bservation that Helen is
as well-balanced a mother as you're likely to find. I'm quite sure she
has no unsuspected bad habits or traits that are leaving sensitive spots
in Timmy's mind, making him flinch at the association, nor is there some
long-standing or unresolved conflict in their relations. Yet 'home' and
'mother' both invoke blocks that inhibit response until consciously
overcome, or invoke images that he wishes to conceal lest they betray a
secret. I doubt very much whether anything that happened in his first
four years could have left a deep impression on the completely imbecilic
mind he is _assumed_ to have had then. That leaves the past two years--"

* * * * *

_(Confirmation) Game/not game.... Should data have predicted
test? (Indecision) Possibly ... review later. So much to learn
... confusion inevitable. Next time respond "mother--three"
(laughter) Invalid frame of reference--impossible work
with/discard._

* * * * *

"Something else interests me there, Phil. You suggest he selected,
deliberately, what seemed an appropriate response to 'mother.' Did you
take the next logical step and try 'father?'"

"Yes."

"And did he anticipate it?"

"I'm sure he did. I see what you mean ... fairly sharp reasoning for a
six-year-old supposed to be mentally retarded. When I shot 'father' at
him he came back promptly with 'male-Douglas' almost like one word."

"Got the sex and identity right. What's wrong with that?"

"There's nothing 'wrong' or 'right' about it. I was hoping for some clue
as to how his mind works. Maybe I got it, but I don't know what to do
with it. I didn't expect a calmly objective cataloguing of the old man
as a 'male-Douglas.'"

* * * * *

_(Surprise) Where is error? Semantics? Sociology? Colloquial
nuance? (Decision) Reject further word-games._

* * * * *

"If that's a clue, Phil, you can have it." Clancey hauled a notebook
from his pocket and held it up. "Open this thing anywhere--anywhere at
all. It'll open at an unanswered question. At the age of roughly three
and one-half, a congenital idiot suddenly displays flashes of alert
intelligence. For forty-two months that child was content to sit on his
fanny and vegetate. Never crawled, never spoke, never played, seldom
even focused his eyes. Then one day his mother sees him study some