Five people were seated in the anteroom when Bill arrived at ten forty-five. Janice was not among them. He gave his name to the receptionist and was told to be seated. At eleven o’clock Janice had still not arrived. Bill was considering calling home when a young, pretty girl appeared at the far end of the room and addressed herself to the entire group.
“Mr. Templeton?”
Bill followed her down a corridor to a long, windowless room containing a large conference table with more than a dozen chairs ranged around it. A file folder had been placed on the table.
The girl smiled at him and said, “Dr. Schanzer’s schedule is quite tight this morning. He hopes to be able to pop in from time to time to talk with you.”
When the girl left the room, Bill took off his outer coat and placed it over the back of a chair. He loosened his tie somewhat, as the room was oppressively warm. His eyes gravitated to the legal-size manila folder with the word “Templeton” boldly printed in blank ink on the tab. It seemed thinnish to Bill, considering the time Dr. Vassar had spent with them: those multiple in-depth family and individual sessions, held either in her office or at the apartment, some lasting as long as five hours, depending on the need and circumstances.
Bill stared at the folder and wondered what Dr. Vassar had discovered about them: what secrets that sharp, intuitive brain had managed to ferret out; what conclusions she had come to concerning Ivy’s strange and terrible illness that she hadn’t shared with them. He had only to open the folder and look.
His fingers extended to the manila cover and stopped. The German woman’s wide, formal face and deep, penetrating eyes seemed to float above it.
Bill slowly drew back the cover.
The top sheet was a scrap of yellow, lined paper with strong handwritten notations. The writing had a foreign character about it; some of the letters such as the S’s and L’s were difficult to make out. She even wrote with an accent, Bill thought, as he slowly picked out the words.
Differentiation of disturbances of consciousness of epileptic origin from those of psychiatric origin is frequently very difficult—there is no prior history of epilepsy in this case—no temporal lobe disturbances indicated through physical examinations….
And below it, the name “Cullinan, 555-7751.”
Cullinan had been the doctor who had run electroen-cephalographic tests on Ivy just prior to her treatment at the clinic.
The next page was written on the back of a letter, a circular listing psychiatric pamphlets for sale. It seemed that Dr. Vassar made her notes on anything that came to hand.
“Hysterical phenomenology—???” was the question written across the top. And then a longer paragraph below:
Patient shows symptoms of somnambulistic state. Parents describe movements as being in response to the manifest content of the dream. The meaning may be an escape from the temptations of the bed; however, this would be unusual in the case of a child not yet three. Yet possible—since parents report child possesses ability to portray images and carry out complex actions during dream state.…
And below it: “Will arrange to be present during next seizure.”
Bill remembered the call he made to Dr. Vassar that night seven years before. It was two in the morning, and he wondered if he should disturb her, but she answered the phone on the first ring and said in a clear alert voice, “I will come.” She arrived soon after and spent the entire night with Ivy, alone, behind a closed door. There were many such nights that followed in the next year.
Bill quickly skipped over two scraps of paper, each containing the brief notations “See Kretschmer” and “See Janet,” and came to a small, thin notebook with a pebbled cover of imitation leather. It was a diary, an eyewitness account of her sessions with Ivy during the seizures, written in a fast, shaky hand, as though she had made the notations as the actions were happening. The first entry was dated 1/18/67, and read:
Purposive action … trying to get out … touching things and pulling back as though they were hot … complicated motor actions … strange … bizarre … most uncommon at this early age … at times during spell she seems to be shrinking back from things not visible to anyone else … tries to climb over the back of a chair—and succeeds! Appears well coordinated and shows a degree of muscular coordination and skill of an older child. (Test subject’s ability to climb over chair during wakened state.) She tries to reach the window-pane, then pulls her hand back whenever she is about to touch it … then reaches for it again, in continuous dramatic posturing episodes … accompanied by weeping, fretting, trembling … babbling … “Hothothotdaddydaddy—” Seizure continued until five twenty at which time subject succumbed to exhaustion and fell into feverish sleep. Body temperature: 103.6 degrees.
Bill turned to the next entry, date 1/25/67.
At first, subject seemed to be trying to get away from something … possible traumatic episode relating to incident of isolation … locked rooms? … but now movements seem to indicate less escape behavior, less trying to get away from something than trying to go toward something.… her motions grope toward things, not away from them.… approach behavior which is suddenly stopped by.… imagined thermal barrier … painful … hot … “Hothothothotdaddydaddydaddy.” babble may relate to traumatic event experienced in the past, yet early age seems to negate this possibility … possible event relating to prenatal trauma? Difficult birth? Discuss with obstetrician. Possible event relating to very early age … stove? … fire? … possibly hot sun? … beach? … somewhere in summer where surfaces were very hot? metal frame of perambulator? … accidentally touched? … doorknob in direct sunlight might have been too hot … (discuss with parents).…
The heat in the room was becoming unbearable. Bill stood up and removed his jacket. His shirt was stained with perspiration. He folded his dark suit jacket over the back of the adjoining chair and rolled up his shirt sleeves. Then he turned the page of the diary to the next entry.
2/20/67 … results of chair-climbing test during wakened state disclosed subject unable to climb over chair successfully without falling … but within dream state is able to climb over chair and appears to show much greater creative muscular skill and coordination than one would expect in a child of two and a half … particularly striking: although the child has the typical speech pattern of a two-and-a-half-year-old, with the somnambulistic state, she appears to be talking with the enunciation and speech patterns of a much older child, perhaps five or six years of age … “Hothothotdaddydaddydaddy …” display clear, precise enunciative dexterity even during rapid, staccato bursts.… (Test subject’s speech competence during wakened state.)
The next page contained a brief note:
Dr. Osborne, attending obstetrician, disclaims any untoward or unusual event during fetal development or birth of subject. Perfectly normal in all respects. Air conditioning in nursery normal—no record of malfunction—no accident with heat—hot glass—surgical instrument.
Bill smiled as he recalled the joyous August morning of Ivy’s birth. Janice had opted for the Read Method, without fear and without drugs. She had remained fully alert as Ivy slipped into the world at exactly 8:27.03, clocked in by Bill’s stopwatch. She was born with her eyes open and seemed fully aware of her world and the people in it. Even unwashed, her awesome beauty was clearly evident. There had been no problem whatever.