Ari Callahan has no idea how to talk to boys -- or how to talk to anyone for that matter. Enter Zac, the cute new guy in town who won't stop texting her. But is his interest real, or does he have a hidden agenda?
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The Transcript (Segment 5)
Broadcast: THE TRUTH FILES
Episode Title: The Mermaid Hypothesis
Air Date: June 28, 2020
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT OF TELEVISION BROADCAST
HOST: Welcome back. We've heard from several of the young people involved in last summer's events, but our viewers may be asking themselves: where was the adult supervision? I'm joined in the studio by Thomas and Carol Callahan, parents of Lucy and Ariel. Mr. and Mrs. Callahan, thank you so much for sitting down with us tonight. We can imagine the challenges you must have faced, trying to keep tabs on a pair of teenage girls.
TC: My wife and I were always very involved in both our girls' lives. We weren't some kind of absentee parents. Not by any stretch.
CC: But that's not to say we didn't make mistakes.
HOST: Of course. All parents do.
CC: You can't imagine how many times Tom and I have gone back over our decisions, not only from last summer, but from Ari's entire childhood. Not a day goes by when I don't question myself. It's all so clear in retrospect, but we believed we were doing the right thing at the time.
HOST: Share with us, if you can, what you would have done differently.
TC: We should have been monitoring Ari's phone activity for one thing. Her text messages. We might have seen it coming earlier if we'd been doing that last summer.
CC: It's a struggle when you're raising teenagers. You want to foster independence and show your kids you trust them, but then you run the risk of missing warning signs.
HOST: What about Ari's swimming? I'm sure some of our viewers must be questioning why your daughter was permitted to swim alone in the ocean. Did you know that Ariel had a habit of doing that?
CC: Yes, but only by Pier 18. There's rarely a strong undertow there. The water tends to be pretty calm unless there's a storm brewing.
TC: Ari knew better than to go out past where she could put her feet down.
CC: She was always such a strong swimmer, even as a tiny little thing. That was honestly the one area where we didn't have concerns. I remember we put the girls in swimming lessons when they were young, and Lucy was the timid one. Ari swam like a fish. Absolutely no fear of the water. She wouldn't say a word, and she would run and hide if the swim instructor even dared to look at her directly—but as a five-year-old, she could jump in the deep end and swim the whole length of the pool underwater. It was amazing, really.
HOST: So, if anything, you encouraged her to swim.
TC: Of course. It was an area where she excelled. It was the best thing for her self-esteem. We had hopes that she might be able to carve out a career for herself that somehow involved swimming or diving.
CC: You have to understand, our number one concern with Ari was whether she would be able to function as an independent adult after she finished high school. Any area where she showed a special talent was something to be fostered, not quashed.
HOST: But did you know that she went out swimming in the middle of the night?
CC: No, no. Of course not. We wouldn't have allowed that if we knew.
TC: Listen, the swimming wasn't the issue. It was the other things that Ari was doing last summer in the middle of the night—
HOST: Was she sneaking out? Were you aware that your daughter wasn't at home?
TC: Yes, but we thought she was with her sister. Last summer, the two of them would leave the house together in the evenings. We were actually pleased that Ari seemed to be going out more. Going to parties. Developing an active social life. She'd always struggled with that.
CC: Ari was always the kid who played by herself at recess, and Lucy was the exact opposite. Lucy made friends so easily. We were glad to see Lucy helping to draw Ari out of her shell.
TC: We didn't realize the two of them were splitting up as soon as they were out of eyeshot. Lucy went to hang out with her friends, and meanwhile Ari headed to Pier 18 to see that boy.
HOST: Zac Pierce?
TC: We had no idea she was dating.
HOST: Would you have forbidden the relationship?
TC: Let's just say we would have offered some strong parental guidance.
CC: She was always so young for her age. A sweet, sweet girl, but so naïve. She never considered that a boy's motivations might not be what they seemed.
HOST: You feel that Ari was less mature for her age than a typical 17-year-old?
TC: She acted younger a lot of the time. She was still fixated on these childish interests.
HOST: The Little Mermaid?
CC: Ari used to insist on wearing her mermaid costume to bed at night. We didn't think much of it when she was young, but it went on for years. Most kids outgrow that sort of thing. Maybe if we had put our foot down. Maybe if we'd gotten rid of all that mermaid nonsense when she was still a child... Maybe then we could've avoided...
TC: We couldn't have known, Carol. We only did what the doctors recommended.
HOST: I know this must be very difficult for you to talk about, Mrs. Callahan.
CC: No, it's all right. I just need a moment. I'm all right now.
TC: When Ari first came to us as a child, she had a Little Mermaid nightgown. That was her only possession—the only connection to her life before we adopted her. We were always counseled by the experts in adoption issues that we shouldn't try to stifle any interest she might show in her past.
CC: They thought she had Attachment Disorder. That was her diagnosis for the longest time. They told us the Selective Mutism was a symptom.
HOST: A symptom of failing to attach to you, her adoptive parents.
CC: That was never the problem, but we didn't know any better. We listened to the doctors.
TC: There were so many different doctors. Every one of them has a different opinion. A different diagnosis. A different therapy to recommend. How do you sort through all that advice? At the end of the day, it's a guessing game. As a parent, you try your best to figure out what will really help your child make progress, and what will hold them back.
HOST: So in retrospect, you would have steered Ari away from the mermaid fascination much earlier.
TC: In retrospect, I would have kept her away from all that nonsense. Yes. But that's beside the point. First and foremost, I would have kept my 17-year-old daughter from being indoctrinated into that group—that cult of radical anti-capitalist terrorists.
