The Underground Man

has issued a ruling to the effect that he be produced at this hearing?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then why is he not here?”

“He is not competent to be here, Your Honor.”

“I understand your contention. Could you elaborate?”

“Yes, Your Honor. Certainly, Your Honor. As I said, the patient is confused and disoriented. He also suffers from delusions of persecution. His advanced state of paranoia makes the patient very hard to reach. It also makes him violent. I have no doubt that given time we will be able to help him to some degree, but at the present time he is a danger to himself and to others. At any rate, his presence here in court would serve no purpose. He is not competent to understand these proceedings, let alone take part in them. To bring him into court now would only confuse and frighten him, and deepen his neurosis, and make our job of reaching him that much harder.”

“I see,” Judge Washburn said. “Mr. Franklyn. Have you anything to add?”

Franklyn rose. “Just a couple of questions, Your Honor. I’d like to make one point clear. Dr. Feldspar, did I notify you of the court order to produce the petitioner at this hearing?”

“Yes, you did.”

“As well as the habeas corpus served on Jason Tindel?”

“Yes, you did.”

“Did Jason Tindel also inform you of that fact?”

“Yes, he did.”

“Then the fact that Jack Walsh is not here in court has nothing to do with any failure on my part or on Jason Tindel’s part to comply with the habeas corpus, is that right?”

“Absolutely. Mr. Walsh is not here for medical reasons, as I have testified.”

“Thank you, Doctor. That’s all.”

Judge Washburn said, “Mr. Winslow?”

Steve Winslow took his time. He rose slowly, walked around the table, stopped, and looked around the courtroom. First at the judge, then at Franklyn, then at Mark Taylor and Tracy Garvin, who were seated just behind his table, then at the relatives, and finally at Dr. Feldspar.

“Medical reasons?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“By that you mean psychiatric reasons?”

“That’s correct.”

Steve chuckled softly and shook his head. “Well now, Dr. Feldspar, I must say I have some trouble following this.” Steve gestured around the courtroom. “This is a competency hearing. The purpose of this hearing, as I understand it, is to determine whether or not Jack Walsh is competent. And yet, here you are, testifying that he’s not competent to take part in it.”

“That happens to be the case.”

“I understand your contention. It just seems like something out of Joseph Heller, doesn’t it?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Referring to the novel, Catch 22. You say Jack Walsh isn’t competent. I say he is. I say, O.K., bring him here and we’ll prove it. You say, no I can’t do that. I say, why? You say, because he isn’t competent.” Steve shrugged. “Little bit of a problem there, Doctor. I understand you’re a psychiatrist, but it seems to me you’ve also made yourself judge and jury.”

Dr. Feldspar drew himself up indignantly. “I’ve done nothing of the sort. I’m giving you an expert medical opinion based on the existing facts. Now you may not happen to like it, but it happens to be the case.”

Steve smiled. “Ah, Doctor, interesting word. Opinion. That’s just it. It is your opinion that Jack Walsh is incompetent. It is my opinion that he’s not. So it seems we have a difference of opinion. On the very matter we want the court to decide. Fine. Then let’s discuss it. What is the basis for your opinion, Doctor?”

“I’m afraid as a layman, you couldn’t possibly understand.”

“Well, I’m willing to try. Go ahead, Doctor. Let’s talk diagnosis, prognosis, and the care and feeding of the paranoid schizophrenic.”

“Oh, Your Honor,” Franklyn protested.

“Yes, yes,” Judge Washburn said. “Mr. Winslow, if you could try to avoid such flippancy.”

“Sorry, Your Honor,” Steve said. “All right, Doctor, you ordered Jack Walsh committed. Let’s talk about that. You say you were summoned to your office, you found two orderlies had brought in a man in a straightjacket?”

“That’s right.”

“And was this the petitioner, Jack Walsh?”

“Yes.”

“You examined him and ordered him committed?”

“That’s correct.”

“Tell me about the examination.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“What did you do? What tests did you administer that allowed you to conclude that Jack Walsh was insane?”

“I’ve already stated. I attempted to reason with him.”

“Which you could not do?”

“That’s right. The man was violent and abusive. He could not be reached.”

“If you couldn’t reach him, how could you examine him?”

Dr. Feldspar smiled frostily. “Now you’re the one invoking Joseph Heller, Counselor. If the patient is too insane to be examined, he can’t be certified insane?”

Steve smiled. “Touche, Doctor. Are you stating that such was the case?”

“Not at all. I examined him thoroughly before I committed him.”

“So we come back to my original question. How did you examine him?”

“As I said, I tried to reason with him. Unfortunately, he was irrational.”

“So what did you do?”

“I administered certain tests.”

“What sort of tests?”

“I doubt if the specifics are of any relevance.”

“We’ll be the judge of that, Doctor. If we can’t have Jack Walsh here, we’ll have the reason why. Go on. What sort of tests?”

“I tested him for rational thought. Coherence.”

“In what way?”

“Nothing complicated, I assure you,” Dr. Feldspar said. “I administered the type of test that could be understood by a ten-year-old.”

“Such as?”

“Simple word association. I asked him to complete a sentence for me. Again, nothing complicated. I’m talking about simple proverbs, something any ten-year-old child would know.”

“Such as?”

“Well, for instance, a rolling stone gathers no moss.”

“A rolling stone gathers no moss?”

“Yes.”

“You said to Jack Walsh, ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss?’”

Doctor Feldspar shook his head. “No.”

“Oh? I thought you said you did?”

“No, no. You don’t understand. I asked him to complete the phrase. I said to him, ‘A rolling stone.’ His task was to complete the phrase by saying, ‘gathers no moss.’”

“Did he do so?”

“He did not. Despite several opportunities.”

“Jack Walsh never said, ‘gathers no moss?’”