But that comes later.
“It is not Claude’s fault,” Nurse Anne says as she walks with the Doctor to Albert’s room. “We had the veteran to deal with. You cannot blame him for leaving the gate unlocked.”
“I know,” the Doctor says. “I don’t.” He doesn’t. How could he? They are all doing their best; even when they are not, they wish they were, and that is worth something too.
“This is sometimes how it goes,” Nurse Anne says. The Doctor knows she is saying it to herself as much as to him. There, there. You are better now.
“I know,” he says, and he does.
“He might be back,” she says. This too she is saying to herself as much as to him, but this he is less inclined to believe. “I’ll leave you,” she says. “But don’t take long. Now that he is gone, Marian has decided Albert is the thieving sun again and he’s run off with her liver.”
She touches his arm. We are better now.
“I won’t be long,” he says.
Closing the door behind him, the Doctor lies on Albert’s bed, listening to the buzz of the street, to the bells and then the bells ringing and ringing. When it is time for breakfast, he will get up.
Albert will not return; the Doctor feels sure. Il revient. A frozen river called to him one winter, Albert said. It called him across. The lightning bolt crack in the ice chased him, but still he arrived safely on the other side.
He will not need to return.
At least, that is how the story should end. It is the Doctor’s wish for him. Here, Albert, a story just for you.
Listen.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ian Hacking’s extraordinary book Mad Travelers: Reflections on the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses was my introduction to the real Albert Dadas. Hacking’s translations of documents related to Dr. Philippe Tissié’s treatment of Dadas, in particular the exchanges between Tissié and Dadas, were essential in the creation of my imaginary Albert. For this, and for Hacking’s imaginative, insightful body of work, I am deeply appreciative. Charcot the Clinician: The Tuesday Lessons, edited by C. G. Goetz, was also an invaluable resource.
Many thanks to the editors of the following journals where excerpts of this novel were published: The American Scholar, Bellevue Literary Review, The Drum Literary Magazine, The Fairy Tale Review, Five Chapters, Forklift, Ohio, The Normal School, and Salt Hill Journal.
For providing vital time, space, and inspiration, I would like to thank Château de Lavigny, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Dora Maar House, Fundación Valparaíso, Hawthornden Castle, Ledig House, the MacDowell Colony, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Millay Colony, the Passa Porta residency and Villa Hellebosch, and the University of Maryland. A special thank-you to Connie Casey and Harold Varmus for their generosity in this regard.
Thank you to my editor, Kathy Belden, for her keen attention, her insight, and for making this a better book; and to my agent, Alice Tasman, for her unflagging enthusiasm and her wisdom.
For their musical expertise, my thanks to Julia Casey, Alex Weiser, and especially Jeff Gross. For crucial help and support in the writing of this novel, my deep and abiding gratitude to Jane Barnes, Sarah Blake, Stacey D’Erasmo, Brigid Hughes, Howard Norman, and Timothy Schaffert.
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
Maud Casey is the author of two novels, The Shape of Things to Come, a New York Times Notable Book, and Genealogy; and a collection of stories, Drastic. She is the recipient of the Calvino Prize and fellowships from the Fundación Valparaíso, Hawthornden International Writers Retreat, Château de Lavigny, the Passa Porta residency at Villa Hellebosch, and the Dora Maar House. She lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches at the University of Maryland.