Roy’s mother was having trouble sleeping. When she mentioned this to her friend Kay, she recommended that Kitty make an appointment to see Dr. Flynn.
“Is he a sleep expert?” Kitty asked.
“He has a medical degree in orthopedics,” said Kay, “but he specializes in hypnotherapy now.”
“I don’t want to be hypnotized. I just need a scrip for sleeping pills until I’m myself again.”
“Better to see Flynn than take pills. You’ll get strung out on them and have a bigger problem. Dr. Flynn is kind of a genius. He uses hypnotism to correct bodily deformities based on his theory that malformations of the body are caused by psychological conditions.”
“You mean he cures cripples by hypnosis?”
“I know it sounds daffy, but apparently he’s had great success.”
“Where did he go to medical school, in Tibet?”
“Go see him, Kitty. Try it once, then tell me if you think he’s a quack. And even if he is, if what he does cures your insomnia what difference will it make?”
The day after Roy’s mother saw Dr. Flynn she called Kay to give her the report.
“He’s a nice man with good manners. Dyes his hair. We talked for a while, and he asked me if anything in particular had been bothering me lately. I told him I’ve had trouble sleeping periodically since I was a child. Now, since my divorce, I’ve been having difficulty again, and that when I do fall asleep I often have bad dreams.”
“Did he hypnotize you?”
“I suppose so.”
“What do you mean ‘suppose’? Did he or didn’t he?”
“He said he did. He didn’t swing a watch or anything in front of my eyes. He just spoke to me and then I felt a little dizzy. I guess I passed out for a few minutes. Afterwards I felt relaxed. That’s all.”
“Did you sleep better last night?”
“Roy had to wake me up this morning to get his breakfast. I’m always up before he is.”
“How did you feel?”
“Like I didn’t get enough sleep. Not exhausted but vague. I think yesterday tired me out.”
“What did Flynn say? Are you going to see him again?”
“I don’t know, Kay. He left it up to me. I had a strange dream last night.”
“Do you remember it?”
“I was walking alone on a city street in the middle of the night. I had no destination, I was just walking. There were other women like me, walking, because they were crazy and couldn’t stop. I was afraid and some of them laughed at me. One of the women said, ‘Welcome to Dragonland.’ I wanted to go home but I was lost and only these crazy women were there.”
“Did you ever have this dream before?”
“It wasn’t only a dream, Kay. I did this for real lots of times. I never told anyone.”
“Rudy didn’t know?”
“It happened once when he and I were first together. I told him I was restless and needed to get some fresh air. We were in a hotel room, three o’clock in the morning. I told him not to worry, to go back to sleep, and I went out.”
“What about Dr. Flynn? Did you tell him?”
“Maybe, when I was hypnotized.”
“What about Roy?”
“What about him?”
“Do you want him to stay with me and Marvin for a couple of days? Until you’re feeling better.”
“I feel all right. Thanks for offering. Roy’s no trouble.”
That night Kitty couldn’t sleep. She had an urge to leave the house, to walk, but she was afraid to leave Roy alone. She looked at herself in the bedroom mirror and thought about what Dr. Flynn had told her before she left his office.
“There’s nothing terribly wrong with you,” he said, “Go back to work.”
“I used to be a model,” she told him.
Kitty went into the livingroom and turned on the TV. Ava Gardner was dancing barefoot in the rain. She didn’t look happy, either.