The collection was an icebreaker with patients of all ages. No one could resist Mickey Mouse.
Jane responded as scores of patients had done before her. She said “oooh” and “aaah” a lot, and she laughed happily. By the time she had finished admiring the collection and had sat down in one of the big leather armchairs, she was ready for the therapy session; her tension and apprehension had disappeared. Mickey had worked his usual magic.
Carol didn’t have an analyst’s couch in her office.
She preferred to conduct sessions from a large wing chair, with the patient seated in an identical chair on the other side of the octagonal coffee table. The drapes were always kept tightly shut; soft, golden light was provided by shaded floor lamps. Except for the wall of Mickey Mouse images, the room had a nineteenth-century air.
They chatted about the collection for a couple of minutes, and then Carol said, “Okay, honey. I think we ought to begin.”
Worry lines appeared on the girl’s forehead. “You really think this hypnosis is a good idea?”
“Yes. I think it’s the best tool we have for restoring your memory. Don’t worry. It’s a simple process. Just relax and flow with it. Okay?”
“Well… okay.”
Carol got up and stepped around the coffee table, and Jane started to get up, too. “No, you stay there,” Carol said. She moved behind the wing chair and put her fingertips against the girl’s temples. “Relax, honey. Lean back. Hands in your lap. Palms up, fingers slack. That’s fine. Now close your eyes. Are they closed?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Very good. Now I want you to think of a kite. A large, diamond-shaped kite. Picture it in your mind. It’s an enormous, blue kite sailing high in the blue sky. Can you see it?”
After a brief hesitation, the girl said, “Yes.”
“Watch the kite, honey. See how gently it rises and falls on the currents of air. Rises, falls, up and down, up and down, side to side, sailing so gracefully, far above the earth, halfway between the earth and the clouds, far above your head,” Carol said in a mellow, soothing, rhythmic voice as she stared down at the girl’s thick blond hair. “While you’re watching the kite, you’ll gradually become as light and as free as it is. You’ll learn to soar up and up into the blue sky, just like the kite.” With her fingertips, she lightly traced circles on the girl’s temples. “All the tension is leaving you, all the worries and cares are floating away, away, until the only thought in your head is the kite, the sailing kite in the blue sky. A great weight has been removed from your skull, from your forehead and your temples. Already, you feel much lighter.” She moved her hands down to the girl’s neck. “The muscles in your neck are relaxing. Tension is dropping away. A great weight is dropping away. You are so much lighter now that you can almost feel yourself rising up toward the kite… almost… almost…” She moved her hands down, touched the girl’s shoulders. “Relax. Let the tension fall away. Like blocks of concrete. Making you lighter, lighter. A weight is falling off your chest, too. And now you’re floating. Just a few inches off the ground, but you are floating.”
“Yes… floating…” she said, her voice thick.
“The kite is gliding far above, but you are slowly, slowly moving up to join it…”
She went on like that for a minute, then returned to her own chair and sat down.
Jane was slumped in the other wing chair, head tilted to one side, eyes closed, face soft and slack, breathing softly.
“You are in a very deep sleep,” Carol told her. “A very relaxed, very deep, deep sleep. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” the girl murmured.
“You will answer a few questions for me.”
“Okay.”
“You will remain in your deep sleep, and you will answer my questions until I tell you it’s time to wake up. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Very good. Now tell me—what is your name?”
The girl was silent.
“What is your name, honey?”
“Jane.”
“Is that your real name?”
“No.”