The Fireman

Chapter 3
Dr. Drawer

Chapter Description: When Eve’s state of mind grows more and more troubling, it is time for her therapist to help.

Dr. Drawer felt a coldness in her stomach, as she watched Eve, dressed in short trousers and a yellow shirt with a red apple, play on the carpet in front of her. It wasn’t that she played with her doll, that was normal for every little girl, but the Fireman-Sam-doll seemed to have an influence on her patient she just couldn’t accept. It had been Eve’s parents’ opinion, too, as they had brought their daughter to her office for her first regular check-up. Since getting it, Eve ignored her other dolls, was less willing to cuddle or be cuddled, showed signs of readiness for potty-training and since the day before yesterday, even refused to wear dresses.

Not good, Dr. Drawer thought.

“Eve?”

When the little girl didn’t respond, she tried again, louder.

“Eve?”

Finally, the toddler turned around, looking at her with a scowl, as if she had problems identifying her name. Dr. Drawer sighed and sat herself besides the patient to create an atmosphere of trust.

“Your parents are worried, because you won’t play with your other dollies,” she began. “Don’t you like them anymore?”

“Princesses are stupid,” Eve replied with barely a lisp at all. “Firemen are cool. They rescue people. They are strong and can do a lot of important stuff. I wanna be a fireman!”

Dr. Drawer kept her smile. “You know, there are firewomen, too.”

Eve looked surprised at her therapist, then at Fireman Sam and scowled.

“I want to be a fireman!” She proclaimed. “I will work in Fire Station 13 and everyone will say how cool and strong I am.”

Dr. Drawer still held her smile, but only not to distress her patient.

It is rewinding itself, she thought, all our programming is slowly coming undone.

They had done good work with Adam. She never doubted it. Once his suicidal tendencies were clear, Dr. Courier had contacted her and suggested this solution, knowing she was helping childless couples and children with special problems. Over many hours they had set Adam in hypnotic trance, slowly allowing Eve to come into existence. They had not done so by overriding their patients mind, but by getting him used to being stripped of adult knowledge, feelings and useless memories. Once gotten rid of this ballast, they had merely guided the patient as he explored his surrounding and himself. He had been quickly accepting the body’s femininity and becoming she.

In a way, the Centers of Lethe would have done the same, but Adam would have never agreed to such, preferring to let his personality, memories and regrets pull him down a dark path. Doing it this way hadn’t been easy, as they always had to send his new personality to sleep, once their hour ended, but finally Eve had been firmly established, firmly enough for her to meet her new parents.

It had been during Adam’s penultimate session with Dr. Courier, the one he had remembered as having not happened. Following a set of instructions, they had implanted in his sub-consciousness, he had found his way to their rented flat, without being completely aware what he was doing. This had been both a safety measure and a test for the big day.

Once there, they had awakened Eve, dressed her properly and introduced her to her parents who had arrived later. This had been a critical moment for all of them, since while Eve had been programmed to recognize Mr. and Mrs. Daubner as her parents with the help of photographs, she hadn’t been programmed to love them, both because it would have been unethically and the parents would have felt it sooner or later. Eve had surprised them all, by instantly connecting to her parents. She had climbed into her mother’s lap and had giggled as her father had carried her through the room on his shoulders.

Seeing her crying, when her parents had to leave without her, had been painful to watch, as had been Mrs. Daubner’s tears. Painful, but necessary, because Eve had to be set in trance and redressed into Adam’s clothes, before he could be called back. Under no circumstances he and Eve’s parents could have been allowed to meet, or their relationship might have been tainted from the start. All Adam knew was that his therapists were trying to help him and all Eve’s parents knew there was a little girl needing love. More wasn’t needed.

When the day had finally come, Dr. Drawer had been anxious, waiting in her car for Adam. Would the instructions work? Would he get the bus? Would he find the way? Would something happen on the trip? Finally spotting him had been a relieve, as had been speaking to him on the bridge and noticing how Eve emerged, as her patient left his adult life behind him forever.

Or so she had thought.

Fireman, Dr. Drawer thought bitterly. Why couldn’t Adam have been something boring like accountant, cashier or salesman?

The life as fireman had left a strong mark on the memories and maybe worse, every little child wanted to be one … every little boy. The Fireman-Sam-doll had helped to pull some of the memories back on the surface of consciousness. Memories now threatening to break through and shatter the beautiful, innocent and happy little girl Eve was.

This would be bad. Bad for her and Dr. Courier, as they would go to jail, worse for the parents who would have to face it, too, along with losing their daughter, but maybe worst for Eve, who would return to a broken life of regret and alcohol. Eve, who had been so brave, when she walked through the woods to the bridge, despite fearing the witch. Eve, who was all laughter.

No, Dr. Drawer swore the little girl. I will help you!

Taking away the doll and making her forget it was maybe a temporary solution, but there was always the risk of her seeing a firetruck, a fireman or even another Fireman-Sam-doll in daycare or the playground. She could put her under a firmer hypnosis, but this would like pretending to be Eve instead of being her. A pretend, a command she could easily just snap out of one day.

It had all started with the doll, Dr. Drawer reminded herself, can it help me find a solution? Dolls help children explore and cope with feeling and concepts still too big for them. They put something of themselves in them to explore it. Eve does the opposite. Maybe I can turn this …

Lost in thoughts, Dr. Drawer hadn’t noticed Eve grabbing a toy-truck from a box and driving it besides her doll. When the little girl noticed the adult paying attention again, she smiled.

“A fireman can drive much faster than 25 miles per hour in the city!” She explained. “Because we are special.”

Oh, little one, Dr. Drawer thought, you are special enough already, especially for you Mommy and Daddy! You don’t need to know that, or what 25 is, or 5, or a mile.

Loud she said: “Wow!”

Dr. Drawer stood up, went to her desk and took something out of the drawers, before returning to Eve.

“I think fireman have to be really good at concentrating,” she noticed, putting the metronome in front of herself for Eve to see. “Can you look at this really, really firm?”

The doctor started the metronome and Eve followed it with her eyes.

“That is right dear,” Dr. Drawer praised. “Follow it with your eyes and listen to my voice. Just listen and relax.”

Slowly Eve’s eyelids sank and the adult knew the toddler was in trance.

“Can you hear me, dear?”

Eve nodded.

“What is your name?”

“Eve,” the girl mumbled.

“Good!” Dr. Drawer praised, feeling relieved her patient still remembered and grabbed the doll, holding it in front of Eve. “Who is that?”

“Fiwerman Sam.”

“Right, this is your Fireman-Sam-doll. Now, I know you have been confused lately, confused with all the big, boring adult stuff in your head. I want you to put all of it in the Fireman-Sam-doll.”

Eve scowled. “Put into Fiwerman Sam doll…”

“Right,” Dr. Drawer confirmed. “Every adult thought, every strange adult memory or knowledge is something which doesn’t occur to you, but to Fireman Sam. Every icky boy thought, too, of course. What is left. Every little girl thought, is yours.”

“Libble giwl,” Eve repeated, a lisp now more pronounced.

“Right! And of course, since it is Fireman Sam who has this feelings, thoughts and memories, you don’t know what they are. You can’t know it, because he is just a doll.”

“Just a doll.”

“Good. Very good,” Dr. Drawer praised. “I want you to breathe deeply and slowly wake up. Come back to me.”

Silently the therapist prayed that this would work.

It has to, she thought, looking at the doll. Don’t firefighters protect little girls?

Eve opened her eyes.

To be continued …