his pounds elings–I know it’s denial and I know it’s not
unheard of, but he goes beyond what we normally
see. His son’s diagnosed with cancer and he’s laughing
and joking with the nurses, trying to be One of
the gang, talking about his orchard and his precious
plants, throwing around horticultural jargon. You
know what can happen to guys like that.”
“Sudden breakdown.”
“Exactly. All at once it hits them and pow! Pathological
grief reaction.”
“Doesn’t sound like the boy has much support.”
“The mother. She’s got to be the most unliberated
thing I’ve ever seen–Garland Swope is the king of
his castle–but she does seem to be a good mother–nurturant,
gives lots of hugs and kisses, goes into
the unit a lot, and without any hesitation. You
know how scary the spacesuit can be for .lots of
parents. She jumped right in. The nurses see her go
off into the corner and cry when she thinks no
one’s looking, but when Garland comes around she
‘puts on a great big smile, lots of ‘Yes, Dears’ and
‘No, Dears.’ It’s really sad.”
“Why do you think they want to pull the kid
out?” I asked.
“I know Raoul believes it was those people from
the Touch–he’s so paranoid about anything holis-ticmbut
how can he be so sure? Could be he’s to
blame for the whole thing. Maybe he screwed up
communication with them,-he’s very aggressive
when he describes the treatment protocols and lots
of people are put off.”
“He seemed to think the Fellow was at fault.”
“Augie Valcroix? Augie marches to his own drummer
but he’s a good guy. One of the few docs who
actually takes time to sit down with the families
and act like a human being. He and Raoul hate each
other’s guts, which makes sens6 if you know them.
Augie thinks Raoul’s a fascist and Raoul sees him
as a subversive influence. It’s been great fun working
in this department, Alex.”
“What about those cultists ?”
She shrugged.
“What can I say? Another group of lost souls. I
don’t know much about them–there are so many
fringe groups it would take a specialist to Understand
all of them..Two of them showed up a couple
of days ago. The guy looked like a teacher-glasses,
scuzzy beard, wimpy manner, brown oxfords. The
lady was older, in her f0i:ties or fifties, the kind
who was probably a hot number when she was
yoUnger but lost it. Both of them had that glaZed
look in their eyes–the I-know-the-secret-of-the-universe-but-I-won’t-tell-you
trance. Moonies, Krish-nas,
esties, Touchers, they’re all the same.”
“You don’t think they turned the Swopes around?”
“They may have been the straw that broke it,”
she conceded, “but I don!t see how they could be
64 Jonathan Kellerman
entirely responsible. Raoul’s looking for a scapegoat,
for easy answers. That’s his style. Most of the
dOCs are like that. Instant fix-its for complex issues.”
She looked away and folded her arms across her
chest.
“I’m really tired of all of it,” she said softly.
I steered her back to the Swopes.
“Raoul wondered if the parents’ being older had
anything to do with it. You pick up any hints the
boy was an unwanted accident?”
“Ididn’t get close enough to even touch on stuff
like that. I was lucky to get enough for a bare-bones
intake. The father smiled and called me ‘dear’ and
made sure I never got enough time alone with his
wife to develop a relationship. This family’s armored
Maybe they’ve got lots of secrets they don’.t want
coming out.”
Maybe. Or maybe ,they’re terrified at being in a
strange environment so far from home with a gravely
ill child and don’t want to strip tlemselves bare in
front of strangers. Maybe they don’t like social workers.
Maybe they’re simply private people. Lots of
maybes…
“What about Woody?”
“A cutie pie. He’s been sick since he got here, so
it’s hard to judge what kind of kid he really is.
Seems like a little sweetie–isn’t it always the sweet
ones who suffer?” She took out a tissue and blew
her nose. “Can’t stand the air in here. Woody’s a
nice little boy who’s agreeable and kind of passive.