Page:Fantastic Volume 08 Number 01.djvu/30

 likes, one can examine these symbols and arrive at an interpretation. For example, in this dream of yours last night, there's the skeleton, the smothering attempt, the—"

"But last night was different!" I exclaimed. "It wasn't a dream! Look, here's the black velvet case, it was in my jacket-pocket this morning."

"Couldn't it have been there last night as well?" Dr. Wagram leaned back in his chair and stared at me across the desk. "Are you sure it isn't your wife's property?"

"I don't recall seeing her with such a case," I told him. "Besides, you're forgetting the most important thing. That Voice."

"I haven't forgotten, but at the moment this doesn't concern me. What concerns me is what you have forgotten. Frankly, Steve, there must be another explanation as to how you came into possession of this object. There's something you don't want to remember. A limited retrograde amnesic condition has been established; a purposeful occlusion that—"

"Please, don't throw me off with labels. I've got to find out what this is all about. Can't you see it's driving me crazy?"

"I don't like that word, Steve."

"I don't like it, either. I don't like to go to bed and hear strange commands, and have nightmares that seem real. A little more of this and I'll end up like your screaming people."

Wagram leaned forward, pursing his lips. "Steve, I'll be frank. You may not be too far wrong. I still feel I did an efficient job on you, surgically, but now I'm not so sure I did what was necessary psychically. Perhaps that's the next step. Maybe I ought to erase the past entirely—erase the dreams, erase the tension, give you a whole fresh start."

"You mean, to operate again? The way you do on these rich psychos of yours?"

"An operation, as you call it, would be unnecessary. I have certain shock-therapy techniques that would work quickly and easily."

"To make me forget all this?" I stood up. "But then I'd forget Roxie—"

"You could learn again. The others do."

"No."

"I'm not asking for a decision now. Don't try to make one. Think about it. Discuss it with your wife. Come to think of it, there's no reason 30