Chapter 10: This is Thursday so we must be in Narnia

Editor’s Note:
The next documents contain further transcripts of meetings and patient interviews written by Dr Koehler Snr (Psychiatrist).

Notes of Meeting, Thursday, 12/2; 11:48am, Nurse Cassandra, Dan Freeman

Dr K: I came as soon as I could get away. What’s the problem?

Dan: Bec seems to have gone on a little trip.

Dr K: I don’t know what that means. Is she not in her room?

Dan: She’s there, but she thinks she’s in Narnia, being held captive in a cell by the White Witch of Narnia.

(I took a moment to assimilate that)

Dr K: In your opinion, is she playing a game? Or is she genuinely caught in a delusion?

Dan: She’s not playing. I can always tell when she’s playing. Sometimes she has fun comparing herself or her life to some fictional situation. Or she uses metaphors to describe things that happen to her. But this isn’t like that. Sometimes she gets completely caught up in some alternate reality. Right now she really believes she’s in Narnia. And she’s freaking out because she doesn’t want Tara and Angie to be caught by the White Witch. She told us that the Witch had sent the Minotaur and the Wolf to capture them.

Dr K: The Minotaur? Interesting.

Dan: Exactly. Bec told us that she’d fought off the Minotaur and the Wolf so that Tara and Angie could get away. But she was captured and brought here – chained up in the dungeons of the Witch’s castle.

Dr K: The events of Monday seem to be bleeding through into the delusion.

Dan: Exactly. Or perhaps the delusion is a way of defusing what happened. She’s distancing herself from the reality.

Dr K: Are you sure you want to be an engineer? You would make a great psychologist.

Dan: (laughs) I would be a psychologist specialising in exactly one patient – better make that one family of patients. For the rest, I’m happy enough becoming an engineer.

Dr K: The two careers are quite different.

Dan: Not really. People are like bridges. You have to avoid getting distracted by the fancy scrollwork and focus on their foundations and the fabric that connects those foundations together before you can understand them.

Dr K: That’s an interesting parallel. But bridges are a static object while people grow and change.

Dan: No engineer would describe a bridge as static. It has to sway with the wind. Metal expands and contracts as the temperature changes. Passing traffic creates vibrations that have to be absorbed and damped. Minor earthquakes happen all the time so foundations can never be absolutely stable. Just like bridges, people have to cope with external forces acting on them. In a bridge, the materials age and wear with the passing of time which alters their properties and their ability to cope with the pressures acting on them – just like people. Proper care and maintenance helps them last longer in much the same way people need to be cared for and looked after.

Dr K: Interesting. How does your theory of bridges apply to someone like Bec?

Dan: Bec isn’t really all that complicated. Her foundations are her family and the fabric of her life is her creativity. Since she was a baby she has always played in a wildly imaginative way and she makes the most creative connections between different things in a variety of areas – math, science, history, people. Sometimes she’s being fanciful and sometimes she’s being very real but always she’s creating. She’s a very internal type of kid – she mostly keeps everything inside – but when she lets it out through her art or her writing ... Sorry, I guess I’m a member of Bec’s fan club.

Dr K: That’s okay. Go on, I’m finding your description fascinating.

Dan: When she was younger, Bec was convinced that we, her family, were solid and dependable. It meant that her foundations were strong and she was free to decorate her bridge with whatever scrollwork took her fancy. More recently she’s been discovering our flaws – she’s found out that her foundations were less solid than she thought. Her response has been to try to fix all of our flaws and at the same time to expand her definition of her family. It’s good engineering – when a structure is shaky, the first steps are to broaden and stabilize the base.

Dan: Her other response has been to become even more fiercely protective of anyone she identifies as family. It’s not surprising really. An attack on her family is an attack on the very foundations of her existence. Defending her expanded family is self-preservation for her.

Dr K: Very interesting. I would love to talk about this more. But right now, Bec is concerned that Tara and Angie not be captured by the White Witch. Our next step should be obvious.

Dan: I think I know what I should do. I should (he made quotes with his fingers) “rescue” Tara and Angie and take them out of there for a little while. Bec wouldn’t let me rescue her – it was more important to her that I get Tara and Angie away. I told her I was coming out here to find the safest way out of the castle.

Dr K: Exactly. You should rescue Tara and Angie. And once you have them in a place of safety, you should come back for Bec. In the meantime, I shall talk to Bec and see if I can lay the groundwork for bringing her out of her delusion. Apart from anything, I want to introduce her to her new partner in crime. Don’t hurry back. I may need a little time to set things up so that your rescue is fully effective.

Dan: You’re not going to give her drugs or anything like that?

Dr K: If I need to, but not if I can help it. I’m hoping this is temporary. But we can’t afford to let it go on for too long. The longer a delusion lasts, the more it will take hold and the harder it will be to break her out of it. I may have to put her on anti-psychotics to prevent that from happening. I won’t decide until I’ve spent some time assessing her myself. Right now, all I know is that her highly creative subconscious has found a way to tell us what happened on Monday without actually allowing her conscious mind to find out. Somewhere in the story of Narnia is that part of Bec’s bridge which will lead her back to us. All we have to do is find it – or set things up so she can find it for herself.

Dan: (sighs) Well, I guess I need to go rescue two of my sisters from the White Witch.

Meeting ended, 11:56am

Patient Meeting, Rebecca Freeman, Thursday 12/2; 12:10pm

Bec is seated on the floor and slumped against the back wall of the room.

Dr K: Hello.

Bec: Mr Tumnus? Is it you?

Bec scrambled to her feet. She appeared to be moving awkwardly – as if she was injured in some way.

Bec: Are you a prisoner too? Or are you here to rescue me?

Dr K: I’m not a prisoner.

Bec: Oh! Please tell me that you aren’t working for Her. I couldn’t bear it.

Dr K: Who do you think I might be working for?

Bec: The White Witch of course. She captured me and locked me up in Her dungeon.

I stepped closer to Bec and looked into her eyes.

Dr K: Can you tell me your name?

Bec: Oh, poor Mr Tumnus. You are working for Her. Now you’ve started the interrogation. What has the White Witch done to make you work for Her?

Dr K: What makes you think I’m Mr Tumnus?

Bec: Lucy described you quite precisely. You were the very first person she met when she came here to Narnia. She wrote all about how you took her to your home and served her tea and then played your flute for her.

Through all of this, I was watching carefully. I saw no sign of subterfuge or play. Bec appeared to be thoroughly immersed in this delusion.

Dr K: I want you to tell me your name.

Bec: Oh, Mr Tumnus. I’m a simple Daughter of Eve. I know about the prophecy. Two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will end the reign of the White Witch and then become Kings and Queens of Narnia at Caer Paravel. But don’t worry. I’m not one of those Daughters of Eve so I’m no danger to the White Witch.

Dr K: How did you get to Narnia?

Bec: I came through the wardrobe, of course. And then the White Witch sent the Minotaur and the Wolf to capture me and bring me here.

Dr K: Is Cindi here as well?

Bec: Poor Cindi. She may well be here. She was captured long before me. She could be in the next cell for all I know. Or she could be somewhere else entirely.

Dr K: What about your sisters? Are they here?

Bec looked at me strangely. She bit her lip.

Bec: Sisters? I don’t have any sisters.

Dr K: Now we both know that isn’t true.

Bec: (looking defiant) They’re safe. They’ve been taken away to where She can’t get at them.

Dr K: Good. I’m glad to hear that. Please understand that I’m on your side. I want your sisters to be safe. I want you to be safe.

Bec: Poor Mr Tumnus. I know you aren’t a bad faun. But you are so very scared of the White Witch, aren’t you? I understand. There’s nothing you can do for me.

Dr K: That’s not completely true. I can get you food. I can take you to the bathroom.

Bec: I would so very much like to go to a bathroom. They gave me a bucket but the idea of using it turns my stomach.

Dr K: Well, let’s go to the bathroom then. (I turned and walked to the door, which I had propped open) Come along.

Bec: Mr Tumnus, it isn’t fair of you to tease me like that. Obviously I can’t just go with you. I’m chained to the wall.

Dr K: Oh! I’m sorry. I hadn’t noticed your chains. We better get you out of that chain.

Bec: Mr Tumnus, you’re a faun. I doubt you are strong enough to break the chains. The only way you could set me loose would be if you somehow got a hold of the key to unlock the collar around my neck. I doubt the guard outside my door would allow you to do that.