A Vision of Fire

“Thank you,” Caitlin said, then drained the glass. She was perspiring and didn’t want to dehydrate.

“I have not heard back from my husband,” Mrs. Pawar said.

“We can’t wait for the ambassador. I have to do something before she hurts herself. Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes.”

Caitlin leaped up and dug in her purse for her phone. She set it to video and placed it on a pile of books, framing Maanik’s head and torso. She double-checked the positioning, then tapped record.

“What—what are you doing?” Mrs. Pawar asked.

Caitlin gently hushed the woman and motioned for her to sit back as she knelt beside the girl. “Maanik, remember the large television screen I told you about? It’s there right in front of you.”

Caitlin guided the girl through the same steps of hypnosis as before and she was just as responsive. At eight she became heavy and tired and her eyes shut, but at five Caitlin did not tell her to sleep. Instead she asked Maanik to raise her right arm in the air and wiggle the smallest finger. The girl calmly complied.

“That’s very good, Maanik. You’re doing great. You’re taking care of yourself by letting me help you. Now I’m going to make some suggestions and ask some questions and you do what feels right for you, okay? If anything I’m saying doesn’t feel right, you just let it go, don’t bother with it.” Caitlin waited for her to process the instructions, then said, “Tell me how you’re feeling.”

Immediately Maanik said, “I’m fine, I guess.”

Mrs. Pawar gasped from across the room.

Caitlin was equally startled. She had not yet heard Maanik talk as a normal teenager. It was disconcerting but profoundly hopeful.

“I’m glad you’re feeling fine. I’m going to ask you to picture a place that makes you happy. Imagine that you’re there—”

“I don’t have to imagine it,” Maanik interrupted. “I’m there.”

She had the classic teenager tone of, Why are adults such idiots? In this case, she might have been right. Caitlin was surprised by the response, but she went with it.

“That’s great, Maanik. Where are you?”

“I’m home,” she said, as if it were obvious. Then she said, “Oh, hi.” By the change in her tone it was clear she wasn’t speaking to Caitlin. “Hi, baby,” she cooed.

“Are you saying hello to Jack London now?” Caitlin asked.

“Who’s Jack London?”

Mrs. Pawar sat heavily in a chair, as if her legs had given out.

“Maanik, you can stay at home, you don’t have to imagine anything else or go anywhere. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“All right. I’m just going to ask you for a favor, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Maanik, do you know that you’ve been having trouble lately? You’ve been very disturbed sometimes?”

“Yes, I know I’ve been screaming. I can feel it in my throat and my sides hurt. My arms hurt, too. Not hurt, actually—ache.”

“Well, I’m going to ask you to respond to a cue in the future, a signal. The cue will be when someone says the word ‘blackberries’ and touches your ear.”

“Which ear?” Maanik asked.

At least her cognitive functions were clear and focused—sharper than Caitlin’s. “Either ear. Does that cue sound all right to you?”

“Yes.”

“So when anyone says ‘blackberries’ and touches your ear, you will respond by calming down, just like when I’m talking to you about the television screen and counting backward. Any other time you hear the word ‘blackberries’ it just means ‘blackberries.’ Is that clear?”

“Okay, fine,” Maanik agreed. Then she cooed to whatever was not Jack London.

Caitlin knew that a posthypnotic suggestion of this caliber was a much bigger step than the one she had discussed with the ambassador, but she felt sure she could convince him of the necessity. They needed a kill switch for all of the behavior, not just the scratching.

“Thank you, Maanik. Now tell me a little about your home.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What are you seeing? Who is your baby?”

“That’s my little guy,” she cooed, smiling. “He’s licking my hands. And”—her eyes moved under her closed eyelids—“there are the trees next to the door, I’m coming back from the hot pool, it’s nighttime, there’s some thokang down by us but high up the stars are out—”

“There’s some what down by you?”

“Wow, the stars are so beautiful tonight. There are so many of them!” The smile became almost blissful. “Khasaa.”

Caitlin decided that keeping the flow going was more important than backtracking for every detail. “Your little guy, he met you outside of your house?”

“Yes, he slithered up from the water as he always does.”

“What does your little guy look like?”

“Like thyodularasi,” Maanik burbled in a duh tone. She was speaking so quickly now that Caitlin couldn’t follow. It took a moment for her to realize that speed wasn’t the problem.

“Maanik, can you use English words for me?”

But the girl kept pattering in gibberish. She had begun to move her arms again, not frantically this time but in wide motions that didn’t seem to resemble anything. Caitlin thought of Jacob waggling his arms like a squid. Was Maanik just being playful?