human rat cages were intimately connected with our sex life, both physically and psychologically.

"It's crazy, but even though I have my lab book full of data, and your responses are all consistent, there's no way to be sure that the conditioning worked. What if it wore off in a few days, and everything you're doing now is from your own decisions?

"What if the chemicals in your brain that produce the emotion love are in control, and you're trying to please me because of love and not following orders because of the conditioning? What if the whole experiment was a failure?"

She looked at him as he swallowed what he was chewing. Then a smile came over his face.

"You're a world-class scientist, Florence," he said, "but all of us have have to fight against irrational emotionality.

"It's common to have doubts after we finish an experiment. Did the rats really confirm or negate the hypothesis? Maybe they responded the way they did for reasons we were unaware of. As much as we control the tests, we can't be perfect.

"A scientist knows that when the experiment is over, you look at the data, make conclusions and move on to the next experiment. As additional data come in and they don't negate the results, you continue to assume that you were correct. Otherwise, you would be paralyzed and unable to do any worthwhile research.

"Your experiment worked because you got the outcome you were looking for. You need to accept that and go forward. Does that answer your question?"

His smile was even wider now.

"No," she said.

For background on the stories of edrider73, see "Author Interview: edrider73" by Literoticauthor. Tag: "author interview."