An Empty Death (63 page)
Authors: Laura Wilson
He had the feeling that she’d rehearsed this, just as he’d rehearsed his little speech, delivered when the children came home, about muddling along, and found himself more touched than he could have believed. Resisting the awful, and very strong, impulse to burst into tears, he said, ‘Of course we can. I’d like that.’
‘Good,’ said Monica, calmly, and slipped her hand into his.
They sat on the grass for a while, hand in hand, until Stratton, seeing Monica catch the eye of a schoolfriend, said, ‘Why don’t you go and join your pals?’
‘Do you mind?’
‘Course not. You don’t need to worry about me - I’ll be fine.’
Left alone, Stratton surreptitiously wiped his eyes and blew his nose, then lit a cigarette, and leaning back and propping himself on one elbow, thought that, although the music seemed pleasantly familiar, he had no idea of its name. It was wild, parping and squealing and joyful, and, as he listened, he felt, despite the laughter and shouting from the people nearby, that he was alone, as if somehow sealed off from everything except the notes, which seemed to float towards him like squiggles on the air. They made him feel warm inside, comforted - although, he thought, that was probably the beer as well. He sat listening for a moment longer, then got up and made his way around the dancers to the boy with the gramophone.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
The kid, a lanky, redheaded boy, who was fussing with a box of needles, looked up. ‘The music,’ Stratton repeated. ‘What is it?’
‘Fats Waller,’ said the boy.
‘What’s the song called?’
‘ “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ”. Don’t you like it?’ the boy asked, his tone anxious. ‘I can put something else on when it’s finished, only I haven’t got many.’
‘I do like it,’ said Stratton. ‘It’s good.’
The boy nodded, grinning. ‘Wonderful, isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’ Stratton grinned back, and they stood, side by side, listening, with happy, simple pleasure, until the record was finished.
A VERY BRIEF NOTE ON CAPGRAS SYNDROME
Capgras Syndrome is a disorder which is characterised by a delusional belief that a spouse or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking imposter. Also known as the Capgras delusion, it was named after the French psychiatrist, Jean Marie Joseph Capgras (1873-1950), who was the first person to describe it, in a paper published in 1923, co-authored by Jean Reboul-Lachaux.
Although Capgras Syndrome is most common in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, it can also occur as a result of other conditions such as brain injury or dementia. Extremely unusual, it is more prevalent in women than in men, with some sufferers believing that their pets, or familiar household objects, have also been replaced by duplicates.
Nowadays, treatment tends to take the form of Cognitive-Behavioural therapy and/or antipsychotic drugs or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. However, in 1944, when this book is set, none of these things were available.
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