"Can I give you a ride?" "All the way into town?" "I turn north at Heatherton." "What are those for?" "A funeral?" "Why do flowers have to be for anything?" "Isn't it enough that they have color and form and that they make you feel good?" "You talk a lot, don't you?" "Don't you, ever?" "I could talk your eyes out of your head." "But not small talk." "I'd be grateful to hear any talk at all these days." "Talk big." "Red and green." "Duran died last fall in a hospital." "You wouldn't know who he was." "It happens I do." "Who?" "A French painter." "One of Les fauves." "He died in a hospital in a white bed in a white room, doctors in white standing around." "The last thing he said was, "some red, show me some red." ""Before dying, I want to see some red with some green. "" "You're right." "You don't have small talk." "Artists are better off dead." "Why?" "People pay more attention to them when they're dead and not so troublesome." "Is that what you are?" "A painter?" "They said Van Gogh was crazy because he killed himself." "He couldn't sell a painting while he was alive, and now they're worth $30 million." "They weren't that bad then and they're not that good now so, who's crazy?" "I get out here." "You're from the clinic." "That's right." "I'm "out of touch with reality. "" "I'll take you up." "Are you being helped here?" "How should I know?" "If you don't, who does?" "My analyst thinks he does." "The fact which I should like to convey in this report to the trustees is that our patients now, more and more, are shouldering the responsibility for their own affairs in the hospital." "In dealing with the, ah, borderline patients, that is to say the people who find it difficult to cope with the normal strains of living, and in whom the, ah, the danger of a psychotic break is always present..." "Mrs. Demuth." "All right." "We'll go on after that." "You've changed Steven Holte to 5:00." "Oh, yeah." "Well, I'll work on it by myself tonight." "Patients' committee meeting... 8:30." "I know." "Bedtime... 2:30." "Mrs. Demuth." "Dr. Mclver will see you now." "Mr. Holcomb is disturbed." "So is Mrs. O'Brien." "Mr. Holcomb!" "Mr. Holcomb, are you all right?" "Mr. Holcomb." "This is Dr. Devanal." "I'd like to talk to you." "Would you open the door, please?" "Mr. Holcomb." "Shall I use my key, doctor?" "What brought this on, do you know?" "He was pretty incoherent." "Something about the gardener." "Curly?" "Yes." "He felt he'd insulted him." "When did this happen?" "Just a few moments ago." "Shall I send curly to you?" "No, no." "Is miss inch in her office?" "She was in the library the last time I saw her." "Well, keep talking to him and try to get him to open the door." "I'll be back." "What's the price of this?" "That's cotton wrap." "You wouldn't be happy with that." "What's wrong with it?" "Well, there's nothing wrong with it but as long as you're investing in drapes for a room like this, why, you should have a cheerful pattern." "Otherwise, you'd be better off to let these old ones make do until you... well, it was not my idea to replace the drapes, the board makes these decisions." "I'm responsible for getting things done as economically as possible." "So I want to know what this would add up to." "Well, that wrap is $2.99 a yard plus sales tax." "191.36, less our discount." "Vicky." "May I see you a moment?" "12.5% on 191.365 times... 167.44 plus 3% sales tax... 5.02... 176.46 total!" "How's my best girl?" "Up to my..." "Vicky, we've got a situation here." "I need your help." "It's about curly." "It seems he has... what do you want me to do?" "Fire him?" "He's been here 20 years." "Cost you twice as much to get anyone else to do half the work." "Vicky, please." "You know very well he won't listen to anybody but you." "He's upset another patient." "And the last thing in the world we want, with the trustees coming down next week, is a... well, anytime the board doesn't like the way I run my department..." "Vicky, Vicky." "Everyone knows you do wonders around here." "Well, do a tiny wonder for me, now." "Tell curly to behave with the patients." "Anything." "Just so I can tell Holcomb he's apologized." "Hmm?" "Go on!" "Work your magic!" "Oh, Vicky." "Why don't you let me leave these chintz samples here for you to think over?" "I don't think you're going to be happy with that." "What's all this concern about my being happy?" "I have no intention of dancing through the halls, shrieking with laughter because we're changing a set of drapes." "Now, then, leave a duplicate order blank." "Let you know in a few days." "Ok, Vicky!" "Well, there it is." "The house of Usher." "They talk of environmental therapy." "Some environment!" "You should see the inside." "Like the inside of a dead fish!" "Right now, miss inch... you live in town, you've heard of miss inch... her old man shot buffalo bill or somebody right near here." "Ha ha!" "I've heard of her." "Well, she's getting ready to hang new drapes in the library." "One look, and all the patients will hang themselves alongside them." "Everybody's tilted here." "That's why you didn't know who I was." "You can't tell the patients from the doctors." "Oh, but I can." "How?" "The patients get better!" "Ha ha!" "Thanks for the ride." "You're welcome." "And that evening, we put her on the boat train for America." "Well!" "As you can imagine, our joy and relief was indescribable, and we boarded the plane for Italy happy and carefree as children." "I can see you've already guessed what happened!" "Well, sure enough, when we landed at the airport in Rome, we were greeted by the appalling sight of miss Dalrymple waving hysterically." "Well, the rest of the trip was agony." "She literally Mrs. Dalrymple or I." "Well, finally, we found a handsome young Italian..." "Ah, Mrs. Mclver!" "Oh!" "Dr. Wolff, how nice." "A most unusual pleasure seeing you in the clinic." "And how's, ah, um..." "Mrs. Wolff is very well, thank you." "I tried to phone..." "Stewart's been so busy we haven't seen anyone." "Oh, I understand." "Well, sometime very, very soon!" "Stewart, I... oh!" "I'm so sorry!" "I didn't hear anyone." "Karen, can't you see I'm busy?" "I do beg your pardon." "I didn't mean to interrupt." "But I've just had an idea, the most wonderful idea... look, you know better than to bust in here like this." "But, darling, it's after 5:00." "I thought you were through." "Ok, ok." "...your wife, who looks as if anybody breathed on her she'd break out in a thick frost!" "What is she?" "A nymphomaniac or something?" "What did you marry her for, anyway?" "To wear on your lapel?" "Why are you so worried about me?" "Who's worried about you?" "I'm worried about me." "All right, I'm a charity patient." "You've got to have me for taxes or something, but you're still supposed to be making me fit for normal life!" "What's normal?" "Yours?" "If it's a question of values, your values stink." "Lousy, middle-class, well-fed, smug existence." "All you care about is a paycheck you didn't earn and a beautiful thing to go home to every night." "Stewart, darling!" "Welcome home!" "There's a fatted calf on the stove!" "This started before she came in, though." "What's that?" "An interpretation or something?" "It doesn't go very deep, does it?" "Why don't you analyze my Oedipus complex with my lousy father?" "Suppose we let me determine the course of treatment, eh?" "After all, this is your first case." "Don't you know how to do any ID analysis here?" "Isn't that the classic procedure?" "You're not a classic case." "Oh, insults now." "Stevie, since you mention my values, they include sitting here listening to the bull you throw at me." "And I don't get more than a little mad, and I don't say "forget it. "" "Because one of my values is not to toss in the sponge on human commitments." "You have a genius for belittling the world, Stevie." "Great." "I'm glad you think it's worth something." "You reduce me to a fictitious character, a predatory dolt." "This is what you do to people and then you wonder why you can't relate to Th... what a collection of junky platitudes!" "I don't know, maybe you're sore at me because you haven't got a woman of your own, a home of your own..." "Oh, stop it." "You're so brilliant." "I seem to be missing a piece here." "I can't quite understand... she gave me a lift in that station wagon." "Did you know who she was?" "Who do you think you are, Stevie?" "You're no different from anybody else." "She's a good-looking woman." "Why shouldn't you have certain thoughts about it?" "You don't have to feel guilty toward me or even afraid." "I'm not your father, Stevie." "And I'm not going to run out on you like your father." "There's something in the world besides betrayal." "What did you..." "Say?" "Oh, Regina, it's so funny!" "Ha ha!" "Oh, yes, but this is a new low in taste even for Vicky." "A dismal, dreary old piece of wreck you wouldn't even use for washing the car." "Well, it's such a pity." "It's a beautiful old room, and, well, that's where I thought you could help me." "You have such beautiful shops in Chicago, and we have nothing here but poor old Petlee's." "Well, I found myself visualizing what I would choose if it were left to me." "Well, you know that's fatal." "They shouldn't allow me within 100 miles of materials when there's a budget involved." "Oh, well, Regina, that's so sweet of you, but it's not strictly true." "If I have any taste at all, it's because I've absorbed everything you've taught me." "Well!" "Do you remember..." "Daddy!" "R- r-Rosie!" "Mommy said I could stay up until you got home." "That's swell." "I'll tuck you in myself." "Hi, mark!" "Hi, dad!" "How are you?" "Oh, uh, excuse me!" "Listen, do you think you could square things with Sadie for me?" "Sure!" "Ask her to get me something to eat." "I got to get right back." "Ok." "Good." "Oowhaah!" "Daddy, will you come up and kiss me good night before you go?" "Well, I sure will." "I wouldn't miss that for the world." "Will you read me a story?" "I'll read you a short one." "Daddy, what can we play?" "How's about a little cribbage?" "Ha ha!" "Stay home tonight." "Now, are you sure you have the measurements?" "Right." "How long will..." "yes, air express." "Oh, but Regina, how could you possibly get them here for the meeting Tuesday?" "Well, how on earth can he make them that quickly?" "Oh, how wonderful!" "He must be a mad genius!" "Good evening, darling." "I'll be with you in a minute." "That was Stewart." "No, I haven't had a chance to tell him yet." "I..." "I don't know." "He may think I... oh!" "Thank you." "Thanks." "As a matter of fact, I think myself he'll be pleased." "It's the first time I've done anything for the... oh, Regina, you're the most extravagant, fabulous... all right, darling." "You'll let me know?" "And I'll leave word if I'm not at home." "Good-bye, darling, and thank you!" "Have you got a moment?" "Sure." "I'm all ears." "Oh, darling, this is important." "Please sit down." "I'm sorry." "Go ahead, shoot." "I had an inspiration this afternoon." "At least, I think it is." "How do you like this?" "Chippendale rose on antique satin." "It's very pretty." "What's it for?" "Well, I first thought of it this afternoon when I picked up that wild Fawn of yours." "In fact, that's what I came bursting in your office to tell you." "I'm sorry I was so curt." "Oh, that's all right." "I didn't... listening to what you hear in there, you get to feel it's a little like a confessional." "That's a very high-strung boy." "Yes, I understand." "He's very attractive." "As I say, he's the one... the feeling was mutual." "You made quite an impression." "Really?" "Mmm." "What did he say?" "Well, it got a little complicated." "What went on with him?" "Nothing." "We just talked." "Did he tell you about it?" "Just about all of it." "Well, why do you ask what went on?" "Because I'm not sure what he thought went on is what you thought went on." "He thought you were flirting with him." "Is that what you think?" "Karen." "This boy leads a very active fantasy life with ladies." "He got going on you and I couldn't stop him!" "Is that my fault?" "I didn't..." "I wasn't really thinking about you, Karen." "It's my job to think about him." "And what he felt, not what I feel!" "I'm not worrying about you!" "I am about him." "When he saw you were my wife, he got very scared, went on the attack." "Said a lot of wild things about you, about me." "What things?" "It doesn't matter what things." "I've told you too much about him already." "But you listen to them!" "Of course I listen to them!" "What do you think I'm there for?" "And because they're too sacred to tell me," "I get no chance to reply to them?" "Who expects you to?" "Look, Karen." "Don't be so full of your feelings." "The point I'm making is that this boy has put his life in my hands." "I'm concerned about him, as I am about everything at the clinic." "You might try to understand that and share it." "I am trying to!" "I came in this afternoon without... by being so self-absorbed you interrupt an hour?" "I apologized for that." "And while you're in your confessional being a divinity to your sick boy, what am I supposed to be doing?" "You're not supposed to be showing yourself off to my patients!" "Give me one ounce of the attention you give them day and night!" "Now, what does that mean?" "Just what you think it means!" "How did the tournament go?" "Fine." "I'm in the semi-finals playing Conover." "Ooh, he's a tough one." "Hello, Sadie." "Good evening." "Oh, just skip the soup, Sadie." "It's your favorite." "Yeah, I know." "I don't have much time." "Just put something on a plate." "All right." "How long did you play?" "Two hours." "Then we adjourned." "Hmm." "You playing white?" "Mm-hmm." "Looks like you've got a mate there if you play it right." "What's your next move?" "Well, I was going to sacrifice my rook." "That's pretty fancy." "What for?" "I take the Bishop with my rook and his rook has to take mine." "Then I bring my queen to knight 4 and threaten mate in one move." "Well!" "You know, I think I'd better take up checkers!" "Sadie!" "Yes, sir?" "Where's the Brandy?" "Oh, it's on this side." "Oh, thank you." "With Martinis?" "Sure!" "Why not?" "What's tonight?" "The concert." "Oh, Karen." "I'm sorry, I forgot." "I've got a patients' meeting." "Wouldn't tomorrow night do as well?" "It's their meeting." "I can't switch it around to suit myself." "It involves a dozen patients." "Well, can't Dev take it?" "Oh, you know Dev." "Besides, this is my department." "I've been looking forward to this for one week." "Look, I'll call Meg Rinehart and ask her to take the meeting if it's that important to you." "It isn't, really." "I'm sorry, Kare." "I'm sorry, too." "Mr. Appleton, if you please." "Very well, Mr. Holcomb." "We're not going to get anywhere unless we follow rules of parliamentary procedure." "If everyone speaks at once, it becomes very disorderly." "Please wait until I recognize somebody." "Well, hurry up." "Recognize somebody." "I recognize myself, which I believe I have every right to do." "And I am..." "Oh, let someone else talk for a change, Holcomb." "You blew your top this afternoon." "Miss Demuth, that is rude and uncalled for." "What's more, if you don't like the way I..." "I'm sorry." "I..." "I am sometimes a little dictatorial." "That's a fault I have..." "I..." "I'm working on it." "Work harder." "Oh, Dr. Mclver!" "Sorry I'm late." "Oh, please, go right ahead." "Dr. Mclver, they're all confusing occupational therapy with common labor." "Let's ask Dr. Mclver what he thinks." "Sounds like a very vital topic." "What is it?" "Quiet!" "Quiet!" "Mr. Appleton, you are being very difficult." "Actually, it was Mrs. Rinehart's department." "Perhaps she would summarize." "No." "Innocent bystander." "Well, Mrs. Jenkins, then." "It was her idea." "I had the impression it was mine." "We both had the idea." "I was talking to Mrs. Rinehart this afternoon about how there were going to be new drapes in the library when this scheme occurred to me." "Then we discovered that Lois had had the same thought when she was talking to Mrs. Rinehart..." "I still think mine came first." "Who had the idea first is completely, uh..." "Irrelevant?" "Irrelevant." "The point is, we could make them ourselves." "The patients, I mean." "A group project." "They'd be all our own from beginning to end and Stevie Holte could make some original designs and we'd put them together and sew them." "Everybody's in favor of it except Mr. Holcomb." "Now, now, just a moment." "I did not say that I was not in favor of them." "I merely raised the question... does Mrs. Rinehart think it's workable?" "Might be." "You don't sound too enthusiastic." "I don't mean to." "It's an interesting idea." "It's a wonderful idea!" "And you say Stevie Holte wants to do the designs?" "Yes." "Oh, thank you." "Stevie?" "Yes?" "Can you?" "We figure on using unbleached muslin." "Which I could wipe my feet on and it would look better than those." "Oh, is that the plan?" "No!" "No, the plan is to do designs of our own lives here." "I don't know what they'll be yet." "But when we get them up, it'll look like our living room and not miss inch's." "What makes you so confident?" "Isn't that obvious?" "I'm scared stiff!" "Does that mean all right on the drapes, doctor?" "It means all right so far." "Quiet!" "Mr. Appleton, in the name of heaven!" "Excuse me, doctor." "We're still without any decision as to whether this is an administrative problem, in which case we should consult Dr. Devanal... well, for the moment let's say it's a clinical matter since I'm here tonight and Dr. Devanal isn't." "Now, uh..." "Right over there." "Calling 4-1098." "Calling Mrs. Mclver." "Yes, this is Mrs. Mclver." "What?" "Oh!" "Regina!" "I thought it was something wrong with the children!" "What?" "On the plane tomorrow?" "I don't believe it." "Oh, Regina, you're a miracle worker." "Vicky inch?" "Oh, don't worry about her." "I'll call her at once and tell her." "She's no problem." "Oh, Regina, darling!" "Thank you so terribly much." "And we'll see you next week then." "Good-bye." "Yes, who is it?" "Vicky, this is Karen Mclver." "Yes?" "I'd like to discuss something with you for the clinic." "How have you been?" "Satisfactory." "Darling, could you speak a trifle louder?" "I'm calling in the intermission of the concert." "Everyone in town is galloping up and down the corridor." "Close the booth!" "Whew!" "I can't." "I'll perish." "It's quite sultry here." "I never understand why this place cannot be air-conditioned." "Money." "What, darling?" "I said money." "How are you?" "I told you satisfactory!" "Do you want one of these?" "No, but thanks so much." "I'll see you all later." "Karen!" "Yes, Vicky." "I'm calling about the library drapes." "I've been talking with Regina." "Who?" "Regina Mitchell-Smythe." "She has this material." "I have a swatch here she let me have." "Well, if she'd let us have a few swatches of money it would be more to the point." "Vicky, I don't think the money should be an obstacle." "Shouldn't it?" "Last year the clinic spent over $100 just on thumbtacks." "Thumbtacks?" "And paper clips." "We can't afford them." "Vicky, you're being simply obstructive!" "Am I?" "Karen, there are channels for doing things here." "I am beginning to doubt." "And traditions which newcomers may not be familiar with." "Vicky, are you referring to Dr. Mclver and myself?" "I'm certainly referring to Regina Mitchell-Smythe, who seems not to know that I do the decorating at the clinic." "She has been chairman of the board for 5 years." "Sprung up like a toadstool." "What?" "Toadstool!" "Overnight." "Regina Mitchell-Smythe is a most influential woman and works very hard for the clinic." "No harder than I do." "I've been with the clinic longer than anyone except Dr. Devanal." "I remember when the late" "Dr. Sanford Collins founded it." "Why, I remember when that building was put up in the first place in 1907." "Really?" "And those drapes that are up there?" "I didn't have to send to Chicago for them." "I picked them myself from Petlee's." "In 1907?" "Let me warn you, Vicky... hello?" "Vicky!" "Vicky!" "Jim Petlee?" "Vicky inch." "Well, you can go back afterwards." "That cotton wrap?" "$2.99 a yard, 12.5% discount?" "I'll take it." "You can send it out tomorrow." "Dev!" "You go back to your seat, dear." "I'll join you." "Karen, we ought to put you in the bank and live off the interest." "You look like a million dollars." "Dev, I..." "I hate to bother you, but I'm a little upset." "Could I talk with you for a moment?" "Why, of course!" "Get you anything?" "No." "I'd like some fresh air, please." "Absolutely." "Where is Stewart tonight?" "Isn't he a music lover?" "As a matter of fact, he's not." "He went back to the clinic." "Oh?" "Now, what's fretting your handsome head?" "What can I do?" "Dev, how do you get on with Vicky inch?" "Most of the time." "Why?" "She was very rude to me just now." "Is she here?" "No." "On the phone." "Oh!" "Ha!" "That's just Vicky." "Don't take it personally." "She made it unmistakably personal." "Referred to me as a newcomer." "She even hung up on me." "Only once?" "What was it about?" "What do you think of Regina, Dev?" "Regina?" "Oh, very capable woman." "She's been very valuable to us." "Then I don't understand why" "Vicky called her a toadstool." "A toadstool?" "Regina?" "Ha ha ha!" "Vicky's a character!" "In what connection, Karen?" "Well, I looked in the library today when I stopped by the clinic..." "Today?" "How did I miss that?" "Well, I got my first real look at those curtains." "They're a disgrace!" "Vicky's doing something about them." "Vicky spoke as though I had no right to think about the clinic at all." "She made me feel suddenly left out, unwanted here." "Unwanted?" "How could you feel that?" "I've never given you that feeling, have I, Karen?" "Well, you leave Vicky to me." "I'll talk to her in the morning, give you a ring." "Oh, Dev, you're very sweet." "Better yet, why don't we meet for a late-afternoon drink, put our heads together?" "Settle this in no time at all." "Dr. Mclver?" "Yes, Mrs. O'Brien?" "It's Mr. Wictz, doctor." "He's done it again." "Done what?" "Had a party, last night." "Miss Kubiecki reports it went on till 2:00." "Several of the patients complained." "To miss Kubiecki?" "No." "To you?" "No, among themselves." "Good." "Then it's the business of the patients' committee to take it up with Mr. Wictz." "That's what the committee's for." "Anything else?" "I found out where he keeps it... in his bureau drawer, under the socks." "Keeps what?" "The whiskey." "How would you know that?" "I looked." "You mean you searched his room?" "Of course." "Mrs. O'Brien, you're a..." "Human being and, as such, you feel that you're entitled to a certain privacy, right?" "Yes." "And you'd resent it if someone violated that privacy." "Yes." "Well, there's some evidence that Mr. Wictz is human, too." "Shall I take it away from him?" "Of course not." "But he has somebody in for a nightcap every night." "I've got to do something... see that he gets clean glasses." "But, Dr. Mclv..." "Mrs. O'Brien, 5 months ago," "Mr. Wictz wanted to cut his throat!" "It's much better for him to want somebody in for a nightcap, don't you think?" "Dr. Wolff's been coaxing him out of his hole." "Once he sticks his nose out, we can't bang down on it." "It isn't consistent." "You understand?" "Yes, doctor." "Good morning, Stevie." "It... it wasn't Lois' idea or Mrs. Jenkins'." "It was yours." "Well, what am I supposed to do... get real flattered and be grateful to you for the rest of my life?" "You figure this will get me over my neurotic inertia or something?" "Get out of here!" "You know what I think this is?" "I think this is a neurotic acting-out on me as a surrogate figure for your son." "Could be..." "How did you know I had a son?" "Well, I didn't." "I meant..." ""Son" in general." "Oh." "You live alone." "How do you know that?" "Well, I've walked by that, uh, garage place where you live." "You divorced, or what happened?" "My husband was killed in a wreck 4 years ago." "So was our son." "I wasn't." "My mother..." "Died last year." "That's when I fell apart." "Is your father still alive?" "I don't know." "I don't know where he is." "He ran out on us when I was a kid." "Did you love him very much?" "He was a real louse." "Only I..." "I shouldn't say that." "Why not?" "You're not supposed to." "My mother did her loving best to ruin me." "I fooled her, though." "Got over it." "Withstood it, anyway." "How?" "Got analyzed." "Now, I'm perfect." "You mean people..." "Get better?" "It helps, if you work at it." "Now, beat it." "I have to write a memo." "About what?" "The price of muslin, if it's any of your business." "I don't..." "Usually ask questions much." "I'm not..." "Very interested in anybody but myself." "I don't usually..." "Tell people much, either." "You're going to hate yourself in the morning." "Here." "I'm not sure you deserve them." "Vicky." "Oh." "Uh, Dr. Devanal is on the phone." "I know." "Been trying to get through for the last 20 minutes." "Who is he gabbing with, anyhow?" "Mrs. Mclver." "Can you put these on cloth, Abe?" "Easy, and silkscreen them." "They look good." "Good." "Let's go ahead." "You feel kind of proud, huh?" "A little." "You should." "This boy's at the point where he needs people he can trust." "He likes you, you know." "I like him." "That's good judgment on both sides." "If we can make this work, we may be able to show him we're different... good parents." "Oh, could I use your phone a minute?" "Surely." "This is Mclver." "Will you get my home, please?" "Hello?" "Sorry." "I was in the shower." "Oh, I..." "I'm sorry, dear." "No, I can't." "I have a date for cocktails." "Why?" "Well, um..." "Never mind." "The lake will be there next week." "Uh..." "Look, Karen, it's been a long time since we've had a chance to talk." "How about tonight?" "No, I won't." "I'll be home early." "Ok, I'll see you then." "Good-bye." "Excuse me." "Can you tell me where to take this?" "It's material from Petlee's." "Oh, that must be the canvas for Mr. Irwin." "No, it's cotton rep for miss inch." "Miss inch?" "Yeah." "Good night, Mrs. Rinehart." "Oh, good night, doctor." "Oh, uh, miss inch's office is just inside the service entrance." "Thank you." "Stevie!" "Mrs. Rinehart tells me your sketches are splendid, splendid!" "Oh, they are, Stevie." "I saw them." "They're beautiful." "I've never seen her so enthusiastic about any..." "Ah!" "The Cezanne of the psychos!" "This is your moment!" "Make the most of it." "You're on the assembly line of success." "From now on, you'll hover between exhilaration and despair." "I pity you." "For a few moments of elation, a mass of inflamed nerve ends!" "I don't think you're very funny Mr. Capp." "I think you ridicule other people to hide your own insecurity." "I detest myself." "Gibbon captured it magnificently in his decline and fall of the Roman empire, but he missed the delicious irony to be found in the pattern of the Caesars." "Now, granted, Caligula was a beast... cruel, cunning, and licentious." "Nevertheless, it..." "Yes?" "Come in." "I'm not disturbing you?" "Oh, Mrs. Rinehart." "No." "Come in." "It's nice to have a visitor." "It gets lonely here this time of day." "I'm not keeping you from your dinner, am I?" "No, I was just having a Sherry before I go in." "Always do." "Have one with me?" "Why, thank you." "I'd love one." "You don't eat here at night, do you?" "No." "Where do you eat?" "Oh..." "In town, usually." "Mmm, expensive." "Oh, isn't everything these days?" "I..." "I understand your new drapes for the library are costing a fortune." "270 plus." "The entire expense is unnecessary." "It's a crime!" "Have you begun on them?" "Yes." "Why?" "Because, if you hadn't, I think I know how we can reduce the crime to a misdemeanor." "But you've already begun." "Sue." "Sue." "You wouldn't..." "I mean, um..." "Would you like to go downtown with me to the movies tonight, to celebrate?" "No!" "Oh!" "I'll get that for you, my dear." "A little water." "That's very easily mopped up." "Stevie?" "Stevie, wait a minute." "I want to tell you something." "I'm ashamed of it." "Oh, I wanted to go." "Nobody ever asked me before..." "But I just can't." "Why not?" "I'm phobic." "I haven't been off grounds since I came, not once." "It's what's wrong with me." "What would happen if you did?" "I mean, I-like going downtown to the movies?" "Start screaming or something?" "Well, they'd think you were a critic, that's all." "Well..." "I'd like to try, though." "I mean, well..." "Maybe if you went with me and knew about it, it would be all right..." "If you took care of me." "All right." "Let's go, then." "Oh, no." "I..." "I didn't mean now." "I just meant sometime." "Well..." "I couldn't go suddenly." "Ok." "Sometime." "The muslin... cartoons?" "Well... muslin cartoons?" "Mrs. Rinehart, just what are you up to?" "I'm not up to anything, miss inch." "I..." "I talked this over with Dr. Mclver today, and he feels that from a therapeutic... so that's why you're here... so that woman can have her way!" "What woman?" "You cat's-paw!" "Miss inch, I came here to ask your cooperation." "And I thought you came here to talk to me." "Muslin cartoons, indeed!" "I never heard of such taradiddle in all my life!" "I haven't the faintest notion... you tell your Dr. Mclver you saw me and I said you've gone too far!" "And tell him to keep his loose, busybody wife's nose out of my affairs!" "Oh, I'm sorry." "I seem to be coming to you with all my problems today." "Marriage is a funny business, Karen." "You can starve for something you don't get in it." "Oh, it's a great institution but, like all institutions, something of the individual gets lost in it, so..." "Either we starve or we look for it outside." "Dev, I..." "I'm not complaining." "It..." "It's just that... well, in the beginning, when..." "When we lived in Chicago, there was Stewart's career, of course, but it was exciting then." "We... we had a life together." "We seemed to bring something to each other." "And now?" "I'm not really selfish, Dev." "He wanted to come out here and I didn't, but I came, and now gradually it's changed." "He's become so absorbed, so... so unapproachable." "He has work to express himself in." "I don't." "I have nothing, and when I do try to find something to bring me closer to him, he..." "I need..." "I don't know what I need." "Hello." "Hello." "Found your message at home." "Sounded urgent." "I didn't mean to drag you out." "Oh, it's all right." "It's on the way." "What's up?" "I'm afraid I made a mistake... a bad one." "Some material came from Petlee's for Vicky inch." "I..." "I tried to get hold of you and then I went in to see her." "She took the top of my head off." "She did?" "Mmm..." "Heh heh!" "Well, I'll talk to her in the morning." "Forget it." "I think I'd better brief you a little:" "I'm a cat's-paw." "You're using me to further some sinister scheme of Mrs. Mclver's." "Karen?" "Tell Dr. Mclver to keep his wife out of my affairs." "Unquote." "More or less, minus adjectives." "Now, what does that mean?" "I don't know." "She wouldn't discuss it further, stomped out on me." "Hmm." "Maybe I better call her from here." "May I?" "Oh, of course." "Here... can I help you with that?" "No, I can manage." "Oh, I'm sorry." "The bulb's out." "That's all right." "Wonder who put that bat in her belfry?" "Vicky?" "Yeah." "Thought I should ask you." "What... you mean you think I am?" "Using me?" "Yeah." "No." "Here..." "I'll help you." "I'm afraid the place is in a shambles." "No, that's all right." "Don't worry about it." "I'm really a better housekeeper than this." "Looks fine." "Give me a week." "Where's the phone?" "Oh, it's on the floor there." "Thank you." "Oh, hello, Vicky." "This is Dr. Mclver." "How are you?" "Good." "Uh, look..." "I, uh," "I want to unmix this mix-up about the drapes." "No, no, no." "W- wai-wait a minute." "Karen called you?" "Well, what's Karen got... well, yes, of course, I'll ask her, but I still don't know... hello, Vicky?" "Vi... well, there's one thing you can't take away from Vicky inch... she does have her foibles, and several other people's, too." "Oh." "You said something last night about privacy." "Snooping is one of the prerogatives of all medical men." "But not nurses?" "Mrs. O'Brien?" "She's not a nurse." "She's a policewoman in disguise." "She'll learn." "That's a nice-looking chair." "You make it?" "Yes." "Uh..." "Think I could trust it?" "Stronger than you are." "Well, I should hope so." "Heh heh." "What about Mr Wictz?" "What if his drinking does annoy the other patients?" "Simple." "Let the patient committee call him on it." "Well, can he take it?" "The patients?" "Sure." "Well, he better." "He can't keep people up all night." "He's not Scheherazade." "Oh." "One thing I've learned since I've been here... a sense of humor's indispensable." "Ah, it sure is." "You're in on so much suffering, so much goes wrong all day, you begin to fray." "Then you don't have anything left to give them." "And they need so much more." "Sure, they're starving." "Here." "Now, that's a good-looking case." "You make that, too?" "No." "My husband." "Oh, I'm sorry." "But, in a..." "Kind of magic way, somebody always comes up with something." "Like these, uh..." "Like these drapes of yours." "I haven't seen Stevie so eager about anything since he got here." "I owe you something." "That was Sue's idea." "Mm-hmm." "I just made it contagious." "I thought it was very skillfully handled." "I thought so myself, until I was under your eye." "Then I got uncomfortable." "Tell me... how would you have done it?" "Well, I don't know." "There aren't any rules." "If your heart's in the right place and your brain, you just trust what comes to you." "You think mine is?" "Are?" "Heh heh heh!" "You work here a few months more, I'll let you know." "Oh." "Hey, you're right." "This thing is comfortable." "Certainly, it's comfortable." "So why don't I just sit here instead?" "Instead of what?" "Instead of going out into the night to do battle with Vicky inch." "Yes, sir." "This is going to be a friendly place." "Mmm, in another week or two." "It's friendly now." "Throw me out." "All right." "Get out." "Thank you." "Let me know who wins." "Yeah, sure." "I will." "Good night." "Good night." "Who's there?" "It's Dr. Mclver." "What do you want?" "I want to talk to you." "Open up." "I've retired!" "I'll talk to you in the morning!" "Vicky, this is forcible entry." "Open the door." "Wait a minute." "Dr. Mclver, I must ask you to go." "I hope you realize you're breaking the law." "This house and the ground it stands on is my property." "I've asked you to leave and you're trespassing..." "Vicky, stop drooling and sit down." "Sit down!" "And shut up!" "Now, first of all, don't ever hang up on me like that again, Vicky." "And if you do, I'll pull your dress over your head and beat some manners into you." "You wouldn't dare!" "Dare me." "What's that for?" "Dr. Mclver, I have neighbors." "What will they think, with me not properly dressed?" "You're dressed, all right." "I am not." "Then you want your neighbors to see that you're not?" "Dr. Mclver!" "I'd like an ashtray, Vicky." "I don't smoke!" "Then get me a saucer, or don't you eat?" "Thank you." "Now, just what..." "sit down, sit down." "Just what is all this nonsense about Karen?" "I find it very peculiar..." "I don't care what you find it!" "And incidentally, this act of yours... going around, frightening people..." "I've seen it tried too often." "I know it frightens you more than anybody else, so cut it out." "Our job running the clinic is tough enough without fancy dramatics." "Now, when did Karen call you?" "Last night." "What about?" "Swatches!" "What I'm to do, what she's to do, what Regina Mitchell-Smythe is going to do about drapes for the library!" "I see." "Well, I'm, uh," "I'm sorry this got so tangled up, Vicky, but the decision on Mrs. Rinehart's project is one of therapeutic policy." "It stands." "The patients make the drapes." "They'll be very peculiar." "It's a matter of taste, on which you are in no way the final arbiter." "Who's to explain to the trustees?" "I'm running the clinic, Vicky, not the trustees." "I was under the impression that Dr. Devanal is running the clinic!" "Didn't you ever read my contract?" "No." "How'd you miss that?" "Dev keeps it locked in his desk." "Oh." "Well, Mrs. Rinehart will be ordering a few things, so whatever she needs, you take care of it." "Uh..." "This your father?" "Yes." "Formidable gent." "He fought the Indians to settle this territory." "Oh." "Well, good night, Vicky." "Uh, would you..." "Could I get you a cup of tea or something?" "No, thanks, Vicky." "Dr. Mclver!" "I..." "Do you think we could..." "Get along better together?" "Why, sure, Vicky." "My terms are simple... unconditional surrender." "Good night." "Well!" "Karen?" "Mom?" "Come on and watch me beat the tar out of your husband." "I think I'll go up, mark." "Good night." "Karen," "I thought we had a date." "I got stuck at the office." "I've been waiting 3 hours, Karen." "I'd like to talk to you." "I'd rather not now." "I have a bad headache." "Well, then, what were you drinking for?" "You know alcohol dilates the capillaries." "Oh, go write a book if you know so much." "Well, there's one thing I didn't know so much about!" "Karen." "What are you quarreling with me about?" "What?" "I said what are you quarreling with... what are you quarreling with me about?" "I'm not quarreling!" "Why didn't you tell me about these drapes of yours?" "Seems odd I have to hear about it from other... when?" "What?" "When should I have told you?" "Well, anytime." "What do you mean "when"?" "Last night at the concert, perhaps, during the intermission?" "Oh, Karen." "I tried to." "When are you ever in long enough?" "I even telephoned this evening." "Sadie said you weren't home." "I thought we had a date!" "I was at Vicky's, trying to straighten out this tangle!" "Before you know it, we'll have so many drapes around here, we can wrap the clinic up in them." "I straightened it out with Dev." "Dev?" "Is that who you had dinner with?" "Yes." "Isn't that allowed?" "Karen, you didn't go to Dev to sweet-talk him into these drapes, too, did you?" "Did you talk about them?" "Among other things." "Listen, I want to tell you something." "Don't you ever again go over my head to Dev about anything to do with this clinic!" "Do you understand?" "Meg Rinehart has a project on for the patients to make drapes of their own." "It's going to be tough enough without any additional monkey business, least of all with Dev." "Has it never occurred to you that I might be interested in talking to Dev with no purpose except to talk with another human being?" "Ha ha!" "We discussed a great deal besides the clinic." "Yes, you must have." "What else did you talk to him about for 4 hours?" "As a matter of fact, I talked about you." "Oh, I see." "You've been encouraging Dev by weeping on his shoulder." "I don't weep." "You don't know what's going on inside that man." "Leave him alone." "Huh!" "Don't I?" "When did you last have a heart-to-heart talk with Dev?" "Is that what you think you had?" "I hate to break into your little dream, Karen, but you're not exactly a unique event in Dr. Devanal's life." "It happens with every woman he meets, including his secretary and... will you stop knowing everything about everything?" "!" "Rosie's asleep." "Don't turn into an attentive father suddenly." "Now, what does that mean... that I'm neglecting the kids, too?" "Yes, the only ones who get anything real from you are those professional children out at the clinic." "Yesterday in school, they asked Rosie what she wanted to be when she grew up." "Would you like to know what she answered?" "A patient!" "People..." "Fight sometimes, mark." "Good night." "Good night." "As it happens, when this "monkey business"... as you call it... about the drapes first occurred to me yesterday," "I stopped by your office to tell you." "I tried to tell you last night." "I thought you'd be pleased." "Now I'm sick of the whole thing." "I don't care if they never go up!" "I'd be home more, Karen..." "If there were more to come home to." "What, for instance?" "A real woman." "You don't make me feel like a woman." "What do you think I've been trying to tell you for months?" "I am a woman." "I want to be one, but I..." "I have to feel I..." "I'm desired!" "Everyone thinks you're desirable." "Do you?" "No, you think you're going to win this game, but you're not!" "Hooray!" "Ha ha ha!" "Hooray!" "Has he or has he not the authority to let the patients make their own drapes?" "The patients do what?" "Library drapes, from start to finish." "Well, that's... didn't you know?" "Don't you have to ok things like this?" "Well, uh..." "Aren't you administrative head anymore?" "What?" "Why haven't I seen Mclver's contract?" "You never asked me." "I'm asking you now!" "Vicky, I'd only be too glad to have you look at this thing." "It's in the bottom right-hand drawer." "No, it's not!" "Unlock it, and let's have a look!" "We'll have to continue this another time." "I have a patient." "Oh, uh, Cobby, send Mr. Capp in..." "The minute he arrives." "Now, just a minute." "I want to dictate a letter." "I'll get my book." "No, no, never mind." "Here." "Use this." "Now, Vicky, you'll have to excuse me." "Get out." "Pardon?" "I said, "get out!"" "All right." "Now, look here, Vicky!" "I'm good and sick of your high-hand!" "What do you think you are around here, the queen bee?" "You're just another employee." "Then fire me!" "Well, am I fired?" "Of course you're not fired." "Don't be ridiculous." "Because you can't." "You gave that up, too, didn't you?" "Didn't you?" "That's why you didn't want me to read" "Mclver's contract, isn't it?" "Isn't it?" "Why didn't you tell me?" "I haven't even told Edna." "I have some pride left, Vicky." "You let me fight your battles, when you knew I could be fired for it." "Now, look here, Vicky." "We've been working together for 20 years." "Friends are supposed to be able to lean on each other." "A man should stand on his own two feet." "I've been standing on mine for 48 years." "It's time someone around here began holding me up once in a while." "You think Mclver will?" "Just last night, his own wife was standing..." "I remember Sanford Collins in here." "It was always a beautiful, big room." "It's a sad sight." "What is?" "Seeing such a small man in it." "Oh, Mr. Capp..." "Do you mind waiting for me a few minutes?" "Thank you." "Cobby..." "Uh, what's my schedule this afternoon?" "Never mind." "Clear me up for the rest of the day." "I can't work anymore." "I'm due out." "Petlee?" "Inch." "Fine." "Jim, this cotton rep..." "I find it's not satis... you better have Albert come and take it back." "Uh, Cobby, take a memo for me, please." "From the office of the medical director..." "To general distribution." "Library drapes." "It is my decision, based on careful examination of the elements involved, and taking into consideration the expressed wishes of the chairman of the board of trustees..." "Sadie!" "Mclver?" "Yes." "Air express for Mrs. Stewart Mclver." "You're welcome." "Sadie!" "I'm not too early?" "It's all right, Sadie." "Come in here." "We did have a date for lunch, didn't we?" "Did we?" "I don't remember." "Oh!" "Karen, I'm sorry." "Well, as long as I'm here, why don't we drive out to the lake for lunch?" "I can't, Dev." "I'm not dressed." "I have... take your time, Princess, there is nothing I can't cancel this afternoon." "Oh, Dev, would you care for a drink?" "Sure, I'd love one." "I loved last night, Karen." "You know..." "After you left, I got to thinking about something you said." "How we all go around..." "Each of us shut up inside himself." "Oh, it's nobody's fault." "It's just the way it goes." "Here we are..." "Both..." "Searching for something, hoping for something." "Well..." "I thought..." "What did you think, Dev?" "That just because of a few drinks and a steak and your help with those ridiculous drapes that..." "Karen!" "You make it sound so... so sordid." "Isn't it?" "Well..." "Last night, it seemed to me that we..." "I really thought we..." "What happened, Karen?" "What happened with everybody?" "Mark and Rosie will be home from school any minute." "I wish you'd leave." "Dev, I..." "I'm sorry." "I..." "I know I led you into this." "Wipe your face, Dev." "Got a cigarette?" "May I visit, or am I rupturing the delicate bud of creation?" "Is that Genesis or synthesis?" "It isn't finished." "You can see the others in the barn." "Ah, incompleteness." "That's the only triumph worthwhile." "With a finished work, you subject yourself to public scrutiny, praise, ridicule, and all the other vulgarities that go with accomplishment." "That's why I congratulate you." "You've just been relieved of a major responsibility." "Once again, talent is rejected." "The itsy-bitsiest triumph, with that memo from Dr. Devanal canceling your drapes." "What?" "What?" "Didn't you know?" "Where is it?" "Holcomb's got it in the barber shop." "I'm sorry, I thought everybody... where's that memo?" "Stevie, please, don't be worried about that memo." "Everything's going to be all right." "Gentlemen, please!" "You can't have that!" "Please, Stevie!" "You must read..." ""I waited for her, and when I went to her... "" "Stevie!" "Stevie!" "I'm taking my drawings." "They're not your drawings." "They belong to us." "Are you the only one who has put any love into this?" "Get out of the way!" "Get out of the way!" "I'd like to use your office a minute, Mrs. Rinehart." "Come on, Stevie." "It's the first I've heard of this." "But you don't want an explanation." "You want to believe the worst." "Dr. Devanal there, miss Cobb?" "Well, where is he?" "I want to talk to him." "Any place you think he might be?" "Yes, yes, there is a message, and take it down," "I want him to get this verbatim." "Dear Dev, I think there's a misunderstanding on the subject of these drapes." "There's more at stake here than the wishes of the chairman of the board of trustees." "Meanwhile, the patient's committee will go ahead with the drapes which it already has in work." "Mclver." "And have him call me soon as he gets back." "Big man." "Not so big." "Are you going to send me away to a closed hospital?" "Depends entirely on you." "Start knocking people down, we can't keep you here." "Is that what you're working for?" "Oh, what's the difference?" "I'm just so tired of being sick." "An hour ago I..." "Don't laugh..." "I thought I was well enough to get out of here." "It's like trying to get out of a greased well." "Not quite." "Remember how you were when you first got here?" "That was closer to bottom." "What do you think?" "I don't know." "You can't help me." "You may be right, you may not." "But when something like this happens, if you can't hang on for 5 minutes, you're never going to find out." "I'm free at 2:00, ok?" "Let's get going on these drapes before someone else horns in." "I'll talk to Devanal." "Abe's coming over tonight." "He's going to test it on the silkscreen." "Good." "Let me know." "Mr. Holcomb..." "I'm sorry." "Stevie?" "I made it myself." "Uh, Stevie, I was thinking about what you said," "I mean, about going to the movies in town, and I think I could now if you still wanted to take me." "Well, you don't have to say anything right now." "You can think about it." "Oh, I'm glad you came, Cobby." "Cobby, my dear..." "But first, I'm going to get you a little drink." "I don't want a drink." "Listen, I shouldn't have come here." "Why, if anybody saw me here... of course, you want a drink." "Wake you up." "Get the memo out all right?" "Good!" "We're going to fight, Cobby." "Know that?" "We've got our backs to the wall." "You have, maybe, but I don't." "Do you really want me to work, or not?" "You said you had some work to do." "What if somebody saw me come out here?" "Cobby, you're all I've got left." "You know that." "All I've got left." "You're important to me." "Sure... to answer the phone when Mrs. Mclver calls." "Listen, everybody's been calling me wanting to know where you are." "How much longer can you hide out here?" "Who is hiding?" "Heh heh!" "Still got a drink or two up my sleeve." "Heh." "What I said 4 years ago to Regina..." "I..." "I..." "I said, "all right, Regina." "Bring in this Mclver whoever-he-is if you want to. "" ""I am perfectly willing to take a back seat for a while. "" "The phone's ringing." "Do you want me to answer it, or what?" "Huh?" "Oh!" "But of course." "Hello." "Hello, Regina." "Dev." "Regina, there's an emergency here." "I want you to fly down tomorrow before the others." "It's important." "Yes... what?" "Oh, just a moment." "Now then, operator." "What... she's not?" "Why not?" "Well..." "Keep trying, operator." "Cobby, get me Vicky on the phone." "I want to talk to Vicky." "Get her yourself." "Oh..." "That's all you got me out here for." "It's the craziest thing I ever got into." "Shhh!" "Hello?" "Hello, Vicky." "Of course it is." "Who did you think it was?" "I... oh, fine." "I'm fine." "Standing on my own two feet." "Vicky, we're going to fight." "This is the showdown." "Dev, where are you, anyhow?" "And what are you talking about?" "I'll tell you what to do." "Prepare a report." "Yes, that will do it." "Show the board..." "you know what I mean... how everything went wrong." "The mess Mclver's gotten us into." "You know, late hours, drinking..." "Patients taking over the place." "Pour it on!" "And then we walk into that meeting on Tuesday and just throw it on the table." "What good will all that do?" "Now listen, Vicky." "I'm going to clean house!" "And you better be on the right side, or out you go." "Mclver wants you out." "He's gone to Regina about it." "Sh-she told me, Vicky!" "Mclver stays, and it's a-snickety bang, off with your head." "So..." "Maybe if the staff could settle its problems, the patients could settle theirs." "Good point." "I promise you, we'll have a policy meeting on this soon as I can communicate with Dr. Devanal." "The main point is whether we have self-government here at all." "And if we haven't, don't tell us we have, Dr. Mclver." "Just hang up any drapes you want, and let's take all this rigmarole of a committee and so and so, and give it back to the Indians." "Or miss inch." "Look, all I'm asking of you at the moment is to be patient." "What we're trying to do here isn't easy." "Self-government never is." "But I think we can all put it through." "Anyway, let's try, hmm?" "Well, um..." "Excuse me." "Oh, well, uh, I..." "I..." "I think, uh... if you think they'll make any changes around here, Holcomb, you're just kidding yourself." "Karen, I'm in a meeting." "I haven't" "Edna Devanal?" "What does she want?" "I don't know where he is." "Nobody seems to." "Just threw his stink bomb and ran." "I thought maybe you did." "I haven't seen Dev since..." "I have to talk with you about us." "I'm frightened at what's happened." "Stewart, I..." "Karen, I can't talk now." "Mr. Holcomb?" "Meeting over?" "Adjourned." "Dr. Mclver." "Yes, Mr. Capp." "Uh..." "Holcomb's pretty upset." "Dr. Devanal missed his hour today." "I see." "By the way, have you heard from Dr. Devanal?" "Thank you." "No." "No, I haven't." "Did, uh..." "Did he cancel your hour, too?" "Yes, but I don't get hysterical like Holcomb." "I feel fine." "Good." "Good." "I'm glad to hear it." "Oh, miss Gavney." "Yes, doctor?" "Dr. Wolff will be here all evening, won't he, in case anyone wants to talk to him?" "Why, of course, sir." "He's... fine." "Good night, miss Gavney." "Good night, doctor." "Thank you." "Good night, Mr. Capp." "Oh, Abe." "You're so right." "The world's becoming dehydrated." "What they can't dry up, they freeze." "Slicing has become a lost art." "Now tell me, when did you last see a woman cutting an orange?" "Listen, as far as I'm concerned, the more art that's lost, the better." "Well, if it isn't the good gray doctor!" "Hello." "Come in." "Come in." "Thank you." "I, uh, saw the lights." "Have a seat." "Give him a glass of wine." "Do you good." "No, thanks." "I'll have to be getting along." "I, uh, just finished a meeting." "I don't think I did too well." "Oh." "Good evening." "Careful with that, honey." "It's valuable." "Doctor, you haven't met Abe's wife." "Well, no." "I haven't." "Shirley, this is the world-famous mind reader and deep-sea diver, the great Mclver." "How do you do?" "Very glad to know you." "Abe said it would be all right if I came along." "I give him inspiration." "Good for you." "Well, Abe, how is it going to work?" "Ah, it's in the lap of the gods, now." "You can only rely on my cool skill and animal cunning." "Stevie really got Wolff, didn't he?" "He's got your immaculate scientific preoccupation." "Won't you have something to eat with us, Dr. Mclver?" "He just said no." "Don't ply the man." "Now, wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "I changed my mind." "Ply me." "Good." "Here." "Start with this." "Ah, spaghetti." "Wonderful." "Will you be able to stay for a great experiment?" "I don't know." "How long is it going to take, Abe?" "Ah, be patient, doctor." "This isn't something you can toss off like mending a split personality, or something." "This is art." "Well, Mrs. Irwin, I can see that your child is going to be reared with a healthy respect for the arts." "Abe will have him painting like the Venetians by the time he's 3." "Don't tell me you doctors are going to start analyzing kids before they're even born, huh?" "You wouldn't suspect it, but Abe's pretty excited about being a father." "Everything is" "Husbands, careers, art." "When a baby is around, nothing else counts." "How right you are." "Ta-da!" "How about that?" "Hey, that's good!" "Isn't it?" "Stevie has a sardonic touch, a sort of jovial Goya." "I think more like Steinberg." "More like you're all a little drunk." "Oh..." "Abe's really very pleased." "It's difficult to tell, but I've had experience." "How do you tell?" "He eats." "Whenever he eats, things are all right." "Oh, it used to worry me before we were married... for days at a time..." "nothing." "Then suddenly, at 3:00 in the morning, he'd get hungry, make me get up and fix him a sandwich." "And from now on, it's going to be me who will have to get up at 3:00 in the morning, warm the bottle." "Serves you right!" "Hey, Shirley, you know, it's about time you ought to be in bed." "We can go on with this in the morning." "We can't leave this mess." "Leave it." "How are you going to get home?" "I'll manage." "If you need a lift, I'll drop you." "Fine." "Take her home, Abe." "You're a good man in a chin fest." "We ought to do this again at my house sometime, doc." "Just say when." "Good night." "Good night, Shirley." "Doc?" "Yeah." "You be sure to cure this kid, huh?" "We'll do our best, Abe." "See you." "Good night..." "And thanks a lot." "Oh, any time, doctor." "Nicest part of every party..." "Hmm?" "When everybody leaves." "Oh." "You want to wash or dry?" "I don't care." "More sense of accomplishment washing." "You wash." "All right." "Will you get a towel?" "The first cupboard on the right... the one that says "clean rags"." "Yes, ma'am." "doo doo there you are." "Thank you." "How long were you married?" "6 years, 8 months, and 2 days." "Oh..." "Come on, you guys!" "Let's go get some chow!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Any regrets..." "Coming here and taking this job?" "No." "It's only partly true, you know, that hard work cures all sorrow." "Is that what you think I'm doing?" "Trying." "This, uh..." "This work is a bridge for you, isn't it?" "To back among the living?" "Mm-hmm." "Mm-hmm." "Welcome back." "You're young." "You've got a whole world ahead of you." "It's up against real competition... the one behind me." "Yeah, I've been thinking myself back into that one." "Well, uh, "think" is probably the wrong word." "It's an impression..." "A feeling, an atmosphere around you." "Something inside." "Relax." "Close your eyes." "That's what the couch is for." "All right." "You're in a small college town." "5- room yellow house." "Rented." "It's on a shady street with a handful of others." "And outside, peaceful sounds:" "A lawn mower clanking, a piano playing." "In the first apartment" "Karen and I had in Chicago, the bathtub was in the kitchen." "Small, cozy, no big problems." "Except when the Murphy bed was down, you couldn't open the front door." "I'd come home from the hospital at 5:00 in the morning, and there'd be coffee on the stove." "I wonder where Dev is." "He's probably drunk someplace." "There's a real deterioration in that man." "Now I'm going to have to fight him for the clinic, and I don't want to." "Why not?" "Because I remember him when I was in training." "He and Collins were doing really important work." "Is that why you've been covering for him here?" "What do you think it would do to the patients to see us at each other's throats?" "You know what I'd really like?" "What?" "To get back to that feeling" "I had in the bar." "Talk, wine..." "Beer wouldn't do?" "Uh-uh." "Wrong mood." "I'll put it in a red glass." "All right." "Could I use your phone?" "Oh, yes." "Right over there." "Thank you." "Miss Kubiecki?" "This is Dr. Mclver." "Have you heard from Dr. Devanal yet?" "Nothing, huh?" "She does?" "Well, switch me through to her, please." "Oh, hello, miss Gavney." "Who?" "Oh, Mr. Capp." "Yes." "Yes, he'll need sedation." "That's all right." "You can give it to him." "And if Dr. Wolff needs me," "I'm at 6258." "Mm-hmm." "Good night." "Hello." "This is Mrs. Mclver." "Is my..." "Is Dr. Mclver there?" "Well, I..." "It's rather urgent." "Oh, yes, thank you." "Give me the number if you will." "Thank you." "Hello?" "Who is this?" "Hello?" "Information, 6258." "Under whose name is that number listed?" "I'm sorry." "We are unable to give this information." "We do not list by telephone number." "It's hard for everybody, but particularly for us..." "Because all the sick feelings out of the past hook onto things in the present." "Now, this..." "Being with you right now..." "Is real, only..." "My feelings about now..." "How do I know where they come from, or have I got them all mixed up with something else?" "Good night, Stevie." "Thank you for taking me." "I couldn't have done it by myself." "I couldn't have gone with anyone else but you." "Good night." "Well, Mr. Capp, you must be as drowsy as a kitten." "How about bed now..." "And some sleep?" "That's the wittiest remark since the passing of Oscar Wilde." "Oh, Mr. Capp, I gave you some sedation." "Yeah." "Two capsules." "Are you sure the clinic can spare it?" "Mr. Capp, would it help if I called in Dr. Wolff to talk to you?" "Miss Gavney, please!" "One doctor at a time." "Let's not interfere with good old Devanal's work." "Ha!" "He's making me fit to face the world." "The futility and the emptiness..." "The hydrogen bomb..." "Say, I may even be fit to cope with my mother!" "There's a formidable woman, miss Gavney... quick of eye, steady of hand." "Never been known to miss with a knife in the back." ""m" is for the million things she gave me" ""o" means only that she's growing old" ""t" is for the tears were shed to save me" ""h" is for her heart of purest gold" "Good morning, mark." "Morning." "Mother not down yet?" "She's gone." "Gone?" "Where?" "To the Springs." "She took Rosie with her." "You're supposed to take me over to Billy Hormeyer's for the weekend." "Sadie's not here yet." "Yeah, I'll..." "All right, whenever you're ready." "I'll get breakfast at the clinic." "So long." "Good-bye, dad." "Is Dr. Mclver here yet?" "Should be any minute." "Well, please let me know the minute he comes in." "I'll be at breakfast." "No." "No, no, Mrs. Devanal." "We haven't heard from the doctor yet." "Yes." "Yes, I'll be sure to call you." "Mr. Capp, why don't you go in to breakfast?" "I'll call you as soon as the doctor arrives." "I'd rather stay here." "Cobby, did you know that Thomas Edison never slept more than 42 minutes a night in his whole life?" "No wonder he tinkered around." "Dr. Mclver!" "It's Stevie!" "I've taken all I'm gonna take of these loonies!" "Look at that." "I tried to stop him." "He was smashing the window." "He was trying to break down the door when curly stopped him." "Curly got cut with the broken glass." "Curly, what started this?" "How should I know?" "Dr. Mclver!" "Dr. Mclver, I demand to know why those new drapes are put up in the library, considering your promise!" "What drapes?" "Flowered brocade." "A very striking effect, as a matter of fact." "Curly, did you see which way he went?" "Last I saw him, he was hightailing it river way." "Good riddance!" "Stevie!" "Stevie!" "Stevie!" "Doctor, something has to be done about the noise in the annex." "It's impossible to rest." "If something isn't done," "I'm going to call the police myself!" "Miss Robbins, you will do no such thing." "If you'll please go back to your room." "I assure you, everything possible is being done." "The state highway patrol has been trying to get you." "I told them you'd call just as soon as you got in." "All right, get them for me, and put the call through in my office." "Dr. Mclver, I came to this place to be helped, not to be driven out of my mind!" "Miss Robbins, perhaps you can tell me." "The noise upstairs, and the laughing and the dancing..." "How bad is it, Tim?" "Pretty bad." "We have a very disturbed house." "There's been a lot of talk all day about those new drapes, and now this rumor about Steven Holte's suicide." "They each read themselves into it, and I never know what's..." "Dr. Mclver, I found Mrs. Demuth drunk in Mr. Appleton's room." "You see?" "I tried to persuade her to go back to her own." "Dr. Mclver, state highway patrol calling." "Does Demuth know I'm here?" "I'll go up." "Doctor..." "I'll see to it." "Mclver." "That's right." "I called the sheriff's office around 2:00." "Definitely not." "He's not dangerous to anybody but himself." "Don't send an officer out here." "I'll come down there." "Dr. Mclver, what'll I do about... later, Mrs. O'Brien." "Mrs. O'Brien..." "Mrs. O'Brien!" "Yes, doctor?" "I want you to take these down right away." "But, doctor... take them down before more patients see them." "But what will I do with them?" "I don't care what you do with them... anything!" "Put them in my car." "I'll take them to the dump!" "But don't you think we ought to wait until Dr. Devanal..." "Stewart!" "Where have you been?" "Been?" "I've been to the airport to meet Regina." "We had a few things to talk about." "Just got in." "Now, look here..." "Then you haven't heard about Steven Holte." "No." "Why?" "Is he..." "Was he very disturbed?" "I'd say so, Dev, assuming he's still alive." "One of the patients?" "My patient." "Stewart, aren't you being a little melodramatic, perhaps?" "You know this boy's history!" "If you don't, why don't you come to staff meeting once in a while and find out?" "!" "What are you in this business for... to cure patients or to kill them?" "!" "I didn't put up those drapes." "You know that." "Dev, if this boy kills himself," "I'll drive you so far out of the profession, you'll never find your way back!" "Now, look here, Stewart!" "If I were you, I would not make accusations you may regret." "I'll regret nothing!" "Now, just a minute!" "This boy has a history of suicide." "Do you mean to tell me that knowing that, you gave him the run of the clinic, let him become some kind of celebrity around here?" "Why wasn't he sent to a closed hospital?" "Because I'm a doctor, not a jailer!" "Mac, before the rest of the board arrives," "I insist on a clarification of what's going on down here." "I hear these rumors..." "What rumors, Regina?" "About laxity in the treatment of patients... incompetence." "I want to know if there's any basis to them." "Does Dev suggest there is?" "Certainly not." "He completely denies them." "Same thing." "Mac, I take a serious view of this." "Yes, so do I." "Don't try to run this place single-handed." "We have a responsibility to the trustees." "But not to the patients, huh?" "The patients are yours." "Regina, the trustees can't run the clinic without knowing the clinic, and you can't know the clinic sitting in Chicago!" "Well, from what I've seen here in the past few minutes... well, take a few more minutes." "I can't talk now." "Mac!" "Not now!" "I just don't understand." "What are they doing?" "They are mourning, Mrs. O'Brien." "I think that's what your people would call..." "A wake." "Mr. Capp." "Mr. Capp!" "Man shall not minister to my disease, plucked from the memory of rooted sorrow." "Raise up the hidden troubles of the brain, and, with some sweet, oblivious antidote, cleanse the..." "Mr. Capp, won't you come to bed now?" "Mrs. O'Brien, did I ever tell you you reminded me of my mother?" "And, with some sweet, oblivious antidote, cleanse the..." "Bosom from that..." "Hello, Otto." "I'm glad you're here." "I want to talk to you." "Mrs. Devanal is in your office." "Mrs. Devanal?" "What does she want?" "I don't know." "She's been waiting for some time." "Hello, Edna." "What can I do for you?" "I'm sorry about the boy, Stewart." "I've been trying to make up my mind all night." "I know how you feel about Dev." "I can't justify anything he's done." "Stewart..." "Don't you care at all what happens to him?" "I'm sorry, Edna." "It's not personal, but I can't let Dev go on like this." "But can't you do it some way... some other way?" "That's all I ask." "Just..." "Not this way." "Can it really matter how many times he's been at the realton hotel with miss Cobb?" "If it doesn't matter to me..." "I've been through all that so long and gotten used to it... what can it matter to anyone else?" "If it's true he really mishandled the two cases mentioned in there," "I suppose that is serious, but mistakes... have you any idea what it is to live in the same house with a man who hasn't brought his problems to you for 10 years?" "But, Stewart, if he loses his pride now..." "He'll be through." "That's all he has left." "Edna..." "Where did you get this?" "It..." "Came to the house last night by messenger." "I know I shouldn't have opened it, but Dev wasn't there, and..." "I was so worried." "Has Dev seen it?" "No." "Sally, get miss inch in here." "Mrs. Mitchell-Smythe called." "The board meeting is for..." "I want miss inch!" "Dr. Mclver's office." "Who's calling, please?" "Yes, just one moment, lieutenant." "He's right here." "Yes?" "What?" "Where?" "Lieutenant!" "Can you identify this, doctor?" "That shoe could've been in the river for 3 years." "It doesn't mean he's drowned!" "No one says it does, but it's the nearest we've come." "Where'd you find it?" "Out over there in that mudbank." "We figure that's where he entered the river." "We're going to start dragging all through here and work downstream." "Cal, let's get over to those other two boats by the bridge." "Keep that searchlight on us over here!" "Lieutenant Ferguson... tangled in the lines of your hook!" "We've gone too far!" "Dr. Mclver!" "Boat 5 hooked something!" "Something's on the hook!" "I think we've snagged a body!" "Do you want me to take you to him?" "No, he wouldn't want me." "Not now." "I'll be at home." "Will you call me, let me know if there's anything?" "Karen, forgive me." "I shall presume." "Tomorrow..." "Or whenever this ends, if he will let you, go to him, help him." "He has much to work through." "Don't nurse your wounds." "Nurse his." "Thank you." "Pull it in slow!" "What is it?" "It's only a Fender." "You've just hooked a Fender!" "Meg, I'm not going to stand around waiting for them to bring up the body." "I can't take any more." "Any more of waiting?" "Any more of myself." "Everything I've put my hand to flies apart like a straw man... wife, kids, Dev..." "Now Stevie." "What kind of a fool was I to think I could take care of all that?" "I can't even take care of myself." "I'm no more fit to be in this job than Dev is." "Well, let somebody else try to put it together again." "It won't be me." "Why don't they just leave it where it is?" "You know the way a stiff acts?" "It goes down to the bottom." "It don't drift away." "Just lays there until it bloats enough to come to the top." "Oh, Meg..." "Oh, Meg, Meg, Meg, Meg..." "It seems a long time." "A long time." "I've been living in a dream these last few days." "It has to stop." "I have to wake up." "I've been playing family again with you and Stevie." "It was a wonderful dream." "I was dead for a long time, and now I'm alive..." "For which I thank you." "Meg, listen to me." "Nothing has to stop." "I think it does." "We can't stay out any longer just to find a body." "Bring in the boats!" "That's it!" "I think I'm something... something you had once or wanted once, and..." "It's easier for you to start again with me than go back and get Karen." "No, no, no, Meg..." "I wonder if she doesn't need some of the strength you've tried to give Stevie and me." "Maybe it's too late for that." "Well, leave her, then, but don't make her suffer..." "While you and I clutch at our dreams in odd moments... please don't!" "Don't." "I could do that, too." "I almost want you that much." "Just not quite." "Not quite." "Well..." "What should I do, Meg?" "Who do you..." "Think I am?" "I'm late for the meeting." "I know." "I want to talk to you a minute before you go in." "When did you send this out, Vicky?" "I worked on it Saturday and Sunday and called a messenger and sent it to your house." "I didn't get it." "I haven't been home." "This is Dev's copy." "But I..." "Don't understand." "I thought..." "All right, I believe in calling a spade a spade." "You may be interested in knowing that Dr. Devanal suggested that I prepare just such a report as that against you." "Vicky, I hope, for your own peace, you won't present that thing at the meeting." "And if I led you to believe I wanted that kind of help from you, forgive me." "I understand that the drapes hung in the library by your wife were removed by you yesterday." "You will appreciate, Dr. Mclver, that regardless of their origin or suitability, they are the property of the clinic." "I must ask that they be returned at once." "Vicky." "Under the circumstances," "I suggest we dispense with the customary agenda and get to the essentials." "I understand miss inch has a report which she believes may clarify certain aspects of our present situation." "Miss inch, may we have your report?" "I have no report..." "Except the usual financial ones." "Much the same as last year." "Read them yourselves to save time." "Regina, if I may," "I think I can save you some time, too." "You all know what's happened." "None of it can be undone." "But what we can do is learn from it." "Out of our needs and our passions here, we've..." "We've spun a human cobweb, and this boy's been caught in it." "I know that a lot of what's happened is my responsibility." "I think I forgot that if an analyst is to be of any real help to the people he cares for, it must come out of the way he lives." "Not just from how much he knows or how hard he works." "We live very close together here, patients and staff." "And we bring everything we are... strong and weak, good and bad... to the smallest act." "If we realize this and accept and use it, that's the only way I know of reconciling ourselves to the present trouble and trying to prevent its happening in the future." "Now as to the conduct of the clinic, my basic views haven't changed." "More than ever," "I believe the self- government program is inevitable and right." "And the risks we take under it with a patient like Steven Holte are calculated and worthwhile." "If I stay here..." "I propose to continue and extend the present program." "Whether I do or not is for you to decide." ""Having been associated with this clinic" ""and many of its employees for over 1/4 of a century," ""it is with a deep feeling of regret" ""and a sense of great personal loss" ""that for reasons of ill health," ""I submit to this board my resignation" ""as medical director of the castle house clinic" ""for nervous disorders." ""Sincerely..." "Douglas N. Devanal, M.D."" "We've covered a lot of ground, for two people who have forgotten how to talk to each other." "What do we do now?" "Try to..." "Help each other as much as we can." "Be as honest as we can." "Stevie!" "I..." "Came back." "You all right?" "Came back..." "For an explanation." "Explanation?" "Where the devil have you been?" "Waiting here for hours." "Where have you been?" "Do you realize everybody's been looking for you, been dragging the river all night?" "Too bad." "What do you mean?" "They won't find me." "They'll find you, all right." "I'll throw you back in myself." "It's all right, it's all right." "Come on, Stevie, you can make it." "I made it..." "Didn't I?" "That's right, Stevie." "You made it." "Oh, say... could... could you get hold of sue?" "Tell her I'm all right?" "Yeah, sure." "Explain to her?" "She's got a lot of anxieties, you know." "Yeah, I know, I know." "Tell her I still got her bell." "What's Dr. Carmody's phone number?" "It's in the book." "Just..." "Thought I'd lie down a minute." "You ever almost drowned yourself?" "No." "It's just silly." "I'll never do it again." "Oh, hi." "Is he going to be all right?" "Yeah, mark." "I think he's going to be fine." "You know, mark, uh..." "Sometimes it's easier for a doctor to take care of his patients than..." "Than someone of his own." "I know, dad." "That's your job." "Can I help you?" "You have." "I seem to..." "Keep running into these things." "Captioning made possible by Turner entertainment group"