Chapter 2
"Did you take it upon yourself to remove the straightjacket from one of the patients?"
"It seemed best." Barnabas said simply.
"Best? By whose definition? Yours? He is violent."
"He won't be violent for a while."
"Can you guarantee that?"
"I made sure of it."
"Barnabas" Julia looked up, as if begging Heaven for more patience "you took a chance with him. Just because you can control people whose mind is functioning normally, you can't assume that you can do it with someone as disturbed as he is."
"I know why he is disturbed."
"So now you are diagnosing, too?"
"He has this idea that he is being persecuted."
"Well, it is relief that you agree with my own diagnosis of persecution mania."
"And you think that keeping him tied up like that is going to convince him that he's wrong? You are reinforcing his delusions that way."
"Reinforcing? What kind of talk is that? You've been reading B.F. Skinner lately?"
"It is the same as it was with David. Allow him more freedom and he might become more responsive."
"As David, eh?"
"Well, I understand that he talked to you about finally getting treatment for his lycanthropy. He is now willing because I removed his chain early on."
"I do not think that he's very willing now."
"I wasn't very willing to have you treat me, at first. "Barnabas said softly "you had to practically blackmail me into it."
Julia was silent for a while, looking daggers at him... wrong subject, he decided.
Finally she answered.
"Don't change the subject. You did wrong in removing the straightjacket, and worse without telling me about it."
"I apologize for that. But he will be better of it."
"Yes, Doctor?" Julia said with irony.
"Doctor Collins again." Barnabas thought. It was good to see that Julia had got her fighting spirit back. "I understand that you hired me to do this kind of job."
"Not to go over my head like this."
"Am I supposed to keep on making safe decisions all the time? Keep an eye on the nurses and orderlies, but never question the doctors? Tell you only what you want to hear? That's not why you hired me. You hired me because you didn't want another Nora Lane on your record."
"Still, you could have asked my opinion first."
"I apologize for that again. But it was late at night, and you were in Collinsport.""
"And I am going to override you on the straightjacket"
"Why? Just to punish me for going over your head?"
"It isn't that."
"You know that I am right in this, Julia. Give it a few days, at least."
Julia stared at him. "Are you willing to make yourself responsible for the man's behavior?"
"Yes."
"All right. You win." Julia grumbled "but be warned. Anything that goes wrong, you are fired."
"Sir" the deputy said "I want to talk to you about my pay."
"It is the regular pay for your grade" George said coldly.
"Yes." the man hesitated. "But...well...we have debts."
"Is it my fault that you live above your means?"
"I didn't... I could afford... I was expecting a raise. You said you were going to give it to me."
"Indeed I did. But that was because I thought you were a good officer."
"But I am! It is in my record!"
"Do you know what is in your record? You were sent to calm down a riot, and instead joined it. You were implicated in the following crimes: Assault and battery. Breaking and entering. Looting. Attempted murder. Arson. Rape...do I continue."
"But sir..."
"You behaved like no cop is supposed to behave."
"But them...I mean, Jennings, and Collins, and Graham, they are not human beings."
"Be thankful that they are not and can't afford to take you to court, or you'd be sitting in jail, awaiting trial."
Roger wondered what it was that kept Davenport so busy. He had been cooling his heels in the waiting room for hours. Everybody seemed to get in ahead of him.
The two men guarding the office, their guns plainly on sight, gave him amused looks.
Roger knew what those looks meant. "The town nut. See what crazy thing he'll do next."
"I'm not!" he wanted to scream at them "I am not crazy! I have been framed!"
But that would only make them laugh. And Roger couldn't stand having people laugh at him.
Xavier was tired by the time Roger got to him. His mending leg was hurting again, and he wanted nothing better than to go home. Instead he had to waste time listening to the town nut, who supposedly had information about U.F.O.s. Ten to one the von Danniken kind.
Roger came in, barely repressing his anger.
"I thought I'd never get to you."
"I am a very busy person, Mr. Collins. I can't afford to waste time."
"You think that I am a waste of time?"
Davenport was too tired and too sore for polite denial.
"I can easily imagine a thousand things I'd rather be doing instead of meeting you."
"You think that I am crazy? "Roger stared at Xavier hard, expecting the usual polite denials.
"That seems to be common knowledge. What are you going to tell me? That some green men took you for a ride in a flying saucer? That they chose you to give a big secret to mankind? That they told you they were the ones who built the pyramids?
"It was nothing of the sort." Roger ground his teeth.
"No? Got a new yarn? They were not little green men? They were tall and had hands like lobster claws?"
"So this is it!" Roger screamed angrily. "Don't believe me if you don't want to! I will go at it alone! And you'll be sorry later when you find out about it!"
"Goodbye, Mr. Collins" Xavier said dryly.
The lights shone out of the windows of Collinwood, illuminating the grounds below.
Roxanne stood in the gardens, looking at the building and wondering why it seemed so familiar to her...
Had she been inside before? She didn't remember having done it in 1970...
"Roxanne" she heard Sebastian call her "Roxanne, come here."
It was a short flight to where Sebastian was. It was a miracle that she could see him again, touch him again, after what Kira had forced on them both.
"You should wear a sweater" she said, snuggling up to him "you got goose bumps"
"I will" he said "You were at Collinwood, weren't you?"
"I felt that...that I started remembering."
"Isn't Dr. Hoffman enough for that?"
"We just started...and this...this seemed so close."
"You could be arrested for trespassing."
"No"
"From what I hear about Carolyn Collins, she would."
Roxanne shook her head.
"Is it so important that you remember?"
"It is. Remember what we talked about?"
"Whether I want to...to be like you?"
"I love you so much that I can't bear the thought of one day losing you. But if I did it, and hated me for it, it would be much worse. For me and for you. If I forced this change on you and you regretted it..."
"You are not forcing me. I love you. I want to share fully with you. If it can't be on my terms, let it be on yours."
"I want to know how...how I got it. Who did it and why...I want to know if I hated him for it... I want to be sure..."
