Alice Asylum Casebook

2 ALICE_manual_Zothique V3 4/15/02 10:53 AM Page cvr1 2 ALICE_manual_Zothique V3 4/15/02 10:53 AM Page 1 4 November 1864 Received confirmation from the Superintendent that I will be given the opportunity to treat a very troubled and difficult patient. Dubious honor! Her name is Alice, and her prognosis is not p r o m i s i n g . A f t e r l o o k i n g a t h e r f i l e , I ’m a s t o n i s h e d s h e h a s survived this long. She has been nearly comatose for a year. ha d 11 November 1864 o u ld I h a v e a d m it te d ho wer n o w ? W w ha t I k n I k n o w n th en 0 / 73 M u t e o n a s t r e t c h e r , w i t h h e r h e a d c u r i o u s l y b a n d a g e d , A l i c e s e e m- 3s /1t o cling precariously to life. Her burns have healed remarkably in the year since the fire, but she languishes in a deep trance-like dementia. I t s’ a s i f t h e b l a z e c o n s u m e d h e r s e n s e s . D e a f , d u m b , a n d b l i n d t o all stimulation, she’s a fair match for the infirmary’s gloom. In a frenzied instant, a cankered feline pounced on Alice while she was about to be carried inside. Startled by the cat’s yowl, the bearers lost their grip and dropped the wretched girl to the ground. Most curious to behold, the cat stood atop Alice as if claiming territorial right, or as if defending a rodent captured in the day’s h u n t f r o m o t h e r h u n g r y p r e d a t o r s . Only when an orderly threatened it with a stick did the creature scamper into a nearby hedge. Even then the cat crouched beneath the shrubbery. With eyes agape, it fixed on Alice as if it had some vital interest in our proceedings. ys to he ed th e fel in e - som ething I v’ e learned It pa over th e years. -21/ 10 / 73 2 ALICE_manual_Zothique V3 4/15/02 10:53 AM Page 2 13 November 1864 In the twelvemonth since the conflagration, Alice has dropped f u r t h e r i n t o a g r i m a n d d a r k l y q u i e t a b y s s . I t ’s a w o n d e r t h e Superintendent didn’t bury her deep within the Bedlam catacombs. T h e s u r g e o n s w e r e a b l e t o c u r e t h e f l e s h , b u t t h e y ’ v e done nothing t o t r e a t t h e i n f l a m m a t i o n o f h e r b r a i n . I t ’s n …