“Hmmm. I think that it would be best if I discussed this with your daughter for a while alone. Perhaps she will open up to me in some way, and say something she has trouble talking about around you. Sometimes children feel it is necessary to protect their parents from their problems. They’re really quite sophisticated, you know.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“I’ll be out in just a few minutes.”

Jessica waited patiently on the white paper lining of the table, her legs dangling over the side. They didn’t make these tables in her size. She was nervous, but not as much as before in the car. Dr. Mudd (it was a funny name, she thought) was a nice man; she could tell just by looking at him. He felt right. But just in case, she kept Johnny Bear close to her side.

Her mommy was scared, she could tell. But she wasn’t scared like Jessie, she wasn’t afraid of the blue man, she was afraid that Jessie was going CRAZY. It was a funny word, but she didn’t want to practice saying this one. This word gave her bad pictures of big white rooms and funny suits with no arms and straps that hung down like tentacles. She didn’t think that she was going CRAZY, at least she hoped not. Daddy sometimes thought the word too; not all the time, though. That made her feel better.

As they drove here in the car she had been thinking about her PERCEPTIONS, not about what happened in them but the things themselves. They were getting stronger. She noticed this the very first day they got to the house; the pictures in her head were brighter and more real than ever. Now when they came, she saw everything clearly.

Like yesterday in the front yard. That picture had been the brightest and strongest she had ever gotten. Afterward her head felt clear and sunny, like all the cobwebs had been cleaned out. Now she knew exactly what the man looked like, and she never wanted to see him again. He was huge and horrible looking, and dark red stuff dripped from his nose.

The door opened and Dr. Mudd came in. Again she was struck by the goodness of him, and she began to feel even better.

“Hello, Jessica,” he said. “I’d like to talk with you about your bad dreams, if that’s okay.”

She studied him, and found he was telling the truth. That was another thing about him. When he thought something, he said it. No hiding.

“Okay,” she said.

“Tell me all about them.”

When she had finished with the last one, about how she saw the man and fell down in the snow, Dr. Mudd was silent for a long moment. He looked like he was thinking hard.