ath. "I'll concede you're not suitable at the
moment, Jay. But what do you know of applied psychodynamics?"

"Very little, I'm sorry to say." Allison didn't sound sorry, though. He
sounded bored to death with the whole conversation.

"May I be blunt--and personal?"

"Please do. I'm not at all sensitive."

"Basically, then, Doctor Allison, a person as contained and repressed as
yourself usually has a clearly defined subsidiary personality. In
neurotic individuals this complex of personality traits sometimes splits
off, and we get a syndrome known as multiple, or alternate personality."

"I've scanned a few of the classic cases. Wasn't there a woman with four
separate personalities?"

"Exactly. However, you aren't neurotic, and ordinarily there would not
be the slightest chance of your repressed alternate taking over your
personality."

"Thank you," Jay murmured ironically, "I'd be losing sleep over that."

"Nevertheless I presume you _do_ have such a subsidiary personality,
although he would normally never manifest. This subsidiary--let's call
him Jay_{2}--would embody all the characteristics which you repress. He
would be gregarious, where you are retiring and studious; adventurous
where you are cautious; talkative while you are taciturn; he would
perhaps enjoy action for its own sake, while you exercise faithfully in
the gymnasium only for your health's sake; and he might even remember
the trailmen with pleasure rather than dislike."

"In short--a blend of all the undesirable characteristics?"

"One could put it that way. Certainly he would be a blend of all the
characteristics which you, Jay_{1}, _consider_ undesirable. But--if
released by hypnotism and suggestion, he might be suitable for the job
in hand."

"But how do you know I actually have such an--alternate?"

"I don't. But it's a good guess. Most repressed--" Forth coughed and
amended, "most _disciplined_ personalities possess such a suppressed
secondary personality. Don't you occasionally--rather rarely--find
yourself doing things which are entirely out of character for you?"

I could almost feel Allison taking it in, as he confessed, "Well--yes.
For instance--the other day--although I dress conservatively at all
times--" he glanced at his uniform coat, "I found myself buying--" he
stopped again and his face went an unlovely terra-cotta color as he
finally mumbled, "a flowered red sports shirt."

Sitting in the dark I felt vaguely sorry for the