closer and closer to each other until they were separated now by only six inches. For the first time a hint of a smile
crossed his lips.
'Because the die will tell you to,' he answered softly.
`Ahhh,' I said, like a doctor who has finally found the symptom which makes the whole syndrome come together. 'The
Die will tell me to '
`You will consult it now,' he said.
`I will consult it now.'
I reached into my suit-coat pocket and pulled out two green dice.
`As I may have already explained to you, I control the options and their probability.'
'It makes no difference,' Eric said.
`But I don't think much of the option to lead you in-such an escape.'
'It makes no difference,' he said, his slight smile returning.
`How many am I supposed to take to Hair with you?'
`Thirty-seven,' he said quietly.
I believe my mouth fell open.
`I, Dr. Lucius M. Rhinehart, am going to lead thirty-seven patients in the largest and most sensational mental-hospital
escape in American history tonight at eight?'
'Thirty-eight,' he said.
'Ah, thirty-eight,' I said. We probed into each other's eyes at six-inch range, and he seemed utterly without the slightest
doubt about the outcome of events.'
`Sorry,' I said, feeling angry. 'This is the, best I can do.'
I thought for several seconds and then went on: `I'm going to cast one die. If it's a two or a six I'll try to help you and
thirty-seven others escape somehow from this hospital sometime tonight.'
He didn't reply. `All right?'
'Go ahead and shake a six,' he said quietly. I stared back at him for a moment and then cupped my hands, shook the
die hard against my palms and flipped it onto the table between my empty milk carton and two lumps of tuna salad
and the salt. It was a two.
`Ha!' I said instinctively.
`Bring us some money too,' he said, leaning back slightly but without expression. `About a hundred bucks should do.'
He pushed back his chair and stood up and looked down at me with a bright smile.
`God works in mysterious way,' he said.
I looked back at him and for the first time realized that I too wanted not my will but the Die's will to be done.
`Yes,' I said. `The vehicles of God come in many shapes and-'
`See you tonight,' he said and edged his way out of the cafeteria.
Actually I wouldn't mind seeing Hair again, I thought, and then, smiling in dazed awe at the day I had before me, I set
to work planning the Great Mental Hospital Escape.
Chapter Fifty-three
`You're cured,' Jake said. `If I do say so myself.'
`I'm not sure, Jake.'
I said. We were in his office that afternoon and he was trying to tell me that this would be our last analytic session
together.
`Your interest in dice therapy has given you a rational base upon which to work with the dice. Before, you were using
the dice to escape your responsibilities. Now they have become your responsibility.'
`That's very acute, I must admit. But how do we know the Die won't flip me off in some new direction?'
`Because you've got a purpose now. A goal. You control the options, right?'
'True.'
`You think dice therapy's hot stuff, right?'
'Sometimes.'
`You aren't going to risk the advance of dice therapy for another roll in the hay with some dumb broad. You're not.
You know now what you want.'
`A smart broad?'
`The advance of dice therapy. The advance of dice therapy. It gives your life precisely that foundation which it's been
lacking since you rejected your father in the form of Freud and Dr. Mann and began this random rebellion.'
`But a good dice therapist must lead a random life.'
`But he's got to meet the patient regularly. He's got to show up ' `Mmmmm.'
`He's got to listen. He's got to teach.'
`Hmmm.'
`Moreover, you've got Lil trying dice therapy, your kids. Your new self is being accepted. You don't have to play the
fool anymore.'
`I see.'
`I even accept the new Luke. Arlene has introduced me to several, Ah, positions of dice therapy. I spoke to Boggles.
Dice therapy makes sense.'
`1t does?'
`Of course it does.'
`But it will tend to break down the sense of a stable self so necessary for a human to feel secure.'
`Only superficially. Actually, it builds a dice-student's - Jesus, I'm using your terms already - a patient's strength by
forcing him into continual conflict with others.'
`Builds ego strength?'
'Sure. You're not afraid of anything now, are you?'
`Well, I don't know.'
`You've made an ass of yourself so many times that you can't be hurt.'
'Ahh, very acute.'
'That's ego strength.'
`Without any ego.'
`Semantics, but it's what we're after. I can't be hurt because I analyze everything. A scientist examines his wound, his
wounder and his healer with equal neutrality.'
`And the dice-student obeys the dice decision, good and bad, with equal passion.'
`Right,' he said.
`But what kind of a society will it be if people begin consulting the Die to make their decisions?'
`No problem. People are only as eccentric as their options and most of the people who will go through dice therapy are
going to develop just like you; that's what makes your case so important. They're all going to go through a period of
chaotic rebellion and then move into a lifetime of moderate, rational use of the dice consistent with some overall
purpose.'
'That's very nice, Jake,' I said and leaned back on the couch from the alert sitting position I had been in.
`I'm depressed,' I added.
`Moderate, rational use of the dice is rational and moderate and every man should try it.'
`But the dicelife should be unpredictable and irrational and immoderate. If it isn't, it isn't dicelife.'
`Nonsense. You're following the dice these days, right?'
`Yes.'
`You're seeing your patients, living with your wife, seeing me regularly, paying your bills, talking to your friends,
obeying the laws: you're leading a healthy, normal life. You're cured.'
`A healthy, normal life -'
`And you're not bored anymore.'
`A healthy, normal life unbored -'
`Right. You're cured.'
`It's hard to believe.'
`You were a tough nut to crack.'
`I don't feel any different than I did three months ago.'
`Dice therapy, purpose, regularity, moderation, sense of limits: you're cured.'
`So this is the end of my booster analysis?'
`It's all over but the shouting.'
'How much do I owe you?'
`Miss R'll have the bill for you when you leave.'
`Well, thank you, Jake.'
`Luke, baby, I'm finishing up "The Case of the Six-Sided Man" this afternoon and after poker tonight. I thank you.'
`It's a good article?'
`Tougher the case, better the article. By the way I've asked old Arnie Weissman to try to get you invited to speak at
this fall's annual AAPP convention - on Dice Therapy. Pretty good, huh?'
`Well, thank you, Jake.'
`Thought I'd present "The Case of the Six-Sided Man" on the same day.'
'The dynamic duo,' I said.
`I thought of titling the article "The Case of the Mad Scientist," but settled on "The Six-Sided Man."
What do you think?'
`The "Case of the Six-Sided Man."
'It's beautiful.'
Jake came around from behind his neat desk and put his arm way up on my shoulder and grinned up into my face.
`You're a genius, Luke, and so am I, but moderation.'
'So long,' I said, shaking his hand.
`See you tonight for poker,' he said as I was leaving.
`Oh that's right. I'd forgotten. I may be a bit late. But I'll see you.'
As I was softly closing the door behind me, he caught my eye one last time and grinned.
`You're cured,' he said.