of how he had treated her. Now the Medicorps was efficiently
curing the child of the hurt he had done her. They had
already erased from Clara any need for him she had ever
felt.
This seemed funny and he began to laugh. 'Everyone is
being cured of me.'
'Yes, Bill. That is necessary.' When Bill went on laughing
Maor Grey's voice turned quite sharp. 'Come with me. It's
time for your trial.'
The enormous room in which they held the trial was utter-
ly barren. At the great oaken table around which they all
sat, there were three Medicorps officers m addition to Major
Grey.
Helen did not speak to Bill when they brought him in.
He was placed on the same side of the table with an offi-
cer between them. Two orderlies stood behind Bill's chair.
Other than these people, there was no one in the room.
The great windows were high above the floor and displayed
only the blissful sky. Now and then Bill saw a flock of pi-
geons waft aloft on silver-turning wings. Everyone at the ta-
ble except himself had a copy of his case report and they
discussed it with clipped sentences. Between the stone floor
and the vaulted ceiling, a subtle echolalia babbled about
Bill's problem behind their human talk.
The discussion of the report lulled when Major Grey
rapped on the table. He glanced unsmiling from face to face,
and his voice hurried the ritualized words: 'This is a court
of medicine, co-joining the results of medical science and con-
sidered lay judgment to arrive at a decision in the case
of patient Bill Walden. The patient is hospitalized for a his-
tory of drug refusal and communication breaks. We have
before us the medical case record of patient Walden. Has ev-
eryone present studied this record?'
All at the table nodded.
'Do all present feel competent to pass judgment in this
case?'
Again there came the agreement.
Major Grey continued, 'It is my duty to advise you, in
the presence of the patient, of the profound difference be-
tween a trial for simple drug refusal and one in which that
aberration is compounded with communication breaks.
'It is true that no other aberration is possible when the
drugs are taken as prescribed. After all, the drugs
basis for our schizophrenic society. Nevertheless, simple drug
refusal often is a mere matter of physiology, which is easy
enough to remedy.
'A far more profound threat to our society is the break
in communication. This generally is more deeply motivated
in the patient, and is often inaccessible to therapy. Such a pa-
