The Mystery Of Guggenheim Hill

A HUMAN TIME BOMB

Gordon Miller, a mysteriously troubled youth, hesitatingly entered the waiting room of Doctor David Stoner’s office at the appointed time. He took a seat and nervously leafed through some magazines without really looking at the contents. In a few minutes the secretary, Sarah Rodner, motioned for Gordon to follow her. She ushered him into Stoner’s inner office and smiled politely as she shut the door. 

The psychologist stood up and stepped out from behind his large mahogany desk to greet the new client. “Gordon, I’m Doctor Stoner. Pastor DeVos asked me to see you and get to know you. Please, take the leather chair. It’s more comfortable. I know it’s a bit strange for you to be here, but there’s nothing to be concerned about. I just want us to have a free and easy conversation, so try to relax.”

“Thanks for seein’ me. I do feel awkward about all this.”

“Let’s start by you telling me something about your family; how many and who they are.”

Gordon’s story unfolded in a rather disjointed fashion. At one moment he was relaxed and friendly and then he would turn dark and withdrawn. The dark mood included angry facial expressions. Gordon pressed his hands tightly to the sides of his head as he spoke and his voice ranged from clear and easy to understand to muffled, hesitant, and rambling. His strange behavior surprised the doctor.

Reverend Harold DeVos had failed to mention anything about young Miller’s Jekyll-Hyde personality, other than the brief comment about sudden anger. So far, there had been no show of overt aggression, just facial grimaces. Gordon did a great deal of staring at the floor and diverting his eyes during his rambling monolog.

Through bits and pieces of information, the doctor learned from the boy that he was an only son. His father was dead. He had a sister, Diedra, age thirty. She lived at home and contributed to the family income. Irene Miller, the mother, worked at a low paying job as a domestic and struggled to cope with the loss of her husband and the needs of her children. The conversation finally came around to Gordon’s automobile accident. He wasn’t able to remember many of the details, other than he had a great deal of discomfort in his neck and strong, intermittent pressure in his head. A medical examination and  x-rays had not revealed any obvious cause for the boy’s considerable pain. This left Stoner with a mystery to try to solve.

Later that evening, at home, Dr. Stoner dictated notes of the interview with Gordon Miller. The interview had been very eventful and revealed much about the boy. “My attempt to be cheerful and my reassurances did nothing to alter Gordon’s anxiety. Like most clients on the first visit, he was quite apprehensive. I tried to engage him in conversation about sports and family life. The client has recently graduated from high school where he was captain of the track team. He was also on the school debate team, but I would never have suspected it from his rather obvious lack of self-confidence.”

Doctor Stoner went on to record how Miller fluctuated between periods of manic and depressive behavior. “At first, Gordon appeared withdrawn. This demeanor was interrupted by sudden swings toward vocal outburst that made little sense. It seemed to me that he did not always know that he was doing this. Whereas this was only  momentary at the outset, the events soon became prolonged. There were times in the session when I thought it might be best to end the interview. Yet, something prompted me to keep the conversation going.”

“Some of my clients make life-changing decisions and proceed in new directions. Others can’t seem to get a handle on their torments. I suspect that Gordon Miller is one of these. As the interview progressed, he underwent sudden personality changes accompanied by bouts of anger. There were moments when the client acted as a typical teenager with smiles and a good sense of humor. These moments were overshadowed by some sort of dark mood. Gordon constantly blotted moisture from his hands by rubbing them on his pants. He also dabbed with a handkerchief at the beads of sweat that formed on his upper lip. I felt the crosscurrents of tension, fear, and a strange presence of energy swirling around us as we talked. I can’t resist looking further into this phenomenon. It intrigues me. This fledgling man is wrestling with apprehensions and does not know whether he can trust me.”

As a footnote to the evaluation of the interview, Stoner expressed some of his personal feelings on the tape. “Since the interview, I have awakened the past two nights with Gordon on my mind. This isn’t something I usually do. Our session troubles me. I don’t know what it is, but I’m determined to get to the bottom of it. I’ve scheduled another appointment and Gordon has agreed to it. The good Reverend Harold DeVos’ comments after my Thursday morning lecture also keep coming back to me. I had politely, but firmly, objected to his thesis that evil spirits interact with humans and called it a bit of medieval hocus pocus. He suggested that I research the last eleven verses of chapter seven of the New Testament book of Romans, but I dismissed it. I’m sure I’ve read it at some point in my life, but the content escapes me.”