an easy
chair onto a telephone table and wastebasket.
'I'm sorry !' Dr. E. screamed. The woman on top of him was scratching at his face and he rolled desperately away.'
'You bastard!' the woman shouted. `Cold-hearted killer. You've never loved me.'
'Of course not,' Dr. E said, scrambling to his feet. `So -what's all the fuss about?' 'Ahhhhgggg!!' she screamed - and came at-
Later the teacher tried to suggest other possible option to Dr. E. `Your wife has been unfaithful, your best friend
betrayed you, your-'
'So what else is new?' Dr. Ecstein asked.
`Well, let's say your money has all been lost in foolish investment.'
`Never.'
`Never what?'
`I'd never lose all my money in any way.'
`Try to use your imagination, Jim. The-'
`The name is Jake Ecstein. Why use my imagination? If I'm in touch with reality, why leave it?'
`How, do you know it's reality?'
'How do you know it's not?' Dr. E asked.
`But if there's any doubt, then you should experiment with other realities.'
`No doubt in my mind.'
`I see.'
`Look, buddy, I'm here as an observer. I like Luke Rhinehart and want to look over his plant.'
'You can't understand CETRE without living it'
`Okay, I'm trying, but don't expect me to use my imagination.'
Later Dr. Ecstein was taken to the love rooms.
`What kind of love experiences would you like to have?'
`Huh? ?'
`What kind of sex experience would you like to have?'
`Oh,' Dr. Ecstein said. `Okay.'
`Okay, what?'
'Okay, I'll have a sex experience.'
`But what kinds interest you?'
`Any. Doesn't make any difference.'
The teacher handed Dr. E the basic list of thirty-six possible love roles.
`Are there any that particularly appeal to you or any that you would prefer not to have as possible options of the Die?'
he asked.
Dr. E looked over the list: 'You wish to be loved slavishly by a . `You-wish to love slavishly a ' `You wish to be courted sweetly by a . . : 'You wish to court sweetly…' `'You wish to be raped by a . . : 'You wish to rape a : . : 'You wish to watch pornographic films,' 'You wish to watch
other people's sexual activities,' 'You wish to striptease,' `To watch a striptease,' 'You wish to be someone's mistress, a
prostitute, a stud, a call girl, a male prostitute, happily married to Most of the options gave the choice of alternatives
for performing the sexual role with: a young woman, an older woman, a young man, an older man, a man and a
woman, two men or two women.
`What's all this?' Dr. Ecstein asked.
`Simply choose those you are willing to play, make a list and let the dice choose one for you to play.'
`Better scratch the 'rape' and the 'be raped.' Had enough of those in the marriage room.'
`All right. Any others, Phil?'
`Stop calling me names.'
`Sorry, Roger.'
`Better throw out the homosexual stuff. Might hurt my reputation outside.'
`But no one in here knows who you are or ever will know.'
`I'm Jake Ecstein, damn it! I've said that six times.'
`I know that, Elijah, but there are five other Jake Ecsteins in here this week as well, so I don't see what difference it
makes.
'Five others!' `Certainly. Would you like to meet some before you try your first random sex experience?'
`You're Goddam-right.'
The teacher took Dr. E into a room named Cocktail Party where a crowd milled and drinks were served. The teacher
took a portly gentleman by the elbow and said to him `Jake, I'd like you to meet Roger. Roger, Jake Ecstein.'
'Goddam it,' Dr. Ecstein said, `I'm Jake Ecstein!'
`Oh are you really?' the portly gentleman said. `I am too. How nice. I'm very pleased to meet you, Jake.'
Dr. E permitted himself to shake hands.
`Have you met the tall thin Jake Ecstein yet?' the portly one asked. `Awfully pleasant chap.'
`No, I haven't. And I don't want to.'
`Well, he is a bit dull, but not a young-man-with-the-muscles Jake. Him you must meet, Jake.'
`Yeah, maybe. But I'm the real Jake Ecstein.'
`How extraordinary. I am too.'
`I mean in the outside world.'
`But that's what I mean too. And so does the tall thin Jake and the young muscled Jake and the lovely young girl Jakie
Ecstein. All of them.'
'But I'm really the real Jake Ecstein.'
`How extraordinary! I too am really…'
Jake passed up a love experience and got rid of his teacher and decided he needed to have a good dinner. He had read
the center's Game Rules and knew as he ate in the cafeteria that the waiters might not be real waiters, that the guy
slinging hash behind the counter might be a bank president, that the cashier might be a famous actress, that the woman
sitting opposite him might be a writer of children's stories although she was apparently pretending, despite weighing
close to two hundred founds, to be Marlene Dietrich.
`You bore me, dahling,' she was saying, her chubby mouth manhandling a cigarette.
`You're not exactly dynamite yourself, baby,' he replied eating rapidly.
`Where are all the men in this place,' she drawled. `I seem to meet only fruits.'
`And I meet only vegetables. So?' Jake answered.
`I beg your pardon. Who are you?'
`I'm Cassius Clay and I'll slug you in the teeth if you don't let me eat in peace.'
Marlene Dietrich relapsed into silence and Jake ate on, enjoying himself for the first time since his arrival. Suddenly he
saw his wife enter the cafeteria, followed by a teenage boy.
'Arlene!' he cried, half-standing.
