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"And this is a very--well, I know it sounds terribly heartless to refer to the lady as an interesting case, but unfortunately she is, rather. This is Mrs Sarah Flamsteed. She comes from Robertsbridge in southern England."
"Why's she in restraints?"
"What's she saying?"
"Well, let's listen in."
"...shut up...shut up...what would you know...try it with the tractor...and then they come in the green stripes...I wasn't there, I wasn't even there...no, no, no...somewhere, somewhere there are great big fish..."
"I think that's enough. The restraints are unfortunately necessary for her own safety when she's in this state. Now, if you look over here on this monitor...that gentleman is Mr Avram Ezbekjian of New York City. He's aware of the camera, but thinks he's disabled it. You're in luck, it's about time."
"Time?"
"What for?"
"Watch. Mr Ezbekjian is tidying up his apartment. That is his main rubbish bin. He empties it roughly every week, just as he is doing now...takes the bag outside to the rubbish chute and dumps it. There he goes."
"What's all this leading to, Doctor?"
"Just watch...he's putting the new liner in now."
"The lady--Mrs Flamsteed--"
"It's all right, you'll find she's just unconscious. Look, she's coming round. Emily, go in to her, would you."
"Hello? Hello? I think it's happened again."
"Yes, it's all right, Mrs Flamsteed, we know. I'll just unstrap you, and then you can come and have a nice cup of tea and tell me all about it."
"She'll be all right for about two days, and then she'll start to lapse into the dissociative state again. For some reason, her mental stability is directly linked to the state of Mr Ezbekjian's rubbish. As far as we know they have never met. It's completely unaccountable."
"It's horrible, is what it is. Why aren't you doing something about it?"
"We have changed Mr Ezbekjian's bin three times, and moved him to two different apartments. If you have any suggestions, we'd be grateful."
"Have you considered persuading him to recycle?"
******************************
The resemblance to a similar scene in The Long Dark Teatime Of The Soul by Douglas Adams is probably too obvious to need remarking on. The last line literally just came to me as I was typing, and on the whole I'm rather glad, because it gives the poor woman a way out. What puzzles me is how they found out about the correlation in the first place.
"Why's she in restraints?"
"What's she saying?"
"Well, let's listen in."
"...shut up...shut up...what would you know...try it with the tractor...and then they come in the green stripes...I wasn't there, I wasn't even there...no, no, no...somewhere, somewhere there are great big fish..."
"I think that's enough. The restraints are unfortunately necessary for her own safety when she's in this state. Now, if you look over here on this monitor...that gentleman is Mr Avram Ezbekjian of New York City. He's aware of the camera, but thinks he's disabled it. You're in luck, it's about time."
"Time?"
"What for?"
"Watch. Mr Ezbekjian is tidying up his apartment. That is his main rubbish bin. He empties it roughly every week, just as he is doing now...takes the bag outside to the rubbish chute and dumps it. There he goes."
"What's all this leading to, Doctor?"
"Just watch...he's putting the new liner in now."
"The lady--Mrs Flamsteed--"
"It's all right, you'll find she's just unconscious. Look, she's coming round. Emily, go in to her, would you."
"Hello? Hello? I think it's happened again."
"Yes, it's all right, Mrs Flamsteed, we know. I'll just unstrap you, and then you can come and have a nice cup of tea and tell me all about it."
"She'll be all right for about two days, and then she'll start to lapse into the dissociative state again. For some reason, her mental stability is directly linked to the state of Mr Ezbekjian's rubbish. As far as we know they have never met. It's completely unaccountable."
"It's horrible, is what it is. Why aren't you doing something about it?"
"We have changed Mr Ezbekjian's bin three times, and moved him to two different apartments. If you have any suggestions, we'd be grateful."
"Have you considered persuading him to recycle?"
******************************
The resemblance to a similar scene in The Long Dark Teatime Of The Soul by Douglas Adams is probably too obvious to need remarking on. The last line literally just came to me as I was typing, and on the whole I'm rather glad, because it gives the poor woman a way out. What puzzles me is how they found out about the correlation in the first place.