"Go on."
"When I stopped breathing and became unconscious, he somehow lifted me onto a gurney and ran me up here to the infirmary. They got me going again in a hurry, and when I woke up I realized immediately what he had done."
"What do you think he did?" I remember saying to myself as I asked him this: I must be a psychiatrist! It was all I could do not to laugh.
"He taught me a lesson I'll never forget."
"Which was?"
"Mat dying is nothing to fear. In fact, it's quite pleasant."
"How so?"
"Well, you've heard that old adage-when you die your life passes before your eyes? Well, it does! But only the good parts! In my case, I was a child again. It was wonderful! My mother was there, and my dog, and I had all my old toys and games and my catcher's mitt.... It was just like living my whole childhood over again! But it was no dream. It was really happening! All those memories-I never realized what a wonderful thing childhood is until I got the chance to relive it like that. And then, when I was nine, it started all over again! And again! Over and over again! It was the best thing that ever happened to me!" There he was, his skin pale as a scallop, laughing about the event whose prospect had terrified him all his life. "I can hardly wait for the real thing!"
They had taken Howie to Ward Four. I let him stew there the rest of that day and most of the next before I found time to talk to him. I was angry with him and let him know it, but he just sat there beaming at me, his grin a perfect copy of prot's know-it-all smirk. As he was heading back to his room on Ward Two he turned and proclaimed, "Prot says one more task and I'll be cured, too."
"I'll decide that, goddamn it!" I shouted after him.
ONE of the night nurses told me later that the Duchess had begun to take some of her meals in the dining room with the other patients. She was shocked and offended by all the belching and farting (courtesy, primarily, of Chuck), but, to her great credit, she usually stuck it out.
At her first appearance Bess tried to get up and serve her. One glance from prot and she returned to her place.
As usual, however, she wouldn't eat anything until everyone else had finished."How did he get her to come to the table?" I asked the nurse.
"She wants to be the one who gets to go with him," came the obvious reply. She sounded envious.
Session Twelve
WHILE prot was munching peaches and plums I brought up the subject of Howie and his tasks. I explained that the first one he had assigned to him (to find the "bluebird of happiness") had produced a positive effect not only on Howie, but on the rest of the ward as well. Though it had turned out successfully also, the second (to "cure" Ernie) was more problematical. I asked him if he had anything else in mind for my patient.
"Only one final task."
"Do you mind telling me what it is?"
"That would spoil the surprise."
"I think we've had enough surprises around here for a while. Can you guarantee this task will cause no harm to anyone?"
"If he does it well, it will be a very happy day for everyone, including yourself." I was not so certain about that, but my doubts were swallowed up by his self-confidence.
My father once lay down on the living room floor and asked me to make a run at him. He wanted me to push off on his knees, flip over him, and land on my feet above his head. It sounded like suicide. "Trust me," he said. So I put my life in his hands, made a run at him, and, with his help, miraculously landed on my feet. I. never did it again. Prot had the same "trust me" look in his eyes when he told me about Howie's last task. And on that note we began our twelfth session.
The minute I started to count, prot fell into a deep trance. I asked whether he could hear me.
"Of course."
"Good. Now I want you to think back to the year 1979; that is, 1979 on Earth. It's Christmas Day, 1979. Where are you and what do you see?"
"I am on the PLANET TERSIPION in what you would call the CONSTELLATION TAURUS. I see orange and green everywhere. It's quite remarkable. The flora on this WORLD are not chlorophyll based as they are on EARTH and K-PAX. Instead, light is gathered by a pigment similar to that of your red algae. The sky is green because of the chlorine in the atmosphere. There are all kinds of interesting beings, most of whom you would characterize as insects. Some are bigger than your dinosaurs. All of them are quite slow-moving, fortunately, but you have to-"
"Excuse me, prot. I would love to hear about this planet, and all the other places you have visited, but right now I would prefer to concentrate on your passages to Earth."
"Anything you say. But you asked me where I was and what I was doing on christmas of 1979."
"Yes I did, but only as a point of reference. What I'd like to ask you to do now is to come forward in time to your next visit to Earth. Can you do that?"
"Of course. Um, let's see. January? No, I was still on TERSIPION. February? No. I was back on K-PAX then, learning to play the patuse, though I'll never be any good at it. It must have been in march. Yes, it was march, that delightful time in your northern hemisphere when the ice on the streams is melting and the mayapples and crocuses are coming up."
"This is March 1980?"
"Precisely."
"And he called you?"
"Well, not for anything in particular. He just wants someone to talk things over with now and then."
"Tell me about him. What's he like? Is he married?"
"Yes, he's married to a girl he knew in-oh, I told you about that already, didn't I?
"The Catholic girl who was pregnant when they were seniors in high school?"
"What a memory! She's still a catholic, but no longer pregnant. That was five and a half years ago."
"I've forgotten her name."
"I never told you her name."
"Can you tell me now?"
After a lengthy hesitation, during which he seemed to study my haircut (or the need thereof) he said, quietly, "saran "
Barely concealing my elation: "Did they have a son or a daughter?"
"Yes."
"I mean which?"
"You should do something about that sense of humor, doctor brewer. A daughter."
"So she's about five?"
"Her birthday is next week."
"Any other children?"
"No. Sarah developed endometriosis and they gave her a hysterectomy. Stupid."
"Because she was so young?"
"No. Because there is a simple treatment for it that your medical people should have figured out long ago."
"Can you tell me the daughter's name? Or is that a secret?"
After only a moment's hesitation: "rebecca." When this was divulged so readily I wondered whether Pete had relented and had decided to allow prot to tell me his real name. Perhaps he was beginning to trust me! But prot must have anticipated my question. "Forget it," he said.
"Forget what?"
"He's not going to tell you that."
"Why not? Will he at least tell me why not?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"You'll just use the answer to chip away at him."
"All right. Then tell me this: Do they live in the same town he was born in?"
"Yes and no."
"Can you be more specific?"
"They live in a trailer outside of town."
"How far outside of town is it?"
"Not far. It's in a trailer park. But they want to get a house farther out in the country."
A shot in the dark: "Do they have a sprinkler?"
"A what?"
"A lawn sprinkler."
"In a trailer park?"
"All right. Do they both work?"
His mouth puckered slightly, as if the fruit hadn't agreed with him. "He has a full-time job, as you would call it. She earns some money making children's clothing."
"Where does your friend work?"
"The same place his father and his grandfather did. Just about the only place in town there is to work, unless you're a grocer or a banker."