He concluded 'had I not given a small part of myself a chance to be chosen by the die we wouldn't be sitting here
right now.'
`You only gave it one chance in six?'
'Yes. The point is that I gave a minority self a chance to be heard.'
'Only one chance in six?'
`We can never be full human beings until we develop all important aspects of ourselves.'
`Only one-sixth of you wanted me?'
'Arlene, that was an historical accident. We're talking theory. Don't you see how yielding to the dice opens whole new
areas of life?'
`I feel used.'
`If I seduced you out of cold-blooded lust you would feel pleased. Because I let chance intervene you feel used.'
'Don't you feel anything strongly enough so that you don't want to use the dice?'
`Of course, but I try to overcome it.'
Dr. Rhinehart and Mrs. Ecstein looked at each other for a full minute, Dr. Rhinehart smiling self-consciously and Mrs.
Ecstein looked awed. At last she pronounced judgment.
`You're insane,' she said.
`Absolutely. Look, I'll show you how it works. I write down two, say three options. A one or a two means we'll
continue his conversation, a three or a four means we'll end the hour right now and each let the dice decide something
else for us to do for the next forty minutes. A five and . .'
`And a five or a six means we'll fuck.'
`All right, yes.'
Dr. Rhinehart handed a die to Mrs. Ecstein and after shaking it vigorously in both hands for a few seconds she asked,
`Shouldn't I be mumbling some mumbo-jumbo as I do this?'
`You may say simply: 'Not my will, Die, but Thy will be done.,, '
'Fuck us up good; Die,' she said and dropped it on the desk. It was a five.
`I don't feel like fucking anymore,' she said, but when she saw the frown on Dr. Rhinehart's face she smiled and felt
she was beginning to see the merits of a dicelife. But before she could begin to let the large part of herself go to work,
Dr. Rhinehart spoke.
`We may now toss the dice to determine how we will make love.'
She hesitated.
`What?' she said.
`There are innumerable ways to engage in sexual congress; parts of us are attracted to each of these ways. We must let
the dice decide.'
'I see.'
`First of all, which of us shall be the sexual aggressor, I or you? If the dice say odd '
`Wait a minute. I'm beginning to understand this game. I want to play too.'
`Go ahead.'
Mrs. Ecstein picked up both dice and said `A one means we'll make love that funny way you seem to like.'
`Fine.'
`A two means I'll lie down and you use your hands, mouth, and Johnny Appleseed over every part of my body until I
can't stand it and demand something else. A three-'
`Or rather we flip the die again.'
`A three …-let's see: you play with my breasts for five minutes.'
`Go on.'
Mrs. Ecstein hesitated and then a slow smile began to brighten her face.
`We must always let the dice decide, huh?' she asked.
`That's right.'
'But we control the options.'
'Very good.'
She was smiling happily as if she were a child who has just learned how to read.
`If the die is a four or a five or a six it means we have to try to make a baby.'
`Ahh,' said Dr. Rhinehart.
`I've removed that rubber sort of plug Jake had a doctor put in me and I think I've just ovulated. I read a book and it's
told me the two best positions to make a baby.'
`I see. Arlene, I-'
`Shall I toss?'
`Just a minute.'
`What for?'
`I - I'm thinking.'
`Hand me the die.'
`I believe that you have loaded the odds a bit,' said Dr. Rhinehart with his accustomed professional coolness. `Let's say
if it's a six we'll try one sexual position after another as determined from a list of six we will give it. Two minutes on
each. Let the orgasms come where they may.'
`But the four and five still mean we make a baby?'
`Yes.'
`Okay. Do I flip?'
`All right.'
Mrs. Ecstein dropped the die. It read four.
`Ahh,' said Dr. Rhinehart.
`Yippee,' said Mrs. Ecstein.
`Precisely what are these two medically recommended fucks?' Dr. Rhinehart asked a trifle irritably.
`I'll show you. And whoever has the most orgasms wins.'
`Wins what?'
`I don't know. Wins a free pair of dice.'
`I see.'
`Why didn't we begin this therapy a long time ago?' Mrs. Ecstein asked. She was rapidly undressing.
`You understand,' the doctor said, slowly preparing himself for the operation, `that after we have made love once, we
must consult the die again.'
`Sure, sure, come here,' said Mrs. Ecstein and she was soon hard at work with Dr. Rhinehart in concentrated dice therapy. At 11 A.M. Dr. Rhinehart buzzed his secretary to announce that because he was probing particularly deeply that morning and because his work might bear long-range fruit, it would be necessary to cancel the hour with Mr. Jenkins so that he and Mrs. Ecstein might continue.
At noon, Mrs. Ecstein, glowing, left the doctor's office. The history of dice therapy had begun.
