Painful Research Project Provides Little Comfort

Re “A Comforting Spouse Could Turn Out to Be a Real Pain,” Nov. 4: Someone please tell me how many thousands of dollars went into this ridiculous research project. Apparently, our neuroscientists needed conclusive evidence that the spouse who coddles, babies and mollifies his or her significant other might be worsening or prolonging the condition.

I wonder how this analysis was made. I can just see the project specs now: During successive “Monday Night Football” games, spouse A developed a spontaneous, crippling leg cramp when asked to take out the garbage by spouse B. Those spouse Bs who acceded the point found no garbage was dispatched outdoors for approximately 3.5 hours, or four quarters of the game. Those spouse Bs who shut off the TV and kicked spouse A’s leg for verification of falsehood found garbage promptly outdoors. Project results? Thousands of American dollars out the window; game over.

Dana A.S. Rakoczy

Burbank