Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 53 — page 53: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION joke. “Tell me about your friend, then.” She told him; all the points that had been troubling her from the beginning—the refu- gee story, the strangeness, the business with the fruit ma- chines, the refusal to use buses. It all poured out. Dr. Morenberg listened with. at- tention, occasionally smiling and occasionally jotting a note down on his little pad. She said: “I don’t like to think of him being worried all the time about these people he thinks are after him. Do you think there could be people after him, doctor? There’d be something about it in the papers if it were true, wouldn’t there ?”’ Dr. Morenberg stirred him- self. “I believe in being frank, Miss Steyrette. I always think that it’s the best way, both with patients and their friends and relations. And in this case, it’s only too clear. I’m sorry to tell you that your friend is in urgent need of medical care. He is mentally with him is what we call paranoia, a disease of the personality. It’s quite com- mon to believe that people are hunting you, when you’re in this state, and not uncommon to have illusions about your own identity or origin. Un- fortunately, it’s nearly always progressive. The patient gets more and more out of touch with reality.” She said, quietly: “You mean, there’s nothing can be done? I just got to watch him getting worse all the time?” “It’s not as bad as that. I said progressive, but I was talking about cases that are not attended to. Paranoia of this kind, I should explain, is not a certifiable mental con- dition. It can be treated, and treated successfully, but the patient has to be persuaded to comefortreatmentvoluntarily. There can’t be any com- pulsion.” ““And—if he did come, you could cure him ?’’ “I’m pretty confident.” ill, The thing that’s wrong 52 He had been carrying her - conmmiclooks.comn