a sociologist, and a sage, leaned back and looked pleased with herself.
“And?” Dr. Belter prompted.
“And therefore it strikes me that we should be trying to find out toward what she is regressing.”
Dr. Belter shot a glance to Mrs. Montgomery, but the teacher’s face was a bland mask of innocence. Marie Montgomery had discovered long ago that with Josie Wells it was best to sit quietly and listen. Any response was all too likely to carry Miss Wells further into the mazes of gobbledygpok that she mistook for erudition. Marie caught Dr. Belter’s glance, and wondered how he was planning to deal with the social worker’s impossible idea.
“I think you’re absolutely right,” Dr. Belter said gravely. “I suggest that you have copies made of the entire file immediately, and begin comparing common factors between the prenatal experience of Sarah and the postpartum depression futeriundus of her mother.” The doctor was pleased to see Josie Well’s Pentel scribble a word. He wondered how many books she would search before she finally decided there was no such word as “futeriundus.” Then it struck him that it was more likely she would simply attach a meaning to the word, and proceed to carry out his instructions. He sighed to himself and cursed the necessity of having a social worker in his midst. When he saw the Congers driving up to the building, his sigh became audible. He braced himself and put on a broad smile as they were ushered into his office, so that neither of them was aware that he was, while greeting them, examining them minutely.
He noted the obvious strain in Rose’s face, the strain that had been growing there for a year. It didn’t seem any worse than the last time he had seen her, but there were other signs now, signs that her composure was wearing thin. Her hair, usually perfectly set, was beginning to show the first signs of disarray. Not that it was messy—not by any means; it simply wasn’t as perfect as usual. And there was a tiny spot on the jacket of her pants suit, a spot that most people would never notice but nevertheless a spot that Dr. Belter knew Rose Conger would not normally tolerate.
Jack, on the other hand, seemed totally unchanged. It should be showing, Dr. Belter thought. Unless he’s some sort of monster. But Charles Belter did not believe people were monsters, so he looked more closely. He found what he was looking for in Jack’s fingernails: He was beginning to chew cm them. Not enough so they looked chewed, but just slightly uneven, as if he would chew one, then smooth it out with a file, leaving it shorter than the others.
“Sit down,” Dr. Belter said warmly. “We’ve just been discussing Sarah. Since you didn’t call again, I gather yesterday was quiet?”
“Well,” Rose said, “I’m not sure what quiet is any more. If you mean nothing happened, nothing out of the ordinary, I suppose you could say nothing happened. But I’m afraid I have to say that I think she’s getting worse.”
“Rose!” Jack said. “I don’t think that’s fair.”
“No,” Rose said tiredly. “I know you don’t think it’s fair. And it may not be. I will grant you that I’m not a psychologist, and I will grant you that I have no training in the sort of disorders Sarah has. But I’m a mother, and I know how I feel And I feel worn out, and I feel sick, and I feel my daughter isn’t getting any better—”
“That’s a lot different from getting worse,” Jack interjected.
“All right, maybe I’m wrong. You tell us,” she appealed to the doctor. Then she recounted the events of Saturday, leaving out none of the details. Dr. Belter listened carefully, as did the teacher and the social worker. When Rose was finished, he leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and seemed to be considering something. No one in the room spoke, and it passed through Jack’s mind that the doctor looked just like Santa Claus. Had he known of the thought, Dr. Belter would have been pleased.
Eventually he opened his eyes again, and turned to Marie Montgomery. “Any ideas?”
She shook her head. “Not at the moment Frankly, it doesn’t sound to me like Sarah’s getting worse.”
Jack’s eyes lit up. “No?” he said eagerly.
“Well,” Marie Montgomery said carefully, “it seems to me that the fact that she was able to concentrate on something as long as she did in order to get that collar onto