Gaslighting

When my half brother was nine and thought he was sick my mother lost the thermometer up his ass. She insisted on anal thermometers. I don't think we owned any other kind. She panicked and called the ambulance. When they arrived all of the neighborhood kids were out on the street asking what happened. Their couldn't have been a better example of the medical dramas my mother was always involved in. 

Years later I asked my brother about it when I was living on my own. We talked on the phone about our crazy mother, but then I had to go. We agreed to talk again. The next day his whole version of the story had changed. He said "Oh no, I did that to myself!"

I'm remembering the paper dress episode my parents planned to have on their summer patio party. My mother had suggested to my step-father let's pretend to have a fight and you rip off my magenta and orange paisley paper mini-dress. What was the point? To amuse and entertain? Or was my mother working something out?

And I remember the circa 1968 Christmas party when our 18-year-old British nanny and my step-sister nearly the same age were dressed up in fishnet stockings and black mini-skirts and little white maid aprons with little white hats. Just another madmen fantasy at the house.