Separation Anxiety

Part Three

Mindy awoke after having a peculiar dream. In it, she found herself rushing to the scene of an accident, deeply concerned about someone who had been involved. Who it was, she couldn't remember in the haze of her mind. All she remembered was that her Jeep lay battered at the bottom of a canyon, its occupant severely injured. But who would have been driving her Jeep besides her? Her father? Her grandmother? She decided to give them a call while they were out on the road, hoping they were all right, seeing the dream as a bad omen. Trudging into the kitchen, she found a tall, handsome man preparing breakfast. She smiled at him, finding nothing strange about his presence in her apartment at all.

"Good morning Alan," she said, wrapping her arms around his trim waist and kissing him. On her left ring finger, she wore a gold wedding band.

"Good morning," he said, grinning.

It was amazing, he thought, what he could accomplish with a few psychotropic drugs that he had created in the laboratory. At the right dosage, and used on the right people, he could convince them of anything. Everyone in town, including Mindy herself, thought they had been married for years. She didn't seem to remember a thing about Mork, which was exactly what he wanted.

Mindy looked down at the pancake batter. "Making breakfast for me, huh? That's sweet of you," she said.

Alan shrugged. "Well, I thought you might want to sleep in," he said, a sheepish, almost apologetic look on his face.

Mindy couldn't believe how adorable he was, how humble and kind despite his extraordinary, classically handsome appearance. With the kind of looks he had been blessed with, he could have been an arrogant, narcissistic jerk, but he was anything but that. She found herself to be incredibly fortunate to have found such a good man. She sat on one of her bar stools, watching him for a while before she spoke again.

"You know, I had a dream last night," she said.

Alan smiled. "About us, I hope," he said.

She frowned, looking down at the countertop, absently rubbing her finger on the surface as if to get rid of an imaginary stain that had faded long ago.

"Well, I'm not so sure about that," she said.

"Was it a good dream or a bad dream?"

"I'm not sure about that, either. I was kind of hoping you could explain it to me."

Alan sighed, turning off the burner on the stove. "Now Mindy, you know how I feel about that," he said. "You know my rule. I don't discuss my work outside of work."

"I know, but you're a renowned psychiatrist," she said. "Surely you had a background in dream symbolism. All I'm asking for is a little interpretation. Please? It'll help me sort it out."

"How can I say no to you?" Alan asked, taking her hands and squeezing them firmly.

"I knew you'd say yes. That's why you're such a giving man."

"I just try to help people, that's all."

"Like you help me."

"Always. Now, go ahead, tell me your dream."

"It was very bizarre."

"Most dreams are."

"I saw this…horrible car accident on the news. A Jeep rolled off the road and down a cliff. Somehow I found out it was my Jeep…I can't remember how…and I went to investigate, because I was concerned about what happened to the person driving it. When I arrived at the crash scene, there were police and ambulances and…the military was there too, for some strange reason. They wouldn't let me see who was hurt, even though I pleaded with them. I only caught a glimpse of the person involved, and they were badly banged up…that's when I woke up, Alan. It was terrible. It felt so…real. What could it possibly mean?"

Not showing his surprise, Alan supposed he should have expected that she would remember parts of the incident. It had not been easy for his organization to eliminate all evidence that an accident had ever occurred, making sure they erased the memories from everyone involved from the media to the first responders, but they had managed it. Only Mindy, it seemed, still remembered it, if vaguely. Yet she thought it was only a dream. He supposed that was all right, as long as she never believed it had actually happened. If she ever did suspect that it did, he would have to figure out what to do with her.

"You've been under a lot of stress lately," he said, maintaining his composure. "You're trying to finish your degree, and with your father traveling—

"That's right, my dad," she said. "I've been thinking about calling him, seeing how he's doing out on the road."

"I think that's a good idea," he said, knowing that his organization had managed to alter the memories of her family as well. Their reach was extensive, vast, and powerful. "I don't see why not. Tell him I said hello."

Mindy smiled at him, but a part of her felt unsure of him and a little uneasy around him. She knew they had been married for a few years and she loved him, but she couldn't explain why at times she felt she was living with a complete stranger.

"When are you going to show me what you do for a living?" She asked.

"Oh, you don't want to see what I do."

"Of course I do. You visit patients at the institution. You offer your time and you give them hope. You're a true humanitarian. I admire what you do and I want to be a part of it."

Alan shook his head, looking down. "It would be difficult to arrange to bring you in as a guest since you are not in residency or a relative of one of the patients. It's difficult and painful work as well, dealing with the problems of others," he said. "Not everybody can be saved. Some of them are so disabled by their illnesses that they must remain committed to be properly cared for and treated. The things they tell me during our sessions together…sometimes it is so heartbreaking, what some of them have had to endure, to suffer under constant mental anguish and torture as they do. It is a harsh business, Mindy, and our knowledge of mental illness at this present time is still so limited. We have evolved from gawking and laughing at patients as if they were circus freaks instead of human beings, but our treatment options still have limitations, I'm afraid. It's a harsh, brutal world inside that hospital, one that I face daily. You don't have to, and you should be thankful for that. I want to protect you from that."

Mindy shook her head. "I don't want to be protected," she said. "I've been sheltered my whole life. I want to help people, as you do. I don't know…maybe after visiting the hospital, I might change my mind and decide to also have a career in psychiatry. You know I've thought about it. I also once thought about being a medical doctor, you know, assisting the injured and the sick. Maybe that's why I dreamt about going to an accident scene with such a sense of urgency. Because I wanted to help people."

Alan smiled. "You see? You interpreted your own dream," he said. "What do you need me for?"

They laughed, kissing.

"Are you free for lunch today? How about meeting me," Mindy said.

"No, unfortunately I can't. I'm terribly busy, I'm afraid. I have this…one patient. He's new. Quite a tough case, as it turns out. Such a pity."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mindy said. "Maybe next time, then."

"Next time."

Mindy kept the music store running in her father's absence, hiring new people and managing it at least a few times a week. It was tiring work, and combined with her late night studies, exhausting, but she did it out of devotion to her father, who loved the store and had sacrificed a great deal in order to have his own business. She respected his hard work, and was determined to make him proud by showing him she could work just as hard to keep his dream thriving and prosperous. As she stood behind the counter during a lull in customers, bored and staring at her wedding ring, her thoughts began to wander. She couldn't explain it, but at times she thought about another man, a man she had never met before. Perhaps it wasn't a real man, but an idea of a man—funny and charming, intelligent and athletic. At times she thought she could hear his witty banter in her mind, as clearly as if he was standing right in front of her. There was something strange and unique about him—what it was, she couldn't be sure—but he was just as handsome to her as Alan, perhaps even more so because of that uniqueness and that quirky personality. She couldn't explain it, but whenever she thought of this mystery man she also thought about her dream of the car accident, as if the two were connected somehow. Had there really been an accident that she had seen on the news somewhere? Was this cute and funny man a victim of that accident? Had he died in it? She was a practical woman, not inclined to believe in the supernatural, but she considered that maybe her seemingly random thoughts were more than mere coincidence.

As she stood there pondering, a small and wiry bald man wearing glasses entered the store. He appeared to be harmless, searching the record collection.

"May I help you with something?" Mindy asked him.

The man looked around, making sure no one else was in the store. When he was sure they were alone, he approached her.

"Mindy, don't you recognize me? It's me, Dr. Feldman," he said.

Mindy threw up her hands in surrender, at a loss. "I'm sorry?" She said. "Who are you? Do I know you?"

Dr. Feldman sighed. "I was afraid this would happen," he said. "I knew the agency was becoming too powerful. I should have warned you both."

Mindy looked around, beginning to grow concerned, wondering if this was one of Alan's patients.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Mindy, you are under the influence of mind altering chemicals. They were developed in a lab by a very dangerous and unorthodox man who used to be a protégé of Dr. Phillips. You do remember Dr. Phillips, don't you? He captured Mork and tried to use his powers for a weapon."

"Mork?" Mindy asked.

Dr. Feldman could see her confusion, and he found it unbearable to watch. He knew how much she loved Mork, and now her memory of him had been obliterated from her mind.

"Please," he said. "You've got to remember. You've got to try, before it's too late. Dr. Phillips was dangerous, but what he had planned pales in comparison to what this man will do. His uncle worked for the Nazis performing psychological experiments on prisoners in concentration camps before he made a deal with our government to work for our side and turn in his fellow S.S. officers. He must have picked up where his uncle's research left off, and now he's developing powerful chemicals that can alter a person's perceptions of reality, just as it has for you. If he's allowed to continue to unleash his poison on the world—there's no telling what kind of power he will have. He's using you and Mork as pawns in his game, do you understand? You're his playthings, his Guinea Pigs. You have to remember, Mindy. You have to help me stop him, and you can. You're actually the closest to him and have the best access. This man—he's pretending to be your husband."

Mindy maintained her resolve, although inside she was horrified, unsure if she should be afraid of this mousy little man and his paranoid delusions. She now began to understand what Alan told her about dealing with his patients, how difficult and heartrending it could be. It saddened her that someone could be that lost in a world of their own making, but it also angered her that he implicated Alan in his fantasies of world domination and apocalypse.

"I don't even know you," she said, doing her best not to sound cruel. "How do you know who I am? How do you know my husband? Were you a patient of his?"

"Hi Mindy, what's going on here?" Alan asked, entering the store.

He and Dr. Feldman exchanged a cool, combative glare, aware of each other as professional adversaries. Mindy didn't notice, instead interpreting their look to mean they knew each other in a former time as doctor and patient.

"Ned, are you bothering this woman?" Alan asked in a pleasant, yet patronizing tone. "She's my wife, you know. What did I tell you about the limits of the doctor-patient relationship? You are not to stalk me or my family. The only time you are to see me is during my regular office hours."

Dr. Feldman ignored him, looking directly at Mindy. "Remember what I said. He is not to be trusted," he said. Turning, he took one last withering look at Alan and left the store.

Mindy shuddered, disturbed by what he had said. She knew it was the ravings of an ill man, but what she didn't understand was why it should bother her so much.

"I'm truly sorry you had to deal with that," Alan said, sighing. "If I had known you were going to be accosted by one of my patients, I would have arrived sooner."

"Is…is he…?"

"Dangerous, you mean? No. He just happens to have a rather active imagination."

He went behind the counter where Mindy stood, wrapping his arm around her.

"What's wrong? Are you all right?"

Mindy nodded, not sure why she wanted to cry.

"Look, I'm sorry he upset you, but he wasn't going to harm you, I promise."

"What are you doing here? I thought you had to work."

"I got off early. It turns out one of my patients committed suicide. Such a pity."

Mindy glared at him, tears in her eyes. For the first time, she was noticing some callousness seeping through his otherwise benevolent exterior, and she didn't like it.

"I didn't mean it like that," Alan said, sensing her anger. "It's just…I told you it was a harsh business, dealing with the mentally ill. There's absolutely nothing glamorous about it, to be certain. I'm just sorry you had to witness it first hand with Ned, there." He rubbed her shoulders and kissed her. "Are you still sure you want to visit where I work, and see more of them when you don't have to deal with them professionally, as I do?"

"That's why I want to go," she said. "Maybe that's still what I want to do with my life, I don't know. Yes, I admit that man's outrageous behavior was a shock to me, but I would get used to it, to some extent. When I saw him today, I could see beneath the paranoia and found the human being. After all, that's what he is, isn't it? He's still deserving of love and our compassion."

Alan kissed her again. "You amaze me," he said, smiling and gently stroking her cheek. "I knew there was a reason I married you. All right, if you want to see what I do for a living, I'll arrange it."

Mindy embraced him. "Thank you," she said.