'Where did you get your lunch?'
'From my lunch bucket.'
'Your wife made it for you?'
'Yes.'
'All right. We are going to move forward eight days and two hours. It is 2:00 P.M. on August sixteenth, 1985. Where are you now?'
'At work.'
'And what are you doing at this moment?'
'Knocking steers.'
'All right. What do you see?'
'It is jerking around making noises. I bang it again. Now it is still.' He wiped some imaginary perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand.
'And it moves down the line where someone else cuts the throat, is that right?'
'Yes, after it is shackled.'
'Then what?'
'Then another one comes along. Then another, then another, then another-'
'All right. Now it is just after quitting time. You are on_ your way home from work. You are home now, getting out of your car. You are going up the walk-'
His eyes widened. 'Someone is there!'
'Who? Who is there?
Agitated: 'I don't know. He is coming out of my house. I have never seen him before. He is going back into the house! Something is wrong! I am running after him, chasing him into the house. Oh, God, no! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' He began to wail, his head wagging back and forth, his eyes as big as the moon. Then he looked toward me and his demeanor changed radically-an utter transmogrification. He looked as though he wanted to kill me.
'Robert!' I yelled, clapping my hands together as loudly as I could. 'Wake up! Wake up!' His eyes closed immediately, thank God, and an exhausted Robert sat slumped in the chair in front of me.
'Robert?'
No response.
'Robert?'
Still nothing.
'Robert, it's all right. It's over now. Everything is all right. Can you hear me?'
No response.
'Robert, I'd like to talk to prot now.' No response.
'Please let me speak to prot. Prot? Are you there?' I was beginning to feel a mounting trepidation. Had I been too aggressive? What if-?
Finally his head lifted and his eyes blinked open. 'Now you've done it.'
'Prot? Is that you?'
'You had to do it, didn't you? Just when he started to trust you, you went for the jugular.
'Prot, I would like to have taken it more slowly, but you are planning to leave us on the seventeenth. Our time is almost up!'
'I told you-I have no choice in the matter. If we don't leave then we'll never be able to get back.'
'You and Robert?'
'Yes. Except ...'
'Except what?'
'Except he's gone now.'
'Gone? Gone where?'
'I don't know.'
'Look hard, prot. He must be there with you somewhere.'
'Not anymore. He's not here anymore. You have driven him away.'
'Okay, I'm going to count back from five to one now. As the numbers decrease you will begin to wake up. On the count of one you will be fully alert and feeling fine. Ready? Five ... one.'
'Hello.'
'How do you feel?'
'I think I had too much fruit. Have you got any antacid?'
'Betty will get some for you later. Right now we need to talk.'
'What else have we been doing for the past three months?'
'Where is your friend Robert right now?'
'No idea, coach.'
'But you told me earlier he was in 'a safe place.' '
'He was then, but he's gone now.'
'But you could contact him if you wanted to.'
'Maybe. Maybe not.'
'All right. Let's review a few things. When you came to Earth five years ago, Robert was trying to drown himself. Remember?'
'How could I forget?'
'But you don't know why?'
'I think it's because he didn't want to live anymore.'
'I mean, you have no idea what caused him to be so upset? So desperate?'
'Haven't we been over this?'
'I think he may have killed someone.'
'Robert? Nah. He loses his temper sometimes, but-'
'I don't think he meant to kill anyone. I think he caught someone in his house. Someone who may have harmed his wife and daughter in some way. He is only human, prot. He reacted without thinking.'
'I'm not surprised.'
'Prot, listen to me. You helped Howie to cure Ernie of his phobia. I'm going to ask you to do something for me. I'm going to ask you to cure Robert. Let's call it a 'task.' I'm assigning you the task of curing Robert. Do you accept the assignment?'
'Sorry, I can't.'
'Why the hell not?'
'Ernie wanted to get well. Robert doesn't. He just wants to be left alone. He doesn't even want to talk to me anymore.'
'You've helped a lot of the patients in Ward Two. I have confidence that if you really put your mind to it you could help Robert, too. Will you please try?'
'Anything you sigh, mite. But don't hold your breath.'
'Good. I think that's enough work for today. We both need a little time to reflect on this. But I'd like to schedule an extra session with you on Sunday. It's the only day I have. Would you be willing to come back for a Sunday session?'
'What about your promise to your wife?'
'What promise?'
'That you would take sundays off, no matter what. Except that you cheat and bring work home.'
'How did you know about that?'
'Everyone knows about that.'
'She's going to the Adirondacks with Chip for a couple of weeks, if it's any of your business.'
'In that case, I would be delighted to accept your kind invitation.'
'Thank you.'
'Don't mention it. Is that all?'
'For now.'
'Toodle-oo.'
