Christine thought the fighting would get better once everyone settled in for the ride, but, if anything, the kids only bickered more. Worse, her husband seemed to be physically pained by every angry word. Christine swore she could hear his teeth crunching over the roar of the engine. She reached over and patted his leg again.

"You're so tense, hon," she said, "And you've got such low energy. Don't worry, I think I have just the thing."

The whole car groaned, James included. The family was well indoctrinated on the nature of Christine's health program. It had started after her residency. After all those crazy hours (not to mention the...