`No. That’s not so, either “possession” meant what it said: domination. This is not. It is much more like a working arrangement…’
`What on earth do you mean by that?’ Mary demanded.
The sharpness of her voice told me that any confidence she may have had in Landis had disappeared entirely. Landis himself seemed not to notice it. His reply was unruffled:
`You will remember that when he was ill he told Chocky to shut up and go away – which, with your added persuasion she apparently did. She seems to have done the same after she had reduced him to speechless anger over the car. He rejected her. She does not dominate…
`I asked him about that. He told me that when she first started to “talk” to him she would do it any time. It might be when he was in class, or doing his homework, or at mealtimes, or, quite often at night.
`So, he tells me, he simply refused to co-operate unless she would come only at times when he could give her his full attention.
`And notice, too, how practical this was. No element of fantasy at all. Simply a boy laying it down . that hiS friend should visit him only at convenient times. And the friend apparently willing to accept the conditions he offered.’
Mary was not impressed. Indeed, I was doubtful whether she listened. She said impatiently..
`I don’t understand this. When the Chocky business began David and I thought it would be unwise to try to suppress it. We assumed that it would soon pass. We were wrong: it seemed to take a firmer hold. I became uneasy. One doesn’t have to be a psychologist to know the result of a fantasy gaining the same validity as reality. I agreed to David asking you to come because I thought you would suggest some course we could take which would rid Matthew of his fantasy Without harming him. Instead, you seem to have spent the day encouraging him in it – and to have become infected with it yourself. I am not able to feel that this is doing much good to Matthew, or to anyone.’
Landis looked as if he were about to make a sharp answer but he checked the impulse.
`The first requirement,’ he said, `is to understand the condition. In order to do that it is necessary to gain his confidence.’
`That is quite obvious,’ Mary told him, `and I understand perfectly well that while you were with Matthew it was necessary for you to seem to accept the reality of this Chocky – we’ve been doing the same for weeks. What I do not understand is why you keep it up when Matthew is no longer here.’
Landis asked patiently:
`But Mrs Gore, consider the questions he has been putting and the things he has been saying. Don’t they seem to you odd – intelligently odd – but quite out of his usual key?’ (*)
`Of course they do,’ she replied sharply. `But boys read all kinds of things: one expects it. And it’s no surprise that what they pick up makes them ask questions. What is disturbing us is the way he twists all hiS natural curiosity into support for this Chocky fantasy. Can’t you see, I’m afraid of it becoming a permanent obsession? What I want to know is simply the best way of stopping that from happening.’
Landis attempted once more to explain why in. His view Chocky could not be considered as a simple fantasy, but Mary had now worked herself into a mood where she obstinate1y refused to accept any of his points. I wished very strongly that he had not made that reference to “posssesion”. It seemed to me an error of a kind one did not expect from a psychologist – and once it had been made the damage was done.
There was nothing for me to do but sit by and watch them consolidate their opposition.
It was a relief to all of us when Landis at last decided to give it up, and leave.
6
I found the situation awkward. I could follow Landis’s reasoning – though I would be hanged if I could see where it was leading him – but I also had some sympathy for Mary’s impatience. Landis, however unseriously he may have intended it, had, for a psychiatrist, made a bad psychological error. It would have been better, in my opinion, for him not to have referred to ancient beliefs at all; particularly, he should not have used the word `possession’ Moreover, as much as what he said, his unhurried, detached, analytical attitude to the problem ha d irritated her. Her concern was immediate. There was something wrong with Matthew, and she wanted to put it right without delay She had looked to Landis for advice on how that could best be done: what she had got was a dissertation on an interesting case, the more disquieting because of his admission that it baffled him. By the time he left she had been giving an impression of regarding him as little better than a charlatan. An unfortunate, and unfruitful occasion.
When I got home the following evening she had an abstracted air. After we had cleared the table and packed the children off upstairs there was an atmosphere that I recognized. Some kind of prepared statement, a little uncertain of its reception, was on its way. Mary sat down, a little more upright than usual, and addressed herself to the empty grate rather than to me. With a slightly challenging manner she announced:
`I went to see Dr Aycott today ,
`Oh,’ I said. `Something wrong?’
`About Matthew’, she added.
I looked at her.
`You didn’t take Matthew to him?’
`No.’ She shook her head. `I thought of doing that, but decided against it.’
`I’m glad,’ I told her. `I rather think Matthew had regarded that as a breach of confidence. It might be better if he doesn’t . know ,
`Yes,’ she agreed, rather definitely
`As I’ve said before,’ I remarked, `I’ve nothing against Aycott as a cut-stitcher and meases-spotter, but I don’t fee this kind of thing is up his street.’ (*)
`You’re right. It certainly isn’t,’ Mary agreed. She went on: `Mind you, I didn’t really expect that be. I did my best to tell him how things are. He not very patiently and seemed a bit piqued that brought Matthew himself along. I tried to explain to old fool that I wasn’t asking for an opinion then and all I wanted was a recommendation to a suitable specialist.’
`From which I gather that what you got was an opinion?’
She nodded, with a wry expression.
`Oh, yes indeed. All Matthew needs is plenty of exercise, a cold bath in the morning, plenty of good plain seasoned food, lots of salads, and the window open at night,’ she told me gloomily
`And no specialists?’
`No. No need for that. Growing is often more than we realize, but a healthy life, and Nature, the great healer, will soon correct any temporary imbalances.’
`I’m sorry, I said.
There was a pause. It was Mary who broke it:
`David we must help him somehow.’
`Darling, I know you didn’t take to Landis, but he quite highly thought of, you know. He wouldn’t say he’s doubtful whether Matthew really needs help if he didn’t mean it. We’re both worried, but simply because we don’t understand: we’re really no reason to think that this thing is unusual it is therefore harmful. I feel quite sure that if Landis had seen cause for alarm he’d have told us so.’
`I don’t suppose he felt any. Matthew isn’t his boy He’s just an unusual, rather puzzling case: quite interesting now, but if he became normal again he’d no longer be interesting.’
`Darling, that’s a dreadful thing to imply. Besides, you knOW, Matthew isn’t abnormal: he’s perfectly normal, but plus something – which is quite different.’
Mary gave me the look she keeps for hair-splitting, (*) and some other forms of tiresomeness.
`But it is different,’ I insisted. `There is an essential distInctIon …’
She cut that short ruthlessly.
`I don’t care about that,’ she saId. `All I want Is for hIm to be normally normal, not plus or minus anything. I just want hIm to be happy.’
I decIded to leave It there, for the time being. Except for hIs occasional fIts of frustratIon – ad what child doesn’t have those, one way or another? – Matthew did not seem to me to be unhappy.
The question of what was to be done remained, however. For my part, I favoured further contact with Landis: Matthew clearly felt able to confide In him, aud he was undoubtedly Interested by Matthew But, with Mary turned agaInst Landis, such a course would be in dIrect oppositIon to her wIshes – only a highly critical situation could juStify that And crisis and urgency were qualitIes that the Chocky affair appeared to lack