Part 3 (1/2)
It took them ten seconds to save Harry from falling, but it took him over ten weeks to regain his balance.
In fact, well over two months had pa.s.sed before he could fully realize just what had happened, or where he was now. They must have noticed something was wrong with him that morning at the office, because two supervisors and an exec rushed in and caught him just as he was going out of the window. And then they had sent him away, sent him _here_.
”This is fine,” he told Dr. Manschoff. ”If I'd known how well they treated you, I'd have gone couch-happy years ago.”
Dr. Manschoff's plump face was impa.s.sive, but the little laugh-lines deepened around the edges of his eyes. ”Maybe that's why we take such care not to publicize our recent advances in mental therapy,” he said.
”Everybody would want to get into a treatment center, and then where would we be?”
Harry nodded, staring past the doctor's shoulder, staring out of the wide window at the broad expanse of rolling countryside beyond.
”I still don't understand, though,” he murmured. ”How can you possibly manage to maintain an inst.i.tution like this, with all the s.p.a.ce and the luxuries? The inmates seem to lead a better life than the adjusted individuals outside. It's topsy-turvy.”
”Perhaps.” Dr. Manschoff's fingers formed a pudgy steeple. ”But then, so many things seem to be topsy-turvy nowadays, don't they? Wasn't it the realization of this fact which precipitated your own recent difficulties?”
”Almost precipitated me bodily out of that window,” Harry admitted, cheerfully. ”And that's another thing. I was sent here, I suppose, because I'd attempted suicide, gone into shock, temporary amnesia, something like that.”
”Something like that,” the doctor echoed, contemplating his steeple.
”But you didn't give me any treatment,” Harry continued. ”Oh, I was kept under sedation for a while, I realize that. And you and some of the other staff-members talked to me. But mainly I just rested in a nice big room and ate nice big meals.”
”So?” The steeple's fleshy spire collapsed.
”So what I want to know is, when does the real treatment start? When do I go into a.n.a.lysis, or chemotherapy, and all that?”
Dr. Manschoff shrugged. ”Do you think you need those things now?”
Harry gazed out at the sunlight beyond the window, half-squinting and half-frowning. ”No, come to think of it, I don't believe I do. I feel better now than I have in years.”
His companion leaned back. ”Meaning that for years you felt all wrong.
Because you were constricted, physically, psychically, and emotionally. You were cramped, squeezed in a vise until the pressure became intolerable. But now that pressure has been removed. As a result you no longer suffer, and there is no need to seek escape in death or denial of ident.i.ty.
”This radical change of att.i.tude has been brought about here in just a little more than two months' time. And yet you're asking me when the 'real treatment' begins.”
”I guess I've already had the real treatment then, haven't I?”
”That is correct. Prolonged a.n.a.lysis or drastic therapy is unnecessary. We've merely given you what you seemed to need.”
”I'm very grateful,” Harry said. ”But how can you afford to do it?”
Dr. Manschoff built another temple to an unknown G.o.d. He inspected the architecture critically now as he spoke. ”Because your problem is a rarity,” he said.
”Rarity? I'd have thought millions of people would be breaking down every month. The Naturalists say--”
The doctor nodded wearily. ”I know what they say. But let's dismiss rumors and consider facts. Have you ever read any _official_ report stating that the number of cases of mental illness ran into the millions?”
”No, I haven't.”
”For that matter, do you happen to know of _anyone_ who was ever sent to a treatment center such as this?”
”Well, of course, everybody goes in to see the medics for regular check-ups and this includes an interview with a psych. But if they're in bad shape he just puts them on extra tranquilizers. I guess sometimes he reviews their Vocational Apt tests and s.h.i.+fts them over into different jobs in other areas.”