Personage. I thought you said.

Personage then.

Going back a few years. The fact that Thorazine stopped the visits of these familiars. Doesnt that suggest to you something about the nature of their reality?

Or my ability to perceive it.

Well. I suppose one could say that.

I suppose one could. One just did. Drugs alter perception. To conform to what? I used to have somewhat firmer convictions about the whole business. But one’s convictions as to the nature of reality must also represent one’s limitations as to the perception of it. And then I just stopped worrying about it. I accepted the fact that I would die without really knowing where it was that I had been and that was okay. Well. Almost. I told Leonard that reality was at best a collective hunch. But that was just a line I stole from a female comedian.

Leonard?

He’s a friend here.

Did he laugh?

No. He took it pretty seriously.

The Kid once told you that other people could see him? Did you say that?

Some other people.

What do you think that means?

I dont know. You’re the psychiatrist.

You wont see him again. The Kid.

You’re fishing again.

But you said goodbye to him.

Yes.

What did he say?

Not much. He wanted to know if I would miss him.

If you would miss him.

Yes. He recited a poem to me. Which was a surprise. I dont know what it means.

Do you remember how it went?

Yes. Pretty quickly.

I meant do you remember the poem.

I know what you meant.

I guess I should just ask if you would say it.

No. I wont.

All right. The idea of the Kid as some sort of an evil djinn—which I take it to have been the view of most of your counselors—is not your view. Or maybe you would say that it is just not the case.

Not the case. No.

But could you say how you do see him?

I think the way I see him is the case. Isnt it?

All right.

You’re not really asking me about the Kid. You’re asking me about me. And I cant tell you what you want to know. Even if I could I probably wouldnt.

All right. Sorry.

No need. Do you know the Tractatus? You knew where the whereof was from.

I’ve looked at it. I couldnt make much of it.

I think the case with the Kid is that he was just doing the best he could. Like everybody else.

Do you see him as benign?

If I see him as benign it’s because I know what else is out there.

And of which I—for instance—would probably not be aware.

Let’s just say that I’d be surprised.

What do you think of people? Just in general.

Is that actually a question?

Why not?

I guess I try not to. Think of them.

Is that true?

No. I think that there is love in my heart. It just shows up as pity. I imagine that I’ve seen the horror of the world but I know that’s not true. Still, you cant put back what you’ve seen. There has never been a century so grim as this one. Does anyone seriously think that we’ve seen the last of its like? And yet what can the world’s troubles mean to someone unable to shoulder her own?