The Anger of a Father-in-law

Chapter 1
Complete Story

    

The Anger of a Father-in-law

By Professor

1    The Idea

    Doctor Malcolm Reed stared down at his unconscious son-in-law, his face completely blank but his heart filled with loathing. Under other circumstances, the young man lying in the hospital bed would have been considered handsome. In fact, though his body was covered in bandages, enough of it was visible to suggest how good-looking he would be under normal circumstances. Doctor Reed knew that Daniel Brown’s curly blond hair was a feature particularly favored by his daughter, Sylvia. How easy it would be to snuff out this candle which had so disastrously dazzled Sylvia. He was off-duty and only the head nurse who sometimes acted as his personal assistant knew he was in the hospital. A simple injection of an appropriate drug into the IV already inserted in Daniel’s arm and chances were no one would suspect. Then Sylvia would be free of Daniel Brown once and for all. The trouble with that idea was that Sylvia would know what he’d done; she might not be able to prove it to the police or anyone else but one look at his face and she would know. Of course, Daniel could be allowed to die of simple neglect if his injuries were of a serious nature but they were not. He had some cuts and bruises but not a single broken bone. No doubt this was due to his drunken state.

    Doctor Reed reflected someone else paid the price of Brown’s stupidity, in this case Sylvia’s best friend, Jane Miller. She had been driving the car and had been killed on impact. Possessing the devil’s luck, Daniel had been thrown clear of the car just before it exploded and burned. He had been brought here from the county hospital because of his marriage to Doctor Reed’s daughter. The authorities assumed that he would want to oversee his son-in-law’s treatment himself. Therefore Daniel must survive this automobile accident regardless of Doctor Reed’s personal feelings about the man. Far too many people knew of his detestation of Daniel.

    What then could he safely do about his son-in-law? He could pay for an expensive divorce but Sylvia would never agree to it. For reasons entirely unexplainable to him and despite his long experience in the field of psychiatry, Sylvia loved Daniel Brown. She always called him Danny, never Daniel. Worse, she simply referred to him more often than not by the diminutive “baby”. The word “baby” gave Doctor Reed an idea so earth-shattering in its perfection that he laughed aloud, something very few people ever heard him do.

    He grinned down at Daniel, his face alight with malicious humor. “I admit, Danny boy, that I can’t persuade Sylvia to give you up altogether. But I think I’ve found a way to give her more power over you, than you’ve ever had over her!” He left the room, his thoughts racing. At last he knew where he had to go, and what he had to do.

    The restaurant to which Malcolm took his best friend, Doctor Hazel Baker for lunch was, in his view, the best in town; the food was excellent and the wine superb. When they reached dessert of two large slices of peanut butter pie, Hazel asked, “Okay, Malcolm, the food was great and the wine tolerable. So what do you want from me?”

    For answer, he asked, “Were you still on good terms with Hans Schertz when he died?”

    “Yes, of course, you should remember that I was his research assistant. In fact I’m trying to finish his last article. What makes you ask, Malcolm? You aren’t planning to try and prove that psychology affects gene formation, are you?”

    Malcolm laughed and leaned confidentially toward his luncheon companion. “You read my mind, Hazel. I take it that you have gone through all Schertz’s papers so you know that he and I once discussed the power of suggestion in connection with the use of his regression formula.

    Hazel replied, “Yes, I’ve read Schertz’s notes of your conversation but from their tone I assumed the discussion was simply theoretical. I never thought for a moment that either of you was serious.”

    “Your assumption at the time was perfectly reasonable but the situation has changed.”

    Hazel smiled knowingly. “Still trying to save Sylvia from herself, aren’t you, Malcolm?”

    For an instant Malcolm glared at his friend, then his shoulders slumped in resignation to reality. “In a word, yes.”

    “I remember when Sylvia was a little girl you bought her the most expensive dollhouse available because you felt guilty she didn’t have a mother. Charlotte’s death was unavoidable and you knew it. But you went on blaming yourself anyway. Now you’re trying to do the same thing again.”

    “So what if I am?”

    “Just this, Malcolm. Suppose you do manage to create this living doll for Sylvia and she doesn’t like it?”     “What do you mean?”

    “I mean that ever since Sylvia married Daniel Brown, you’ve resented losing her to a bastard who isn’t fit to lick her shoes. And yes, I fully agree with you; Daniel is not worthy of Sylvia. Now you come to me because you think that you have come up with an idea which will give Sylvia back to you and eliminate the son-in-law you hate.”     ”You’re the most frightening woman, Hazel, I’ve ever known because you can read my mind. Will you help me or not?”

    “I shouldn’t because unlike you, I’m not so sure your plan will work. But since I care for both you and Sylvia, I will, against my better judgement.”

2     The Process Begins

    Daniel opened his eyes to see his father-in-law looming over him, his face impassive as always. Remembering what would irritate his father-in-law most, he said, “Hello, Dad. How’s tricks?”

    Doctor Reed, resisting the temptation to disregard his Hippocratic Oath entirely and strangle Sylvia’s husband, clenched his fists at his sides and said quietly, “Jane Miller is dead. Sylvia doesn’t know yet.”

    “Too bad for Janie, I guess that means you haven’t told Sylvia about me either.”

    “I will once the process has begun.”

    Still intent on irritating his father-in-law, Daniel asked, “Why did you bring me to your hospital? You haven’t changed your mind about me, have you?”

    “As a member of the medical profession, I know that miracles do still occur. But I can’t even begin to imagine changing my mind about you! However, once the process has begun, we shall see.”

    “What are you talking about? What’s this process of yours?”

    Doctor Reed replied dryly, “You ask me, how’s tricks? Well, this time the trick is on you!”

    Hearing this, Daniel stared up at his father-in-law in growing horror. “Hey, Doc,” he said, “you’d better think again about killing me because a lot of people in this town know just how much you hate my guts.” Daniel felt real fear when he heard Doctor Reed laugh aloud.

    “You understand so little, Daniel. Yes, I could kill you and the majority of people who know us both might suspect the truth but they wouldn’t care.”

    Daniel gritted his teeth. “But Sylvia would know and you know she’d never forgive you if anything happened to me!”

    “That’s true, Daniel, she would hate me if I killed you. Since I love my daughter no matter what I think of her choice of a husband, you must live.” Doctor Reed spoke in a matter of fact tone which Daniel found more frightening than an angry one. “But with this difference. You must live for Sylvia, not upon her.”

    Daniel laughed. “Is this another one of your lectures, Doc, about how I must be kind to poor little Sylvia?”     “No,” Doctor Reed replied quietly. “It is instead an explanation of your future life.”

    “What the hell are you talking about?”

    In answer, Doctor Reed pointed to the IV inserted into Brown’s right arm. “That needle is the key to your new life. This means your new life will begin with the use of two drugs which are unknown to the outside world, including the medical profession.” Daniel opened his mouth to protest but his father-in-law forestalled him with an upraised hand. “Protests are useless, Danny. The drugs I mentioned are already flowing through your veins.”

    Daniel was surprised to hear Sylvia’s father use her pet name for him and started to remark on it when the full import of Doctor Reed’s words struck him. “Oh shit!” he whispered, sounding like a frightened teenager. “I’m screwed!”

    “From your perspective, I suppose that’s true. But it doesn’t matter. I suggest that you stop whining about being screwed and listen to my explanation of the two drugs.”

    Filled with an overpowering sense of insecurity, young Daniel clutched unconsciously at his crotch, regardless of his father-in-law’s presence.

    “Do I frighten you, Daniel?” Doctor Reed grinned demonically as he spoke.

    Becoming aware of what he was doing, Daniel jerked his hand from his crotch and glared at Doctor Reed. The latter threw his head back and laughed uproariously. This was too much for Daniel; he reached out and clutched feebly at the psychiatrist’s throat, intent upon strangling him. The doctor easily disengaged his fingers and laid Daniel’s hands gently in his lap.

    “Now then,” Doctor Reed said. “Let’s have no more interruptions. Otherwise, you’ll be falling asleep before I’ve finished explaining your situation to you. I don’t want to miss seeing the expression on your face when you know exactly what is going to happen to you!”

    Filled with desperation Daniel, shouted, “I don’t care what you’ve done or plan to do! I’ll get out of it somehow, I swear!”

    “Yes, I expect you will, in the usual way,” Doctor Reed said, chuckling.

    In reply, Daniel unexpectedly yawned cavernously.

    “Oh, dear,” Doctor Reed said, “I see I must speed up my explanation.” So saying, he pulled up a chair beside Daniel’s bed, sat down and began in earnest. “Daniel, you’re currently twenty-seven years old. However, that state of affairs has already begun to change. I should have brought a mirror with me for this interview so that you could see the truth of what I say. However, it’s too late to worry about that now. The point is, one of the two drugs I mentioned earlier is a regression formula invented by a scientist who is now dead. His research assistant is a personal friend of mine. She has promised to help me free Sylvia from you.”

    “So this friend of yours has agreed to take the murder rap for you?! Hell, I always knew women were dumb, one of the dumbest being your precious Sylvia, but this bitch tops even her!”

    Daniel yawned again as Doctor Reed said testily, “There will be no murder. I should’ve thought that even you would have understood that by now. My plan is for you to disappear, in a manner of speaking. You will then reappear as Sylvia’s baby.”

    Gradually Daniel had been growing increasingly drowsy but this announcement roused him momentarily to full consciousness. He had been lying back in his bed fighting an ever-growing desire to sleep. Now he sat up with a jerk and shouted, “Sylvia’s baby? You’re kidding. You can’t turn a grown man into a baby!”

    ”We shall see,” Doctor Reed said calmly. “Doctor Schertz thought it could be done. Alas for him, he died before he could put his theory to the test. You and I shall do it for him.”

    “Nooooo!” Daniel screamed.

    “Yes, Danny, we shall. Now lie back and listen.” His father-in-law’s voice was quiet but somehow compelling and Daniel did as he was told.

    Deep in Daniel’s mind he still wanted to resist, to fight, but the compulsion to obey was far too strong. His eyes slid shut but he remained awake. His father-in-law’s voice now seemed to come from far away but his words were no less compelling. “Daniel, you are in a hypnotic trance induced by a drug of my invention. I simply call it ‘Power of Suggestion’. Its acronym is POS, but I digress. To business then. Daniel, despite your detestation of me your father-in-law, you will obey me in everything. You will do this no matter what I tell you to do. From now on to you I will be the most authoritarian person you have ever known. In my presence you will inwardly behave like a little boy, one who is so timid that disobedience is unthinkable, even impossible.”

    Daniel murmured, “Don’t want to die!”

    “It isn’t my purpose that you should die. No, you must live for my daughter as she once lived only for you! Now it’s your turn. Therefore you will obey me!”

    “I will obey.” Daniel repeated in the voice of a sleepwalker.

    “That’s very good!” Doctor Reed said. “You believe yourself to be twenty-seven years old, Danny. This isn’t true. In actuality, you are a fourteen year old. In consequence, you possess again all the insecurities of adolescence. This means you are socially insensitive and incidentally vulgar.”

    Daniel grinned up at his father-in-law and sighed contentedly, murmuring. “I’m fourteen years old.”

    Doctor Reed smiled. “Not so far to go back, is it? You’ve never liked responsibility, have you?” he asked, not really expecting an answer as the question was merely rhetorical.

    However, since he was deep in a hypnotic trance, Daniel answered with one word, “No.”

    “Good boy, Danny, honesty is the best policy. Now I want you to picture in your mind a big box with its lid standing open. At the moment the box is empty but when I say so, you’re going to fill it with all your past memories. This will include your name, Daniel Brown. Once you have filled the box, I will close the box and you will forget its contents.”

    Daniel murmured, “I will forget.”

    “Good boy,” Doctor Reed said. “Now you will put all your memories of your past life into the box. Even your name must go into the box. Now watch the lid of the box. It is closing slowly but surely. The box is closed. I’m going to snap my fingers and you will awaken from this trance knowing nothing about yourself.” Reed snapped his fingers and marveled at the transformation taking place on his son-in-law’s face.

    Before snapping his fingers, Doctor Reed had seen the face of a drowsy young man, one who was fully aware of himself and of his surroundings. Then there was the snapping sound and the face before him was transformed from that of a young man filled with self-confidence borne of past experience to that of a bewildered boy. The boy looked at Doctor Reed with wide frightened eyes. Doctor Reed smiled reassuringly at the boy. “Don’t be afraid, nobody here will hurt you. What is your name?”

    “I don’t remember.”

    “You were found not far from this hospital. Apparently you had been beaten up. Do you remember anything about it?”

    The boy shook his head negatively. “I don’t remember anything!” he added for emphasis.

    The boy looked as if he wanted to cry and Doctor Reed hastened to reassure him. “Not to worry, I’m sure it will come back to you. Just give yourself time to remember. In the meantime get some rest and lunch will be coming around soon. I believe there will be ice-cream for dessert today.” After a few more words meant to reassure the boy, Doctor Reed left the room, promising to return.

    The boy watched him go feeling strangely relieved and bereft simultaneously. Then he lay back in bed and became aware of an odd crinkling sound whenever he moved. Slowly, almost fearfully, the boy pushed back the blanket and sheet covering him. He stared aghast at the white expanse of fabric which enclosed his loins. Someone had put a diaper on him!

3     Making a Widow

    Doctor Reed stared down at the corpse on the morgue table and felt a guilty pleasure. The John Doe before him could be mistaken at least in broad outline for his son-in-law. Of course, even a cursory examination by a professional would expose the lie but no such examination would ever be made. No matter how grievous the death of this John Doe might be to someone somewhere, it would nonetheless serve a worthy purpose in life.

    The Medical Examiner standing beside Doctor Reed said quietly, “This means we’re quits, Malcolm. My debt to you is paid in full.”

    “It does indeed, George, it does indeed. Now comes the hard part.”

    “Hard part?” echoed the medical examiner.

    “Yes, persuading Sylvia to accept my plan.” But you’ve already begun your plan, haven’t you?”

    “True enough,” Doctor Reed said, “and that may complicate things a bit.”

    

    He decided that his prediction was coming true as he watched his daughter absorb his words about her wayward husband.

    “Let me get this straight,” Sylvia said. “You’re telling me that Danny and Jane have been having an affair for months and I am the last one to know about it?”

    “Yes, darling, I’m afraid so.”

    “But Dad, Jane is my best friend,” Sylvia cried out, raw pain in her voice. She was shaking from head to foot. “I can’t believe it! I won’t believe it!”

    “You must believe it, Sylvia! Surely you don’t suppose for a moment that I would tell you such a story if it weren’t true?”

    Mutely, Sylvia nodded her acquiescence with his statement. “Is Jane really dead?”

    “Yes, darling, she is.”

    “I’m glad!” Sylvia said, her face a mask of fierce delight.

    For an instant, her father was appalled by her reaction. Then characteristically he decided that she had a right to feel as she did.

    Not noticing her father’s reaction to her words about Jane, Sylvia asked, “You’re sure that Danny is all right? You aren’t just telling me that because you know it’s what I want to hear?”

    ”No, Sylvia, don’t forget I’m a doctor. As I told you, Daniel is in no danger!”

    “But there’s something you’re keeping from me, I can tell! I can hear it in your voice and I can see it in your face!”

    He had been wondering just how he was going to tell Sylvia what he’d done. How to begin his explanation? Now he knew only the plain truth would serve. Therefore, without further hesitation he explained exactly what he’d done and why.

    After he had finished, his daughter stared at him, quite as if he were a stranger. Then to his utter amazement she began to laugh, reaching an almost hysterical pitch. He was trying to decide what he should do when Sylvia regained a measure of self-control. “Oh, Dad,” she said, “I always suspected you could read minds; now I know I was right! You read my mind and knew all those times when I babied Danny in my mind!”

    “You could say that,” he replied dryly.

    “That’s what gave you the idea, wasn’t it?”

    “You could say that,” he repeated.

    “But why didn’t you consult me first?”

    “There wasn’t time darling,” he said. “I had to consider Karl Rider.”

    “You mean Jane’s old boyfriend?” Sylvia asked.

    “Yes, darling,” her father said. “He’s furious about Jane’s death. I have it on good authority that he’s been swearing vengeance on Daniel ever since the accident.”

    “Then we’ve got to protect Danny, but how?”

    “We protect him by burying Daniel once and for all,” he replied grimly.

4     Culmination

    The boy opened his eyes and looked up into the face of Sylvia Brown. For just an instant it seemed to him that he knew her. Then the impression was gone, vanished without a trace. The woman who stood beside his bed was of average height with a good figure. She was tastefully dressed without being fashionable. There was a shadow of sadness in her eyes which made the boy feel sorry for her without knowing why.

    Sylvia smiled. “I brought you your breakfast. Are you hungry?”

    “Gosh, yes,” he said. “I’m starving!”

    Sylvia laughed and while the boy busied himself with the contents of his tray Sylvia walked to the room’s single window and stood pretending to look out. Instead, she was intensely studying two photographs. The first was of her husband on his twenty-sixth birthday. It showed Daniel lying on a float in the middle of a swimming pool. He was clad only in a pair of blue swimming trunks which somehow made him look considerably younger. The second photograph was of a teenaged boy whom she knew to have been fourteen years old when it was taken. It showed him sitting on the beach this time clad in red trunks, busy helping a younger cousin build a sandcastle. This picture was of her husband too. Sylvia smiled as she always did whenever she looked at this photograph. It was one of her prized possessions.

    After her mother-in-law’s death, while cleaning out the lady’s apartment, Sylvia had found a family picture album filled with images of her Danny from infancy to adulthood. How often in the past had she visualized a baby who would look just like his father, but there was to be no child. Some eighteen months before Danny had bluntly told her that he wanted no children and meant to have none. To ensure that none came he had undergone a vasectomy. Sylvia was one of those unfortunate people who get in life exactly what they think they want. Inevitably like others before her, Sylvia found that the marriage which she had once desired so much was considerably less happy than she had hoped. The wild boy she had loved and married, hoping to tame him, had remained wild and untamable.

    At least until now. Sylvia suddenly had the feeling that her Danny was undergoing a transformation which was more than physical. It was mental, thanks to her father. He had at last met a man who could and who would dominate him. She smiled as she glanced at Danny still busy eating his breakfast. She looked once more at the image of the teenager on the beach and became convinced that he was her regressed husband.

    She smiled again and carefully tucked the two photographs back into the envelope from which she had taken them. Then she dropped it into a pocket of her skirt and walked back to Danny’s bedside.

    Sylvia then introduced herself to him, hoping she was a convincing actress, and asked who he was.

    Danny frowned. “I don’t know, but Doctor Reed says I’ll remember!” For a moment he looked as though he wanted to cry. Sylvia suspected that only her presence prevented him. The sight of his face made her want to cuddle him but the time for that had not yet come. So instead, she reached out and ruffled his hair, and he didn’t object.

    Her father was right, Sylvia thought, Danny was a baby at heart. She sat down on the side of his bed and said, “You know, I’ve got an idea.”

    “What is it?”

    “Why don’t we pick a name for you until you remember your old one?” He smiled and Sylvia found it hard to remember that he was actually her husband. Danny at this moment exuded boyish charm from every pore.     He said, still smiling, “You pick the name, Mrs. Brown!”

    She demurred, “No, no, you should choose because it will be your name.”

    “No, please, you do it!” he insisted.

    “All right, this is the name I would have given my son if I’d ever had one. I choose for you the name of Danny!” Sylvia said, sounding melodramatic even to herself.

    For an instant the boy’s smile became fixed and Sylvia wondered if she’d made a mistake. Then he said, “Thanks,” and sounded as if he meant it. This touched her so much that Sylvia forgot herself and kissed him on the cheek. Danny was startled and she laughed outright.

    Sylvia said, “See you later, Sweet Cheeks!” and left the room.

    The combination of the kiss and the use of the familiar endearment had by some strange alchemy shattered the box into which Daniel had been compelled to lock his memories. They reentered his mind in a frightening rush. Once again Daniel knew who he was and what had happened to him. He was in the private hospital owned and run by his father-in-law. He had been involved in an automobile accident and someone he knew had died. He shook his head. That was bad but something worse was happening. Doctor Reed was doing something to him. The doctor had made him forget a lot of things, including his own name. Not only that, the doctor had made him believe that he was fourteen instead of twenty…what? Daniel stared at the bandage on his right arm with revulsion. Thanks to his father-in-law he couldn’t remember just how old he was. Daniel knew that it was twenty something but how much he just couldn’t recall. The doctor had used some new drugs on him which had been pumped into him through an IV. The IV was gone but presumably because Doctor Reed no longer considered it necessary. One of the drugs had modified his memory and the other had somehow made him younger! Were all these ideas merely the byproduct of some nightmare which he’d had? Daniel felt he had to know.

    The rails on his bed were pulled up and for some reason he couldn’t manipulate the catches on them, because his fingers were too uncoordinated. However, he could slide off his bed by way of the footboard. He followed up on this thought not without some difficulty. For an instant he stood clutching the footboard while his legs shook violently. Could he make it to the bathroom and the mirror above the sink? He must! Daniel crept slowly across the room, the carpeting beneath his feet felt strange to him. Worse, the tile felt like ice beneath his bare feet. Daniel clutched at the sink and stared into the mirror. He was aghast at his reflection. Gone was the mature face which he’d seen the last time he’d looked into a mirror. The face which a number of women had found irresistible was replaced with that of an adolescent suffering from a bad case of acne.

    As if that weren’t bad enough, here he was a miserable teenager again and wearing a diaper! Daniel remembered fighting with the head nurse about this requirement. He was a Nurse Livingston and Daniel was completely intimidated by him. This was quite understandable because John Livingston was a giant of a man, a mass of muscle unlike anyone he had ever seen before. Daniel had tried to argue about the diaper but in vain.

    Nurse Livingston had simply looked at him and said, “Diapers were Doctor Reed’s orders and this hospital staff obeys orders! If they don’t, I’ll know the reason why and it had better be a good one!” Daniel had hung his head conceding defeat. Livingston had then smiled nastily at him. “Besides, Doctor Reed tells me that you don’t like responsibility.” He thrust a massive finger under Daniel’s chin and forced it up. “Isn’t that true?”

    Daniel had stared into Livingston’s eyes and felt his will to resist melting like hot butter. He replied in a muffled voice, “Yes, it’s true.”

    “Okay, then, “Livingston had said. “You leave your diaper alone and I’ll take care of it. Doctor Reed wants me especially to look after you and that’s what I’m going to do!”

    Thoughts of the gigantic Livingston filled Daniel with panic. Where was the man at this moment? How soon would he be coming to check on his special patient? In his anxiety Daniel staggered from the sink to the bathroom doorway and clutched the frame for support.

    At that same moment the door to the room opened and Doctor Reed entered, closely followed by Nurse Livingston. “Well, well,” Doctor Reed said. “It seems that you’ve been a busy little boy, Danny, for the past few minutes.”

    “I remember who I am and what you’ve been doing to me!” Daniel replied, breathing hard.

    Doctor Reed smiled knowingly. “Of course you have, Danny! I told you that you would!” Without pausing for a breath he turned to Nurse Livingston, saying, “Stand guard in the hall and see that I am not disturbed.”

    Livingston left the room silently, like an obedient dog.

    Suddenly Daniel found himself wishing that Livingston had not been ordered out of the room. Doctor Reed alone in the room seemed infinitely more dangerous than the gigantic male nurse. Daniel watched in growing anxiety as Doctor Reed seated himself in the room’s one large armchair. Then he beckoned with an imperious hand for Daniel to come and stand in front of him. Daniel staggered across the room and sank to his knees in front of his father-in-law.

    “Yes, Danny, the floor is where you belong. But the question is how to get you there and keep you there?” Daniel knelt with his head bowed, unwilling to look up at Doctor Reed. The doctor looked down at his son-in-law and smiled unpleasantly.

    “Danny!” he barked and Daniel’s head shot up like a dog hearing the voice of its master or mistress. “Stand up!” he commanded. Daniel struggled to his feet and stood with his legs trembling and his head hanging low. He looked not unlike a little boy standing fearfully in his father’s presence. “Look at me!” the doctor said sternly. Daniel raised his eyes fearfully to Reed’s face. “You say that you remember everything, but that isn’t true.” Daniel opened his mouth to deny the doctor’s assertion but his father-in law growled “Shut up!” and Daniel said nothing. His lips were sealed by uncharacteristic timidity.

    “Listen carefully, Danny, and repeat after me.” Daniel wanted desperately to defy his father-in-law but the spirit of defiance which had enabled him to leave his bed was nonexistent in Doctor Reed’s presence. “From now on,” the doctor said, “You know that you are fourteen but you see yourself as a three-year-old boy. Like any other toddler, you are the center of your world. The slightest praise or criticism will affect your mood. You will glow with pleasure when praised and cry like a baby when criticized. Toddler-like, whenever you’re afraid you will suck your thumb. You will never go near the bathroom except to play in the toilet or the bathtub. You wear diapers and you will use them just as any baby would despite your fourteen years. This means your bladder and bowel control no longer exist.”

    Each time Doctor Reed spoke, Daniel repeated his instructions exactly in a flat, emotionless voice. His tone was that of human speech imitating an electronic facsimile of the same.

    “You remember the box we talked about earlier? The box is gone but in its place there is a door.”

    Daniel doggedly repeated all this, fear growing inside him. What did his father-in-law mean to do this time? Would he be able to break free of whatever it was, as he had the last time?

    “The door is massive and its image fills your mind to the exclusion of all else,” the doctor said. “Nail studded, it stands open but only the nothingness of forgetfulness lies beyond it. For one minute you will remember exactly who you are and all that has happened to you. After the minute has ticked away, you will let all those memories pass beyond the door. Once the memories of your old life have passed beyond the threshold of this door, it will close. Then both the door and your memories will vanish like smoke caught in a strong wind, never to return. Afterwards you will know only that your name is Danny and you think you are fourteen but you’re not sure. You remember the name Danny is the one given you by Mrs. Brown. You will feel drawn to Mrs. Brown but without knowing why.”

    Daniel’s mechanical recitation of Doctor Reed’s words died away and there was silence in the room.

    Doctor Reed broke the silence by saying, “You will begin now.” He stared hard at Daniel. For the space of sixty seconds Reed’s son-in-law stood before him. His legs trembled no longer with weakness or fear but with rage. Daniel sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. His breath made an angry hissing sound. It caused Doctor Reed to think of an angry snake but he was unafraid and simply smiled. Daniel leaned forward and seized the doctor’s shirtfront in both hands. He opened his mouth to damn his father-in-law to hell, but the words vanished from his mind. At the same instant, his legs gave way and he would have fallen, if the doctor hadn’t wrapped his arms around him, and pulled the boy onto his lap.

    “Easy does it, Danny,” Doctor Reed said. “I don’t think you’re strong enough yet to stand up, still less to walk.” Danny took this observation as criticism. His mouth flew open and he began to wail simultaneously big tears rolled from his eyes and the front of his diaper grew warm with urine.

    “There, there, Danny, don’t cry!” Doctor Reed said, gently patting Danny’s back as he spoke. He was inwardly gleeful. His formula was working magnificently! Daniel Brown the man might have never been born. Danny the teenaged toddler was in full cry. Furthermore, Daniel looked younger than he had five minutes ago. Obviously the two formulas were working perfectly together. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, Danny,” he went on. “I just meant that you’re not ready to walk again yet.”

    The door to the room opened again and Nurse Livingston reentered, carrying a teddy bear whose fur was baby blue in color. “Here now, what’s the matter?”

    Doctor Reed replied, “I suspect Danny needs a diaper change.”

    “No problem. Uncle John will fix our little boy right up!” Doctor Reed had muffled his son-in-law’s wails in his shirtfront. Livingston said in a bright, singsong tone, “Hey, Danny, lookie here, I’ve got something for you!”

    Danny raised his head from Doctor Reed’s chest and stared at the teddy bear in Livingston’s hands. The teddy bear had a large red ribbon tied in a bow around its neck, which immediately caught Danny’s attention. He reached out a tentative hand.

    Livingston thrust the toy into his arms. “His name is Timmy and I think he likes you!”

    “I’m sure he does!” Doctor Reed agreed.

    Danny beamed with pleasure. “I like him too!”

    “That’s fine,” Livingston said, “now let Uncle John change your dipee’!” He scooped Danny, teddy bear and all, out of Doctor Reed’s lap and carried him back to his bed.

    Doctor Reed watched the diaper change, noting the signs of regression which he had observed earlier. It seemed to him that Daniel had now passed back beyond puberty. At most he looked to be about ten years old and he acted much younger. Doctor Reed decided his plan was going well and this pleased him.

    However, elsewhere in town there was one who was not happy.

    Karl Rider was by all accounts a simple man. Both his many friends and his few enemies all said that his face was an open book. Therefore Sylvia knew that she was dealing with an enraged man without being told. He stood in the middle of her living room glaring down at her where she sat in an overstuffed armchair. “Where is he?”     “Where is who?” she asked.

    “You know very well,” Karl snarled. “That miserable husband of yours.”

    Sylvia did her best to sound deeply distressed with her reply. “He’s dead!”

    “You don’t really expect me to believe, that do you?”

    “I don’t care what you believe, it’s the truth!”

    Karl raised his hand to slap Sylvia but remembered himself and let his hand fall to his side. He said in a quiet voice, “I don’t care how long it takes, I’ll find that snake you’re married to and stomp him to death.” He turned on his heel and left the Brown residence.

    Sylvia went straight to her phone and dialed her father’s office.

    Some two hours later Karl stood in the morgue of Reed Hospital staring down at the face of a man who he thought might be his enemy. He couldn’t be sure because the face was so mangled that it was difficult to decide. Doctor Reed stood beside Karl, patiently awaiting his verdict. “You swear this man is your son-in-law?”

    “I do,” Doctor Reed replied calmly.

    “Why did they bring his body here? By the look of him, he’s been dead for hours.”

    “It was a matter of professional curtesy and I want to perform the autopsy myself.”

    “But you’re a psychiatrist,” Karl objected.

    “I have an MD.”

    “Even so. Why…?”

    “I want to prove to my daughter that her husband was heavily intoxicated at the time of his death.”

    “What good will showing her that he was drunk do?”

    “It will help her to face the reality of his death. What I mean is, I want to convince Sylvia that she is in no way responsible for Daniel’s demise.”

    “So you think she’ll blame herself for it?”

    “That’s a possibility.”

    “It seems feasible to me, Doctor Reed. Sylvia’s never been able to see Brown in his true colors,” Karl added with a heavy sigh.

    Doctor Reed nodded in agreement with Karl’s words and sighed too. However, his sigh was one of relief, not a combination of frustration and despair, as in Karl’s case. He felt that his plan was still fully successful.

    Karl Rider left the hospital convinced that Daniel Brown was dead. As he drove out of the parking lot, Sylvia drove into it. She went straight to young Danny’s room.

    Entering the room, she found Danny happily playing on the floor with a toy truck. To her he looked to be about two years old. He was wearing only a diaper and a tee-shirt. Doctor Reed’s assistant, Nurse Livingston sat watching him and looking profoundly bored. He leaped to his feet when Sylvia came into the room. Sylvia took no notice of him.

    Danny, for his part, looked up when she knelt in front of him.

    Sylvia asked gently, “How’s Danny today?”

    Within the secrecy of his mind Daniel looked at his wife and knew that he must cultivate her as protection from his father-in-law. It was the one clear mature thought left to him. Otherwise, he was a toddler mentally and physically.

    In truth, the regression process was still in progress. Doctor Reed had estimated that it wouldn’t stop until Daniel was twelve months old. Daniel knew nothing of this but he instinctively understood his wife. In a lucid moment he had surmised that Sylvia had bought the baby blue teddy bear for him. It was lying on the floor beside him and he reached down and picked it up. Settling it on his lap he beamed at her. Sylvia’s heart melted. She had intended to gloat over her regressed husband; now she knew the threat represented by Karl Rider had been eliminated.

    Daniel’s toothless smile shattered her defenses. Sylvia scooped him up from the floor and sat down with him on her lap in the room’s one armchair. Daniel sat lounging against Sylvia’s bosom, clutching his teddy bear in one hand while happily sucking on the fingers of the other.

    Livingston watched him and knew that Doctor Reed’s revenge had failed. No doubt he thought Mrs. Brown had come to this room fully intending to torment her husband. She had meant to do it to please her father, if not herself but she wasn’t cruel by nature. Doctor Reed, he decided, failed to take into account the fact that no amount of hatred can ever really conquer love.

    Sylvia was thinking, Danny’s my baby now, just the way I secretly always wanted him to be. As his mother I’ll have to discipline him but I don’t have to start right now. I can wait until we get home.

    Entering the room at that moment, Doctor Reed saw immediately what his assistant had seen earlier, utter defeat.

THE END

 

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