The Apartment - K. L. Slater Page 0,49

He has a very pale complexion as if he barely ventures out into the elements and thin, almost colourless lips that have now stopped smiling and returned to their customary flat line.

‘Beatrice,’ he says, matter-of-factly. ‘Please come through.’

It is only afterwards it occurs to me that, as far as I know, Professor Watson has never uttered a word to, nor even smiled, at little Douglas at all.

1920 Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore

Extract from the confidential case study diary of Professor J. Watson

OVERVIEW

The child does not want to leave his mother’s arms today. He has cultivated a mistrust of the surroundings of my office in only two previous sessions.

The child is thinner and of a paler complexion.

Beatrice, the mother of the child, is to remain present during the sessions.

Session three takes place in a controlled environment, the private office of myself, Professor John B. Watson. Also present is Dr Rosalie Rayner and Beatrice, the subject’s mother.

STAGE FOUR

A neutral stimulus is presented: Little Albert is given toy building blocks to play with for a period of five minutes. After a cautious start, the child appears to gather confidence and his interest in the bricks increases to normal levels.

Following this, the coloured bricks are removed and various other stimuli are presented to Albert with and without noise accompaniment: the rat, a rabbit, a Santa Claus mask, a seal fur coat, a dog.

BASELINE REACTIONS:

After a slow start, Little Albert played with the building blocks quite happily.

However, when the other stimuli were presented, they produced negative responses in the child including crying, moving away from the stimulus, and crawling away.

These responses remained with and without accompanying noise. End of session three.

Mother agrees to return with Albert in eight days.

29

As if to mark our departure from Adder House to visit St Benjamin Monks Primary, the sun comes out, bathing the foyer in a riot of colour from the stained-glass frontage.

The warm glow in here spreads through my bones and I’m a heartbeat from happiness, if only the weight on my chest would allow one. But that’s not going to happen until I feel reassured about exactly what happened with the previous tenants.

While we wait downstairs for Audrey to come out of her apartment, I notice Skye is a bit quiet. I reach for her hand and give it a reassuring little squeeze.

‘I wonder if your new school has this pretty glass in it, too? People seem to like it around here.’

‘I liked my old school,’ she says glumly, staring straight ahead. ‘I don’t want to go to a stinky new school.’

‘Oh sweetie . . . sometimes new things can seem a bit daunting, I know.’ I sit down on the bottom step and pull her towards me. ‘But they can be exciting, too.’

She leans into me a little and sighs. Her small pale face looks troubled. ‘Will Petra have already made some new friends at my old school?’

I do try not to lie to Skye if at all possible, but it’s important to be kind, too.

‘It’s easier for Petra because she already knows the people in her class. I’m sure she’ll find friends to play with, and you wouldn’t want her to be lonely, would you?’

‘No,’ Skye says thoughtfully. ‘But Martha Fox always tried to take her off me when we played tag on the field, and Petra used to say she was a show-off. And now Martha is going to be her new best friend.’

Skye folds her arms and stares at her feet.

‘I think Petra will be just fine, as you will, too. And perhaps in the summer, Petra can come over and we can go for a nice picnic in Kensington Gardens.’ I don’t think there’s any chance of this with Kat’s current attitude, but I’m running out of things to say. ‘In the meantime, you should put all your energy into finding some nice new friends for yourself at St Benjamin Monks.’

‘I hope the other children like me.’ Worry darkens her face again. ‘I wonder if the little girl who lived in my room used to go to my new school, too?’ she says in a small voice.

I pretend to look for something in my handbag to avoid having to answer. She’s like a terrier clinging on to the idea of the girl.

It’s completely natural that Skye is feeling apprehensive about her new school and mourning her friendship with Petra, terrified that her best friend is moving on without her.

But I don’t quite know what to do about the ‘little girl who lived