Chapter 2: Danny Interviews an Ex-Con

Danny arrived at Johns at his usual time, five to ten. John welcomed him with a hug, and they sat at the kitchen table for a coffee. Whilst they had their drink, John told him he had arranged for Keith to come sometime between ten and eleven as there was some unknown reason why they couldn’t be more specific. Danny said he would go and start work until Keith came, once he had had his drink.

When he was going out back, John said he would call him when Keith arrived, introduce them and then he would go out into town until Danny rang him to say they had finished. Opening up the shed, Danny started work. He was soon engrossed in what he was doing so it was a shock when he heard the church clock strike eleven thirty without any sign of John. He thought about going in to check but decided John would have called him if Keith had arrived, perhaps something had stopped him coming. So, he decided to carry on.

Just after he heard the clock strike twelve, he heard the back door open, and John call him. Leaving his tools out, he went over to the house. John met him at the door saying, “I’ve just had a phone call apologising for the delay, he is coming and will be here in half an hour. Come in and have your lunch and a drink whilst you have the chance.” Danny sat at the table and ate his butties. John didn’t eat at lunch time, so he made them both a coffee. John asked him if he had to dash off at four. Danny grinned at him, “No,” he said, “I’m not in any hurry, why, was there something you wanted,” looking all innocent! “Yes please,” John replied. They smiled at each other. No more words were necessary.

They finished their drink and sat chatting for a few minutes, then the front doorbell rang. John went to answer it, leaving the kitchen door ajar. Danny heard an older voice apologising profusely about being so late, then after some more conversation he heard John say, “Hello Keith, nice to see you again, come on in.” The front door closed, and footsteps approached. John came into the kitchen, followed by Keith. Keith was a couple of inches taller than Danny and thickset. He just sort of plodded into the room and was clearly surprised to see Danny.

John introduced them, Danny standing up and shaking hands. They all sat down at the table and John turned to Keith and told him, “I’m sure your surprised to see how young Danny is. Just let me tell you he has counselled six of my relatives so far and has worked a miracle with them all. I’ll give you two pieces of advice, tell him everything and do everything he asks and follow his advice. I’m going out now, so you don’t need to worry about anyone disturbing you. Oh, one other thing Keith, you don’t need to worry what you tell him, he’ll never disclose it to anyone, not even me.”

On that note, John got up and left the room. Danny told Keith, “In a moment we’ll go into the other room where we can relax a bit. Hopefully I’m going to tell you what I know about you, you’re going to fill in the gaps, then you’ll tell me what’s bothering you and I’ll tell you how to solve it. Sounds simple doesn’t it.”

Keith nodded, still a bit bothered about how young Danny was. Danny continued, “I usually succeed,” he told him, “But I’m not infallible, you could be my first failure. However, there is one thing that will guarantee today will be a waste of time, can you guess what that is?” Keith shook his head. “It’s you.” Danny told him. “If you can’t relax enough to tell me all about yourself and your fears, we won’t succeed. I can relax you and draw it all out, but I won’t succeed if you don’t want me to. You don’t really want me to fail, do you?” This time Keith didn’t hesitate, “No,” he answered, “Definitely not.”

Danny smiled at him saying, “Good, you’ve just made success more likely than failure.” As he spoke, they heard the front door close as John went out.

“Now we have the place to ourselves,” Danny told him, “Everything you say or do now is between the two of us, no one will ever know anything from me. Mr Williams told you that and now I’ve told you. I can’t prove it to you, only time will do that, so I need you to trust me. Hopefully as the session moves on, you’ll feel able to do that. Let’s go and get more comfortable.”

Danny led the way to the front room. He lifted the end cushion on the settee off and sat down in its place. As he did so he said to Keith, “Take your shoes off and come and lie down.” Whilst Keith removed his shoes, Danny put the cushion back over his lap. When Keith came over to the settee, Danny indicated for him to lie with his head on the cushion, which he did.

Once he was settled, Danny told him, “This is a relaxing and comfortable position for both of us, when you answer my questions, if you feel embarrassed and want to close your eyes, you can do, ok?” Keith nodded up at him.

“Right,” Danny started, “let me explain what we’re going to do and how were going to do it. Think of your brain as a filing cabinet with millions of drawers. In those drawers there is a record of everything you have ever done, from nicking a packet of fags from the corner shop to helping an old lady across the road. From playing with yourself in bed to having sex. From trying drugs to a smoke in the bike shed. Every dream or thought you have ever had is in there too, every hope and fear you have ever had, all those things you dreamt about, be it sex, winning the lottery or world travel. There are drawers with happy memories in and drawers with sad and painful memories. Sometimes drawers overflow and block access to others. You for instance have an unhappy drawer overflowing at the moment and it’s stopping you opening all those hundreds of happy drawers that I’m sure you have got. So, I want you to let me have a root around in those drawers and find out all about you and how I can best help you.”

“I also want to give you an examination to check you have no physical problems as a result of your recent experiences. I have enough medical knowledge to do that, but I’m not qualified, so I can only examine you with your permission, ok?” This time Keith replied with a “Sure.” Danny had already decided that any information he wanted, he would have to drag it out of Keith, he just didn’t seem the chatty sort.

“I don’t expect you to be able to do all of that right this minute, so were going to work up to it at your speed. We’re starting off by getting you relaxed, you’ve taken your shoes off so far and I’m now going to relax your head and chest whilst I ask you some of the least embarrassing questions. When you are ready and feel relaxed enough, I want you to sit up and take your top things off, then lie back down. This will be your way of telling me that you are relaxing, and we can move on further. I’ll prompt you from time to time, but when you feel ready, just do it.”

Danny rested one hand on Keith’s head and one on his chest, then started massaging gently. Keith closed his eyes and Danny felt a little of the tension pass from him. Danny asked him all about his last year at school. He got answers, but only to exactly what he asked, He soon built up a picture of a quiet lad who had a small group of friends, liked company and was easily led. John Williams assumption that he had been led into trouble seemed increasingly likely.

As he continued with the relaxing, Danny told him, “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who has been in prison before, it must have been a terrifying experience. But I doubt if there is anyone in this world who hasn’t done anything wrong at some stage of their lives. You were just unlucky that you got caught. But then, he added, perhaps it may prove lucky in the long run, the experience might make your future life far better than it might have otherwise been, although you might not appreciate that at this moment.”

“I say that I’ve never met anyone,” he added, “But then I could have done without knowing, I don’t suppose you go around telling everyone, and there’s no way of telling just by looking at you.” He smiled at him as he spoke and was pleased to see a return smile.

Pleased with the smile, Danny said,” You’re feeling more relaxed already, do you want to sit up and I’ll help you off with your top.” Keith sat up right away. Danny took hold of the waist of his long-sleeved T shirt and lifted it up. Keith put his arms in the air so it could be lifted off over his head. Danny put it on the back of the settee and told him to lie back down.