It was a Friday. A long wet dark autumnal Friday. Randolph Trevais stood at his window looking out over the sodden town. The sky was slate grey; the roofs were slate grey—to be fair to them, there was a reason for that: they actually were slate and grey; the roads were a matching slate grey; everything seemed grey. To an extent the brick of the houses relieved the greyness but even their ruddy orange had a very grey tinge. It was a depressing prospect on a depressing day. Business was not good and Randolph was bored; desperately bored. The afternoon still had another two hours to drag, he had no plans for the evening and there was nothing on television apart from the penguin. Randolph sighed, making poor jokes to oneself did indicate boredom even depression. He looked back into the room for something to read. What about 'Hypnosis Today'? No, he really couldn't face that.
The doorbell rang. It could not be a client on a day like this; people normally rang ahead first on the telephone; but Randolph was wrong—it was a client.
His receptionist ushered in a tall dark girl in a long wet coat. As she undid the buttons he was struck by her long neck, the way her head thrust forward moving in quick birdlike movements making her nose seem to be questing here, there and everywhere. Randolph preferred his clients young, female and pretty so this was a good start, though, to be fair, he liked clients per se; alas, they were a little bit thin on the ground at present with the consequent cash flow problems that difficulty engendered for him. Randolph Trevais remained puzzled why he was not making money. It was not that he was not a good hypnotist. If he was not trying to be modest he would probably describe himself as the best, which might have been an exaggeration but not a wild exaggeration.
Randolph liked to think he had a good patter, a good way of putting clients at their ease and so he was not far into making interesting remarks about the terrible weather when his prospective client asked if he had a female hypnotist colleague. With the amount of business coming in this was hardly likely and Randolph explained he was a sole practitioner. Was there a problem with his sex? What indeed did she want to consult him about? Would she like him to ask the receptionist to step in?
"It's embarrassing," she said. Randolph promptly gave examples of the many embarrassing, and some very embarrassing, problems he had used hypnosis to cure or help people with. Whether this reassured her or not was not clear, but she confided the problem rather quietly, 'bed wetting.'
Randolph was sympathetic, "how tiresome for you, certainly a problem, not a new one to me. I think I can do something about that, very likely cure."
The woman looked relieved. Perhaps by the very act of mentioning her problem, of being able to say it out loud this had helped, particularly as Randolph had said he could probably hypnotise her out of the difficulty.
"So, what happens now?" she asked.
Randolph enquired about the regularity: was it every night; did she rise to urinate during the night; how much wetting was there; how long had this been going on; was it a problem with her partner and so on.
It transpired the problem was fairly frequent; yes sometimes she did get up for a pee; no the wetting was not the complete emptying of the bladder but significant nonetheless; for months now; no she did not have a partner.
Randolph took notes and tried some hypnosis: strong suggestions that if she wanted to urinate she should wake and get up but otherwise should sleep on, an attempt to build a prohibition in her subconscious against unconscious bladder release.
He watched her from his window stepping around the puddles on the grey pavement, her coat tightly pulled around her, the birdlike movement of the head as she looked ahead, then across the road and back again. The consultation had somewhat relieved the afternoon and there was a repeat consultation booked. Not exactly a picking up of business, nor the dawn of a new age of riches but it was better than staring out of the window or seeing smokers wanting to give up the habit.
At the next appointment, "I'm sorry Mr Trevais but it, your hypnosis, simply didn't work." She coloured visibly, "It was just the same yesterday and this morning."
Randolph was puzzled; he was not used to his hypnotic suggestions not working. "Were the sheets very wet, had you emptied your bladder completely?"
She had trouble answering. "Yes... soaked but no I... um ... urinated when I got up... quite a bit." She went really red.
Quite a pleasing colour Randolph thought.
Randolph lent back in his chair and put his fingertips together in a thoroughly professional manner. The gesture was like his patter, part of his professional image and showed clients he was giving something careful and profound consideration, or so he had been taught.
"I think I need to see for myself, watch you asleep."
Alarm showed on her face. Randolph was quick to reassure her.
"Only if you wish, but I think it will help me understand the problem and its solution. Miss Evans, my nurse, will accompany me of course. I hardly think you want a middle aged man, however professional, in your bedroom at night unescorted." He smiled in what he thought to be a reassuring way. Randolph did not want his client's natural timidity to upset things. He leant forward and she was caught by his curious brown eyes.
"Yes, yes of course if you think that would be best. When, tonight?"
Luckily Miss Evans was free and Randolph arranged to visit at bedtime. He looked again at the card he had written for his new client, Cecily Stubbs, 14, Canning Street. It was not far and his receptionist lived on the route there.
Cecily was clearly perturbed by the intrusion.
"Mr Trevais, I really cannot think what you hope to get out of this. You hardly want to watch me wet my bed." She went red again, glancing at the receptionist, a deep flush spreading up from her neck.
Randolph wondered where it started from. Did her breasts flush red? He would like to see that... and probably would. "Precisely, Miss Stubbs, precisely. I want to observe when it happens, what pattern of sleep you are in and hopefully understand the cause and for that to provide me with a solution to your very real problem."
"But how will you know when I... when I actually wet the bed? You wouldn't be able to see under the bedclothes. Oh, no surely not!"
"That is the very good reason Miss Evans is here." Randolph turned his eyes to her, "it is a warm night so just a sheet and perhaps a nightie or pyjama top only so Miss Evans can... you understand."
Cecily nodded looking decidedly uncomfortable.
"Call us in when you are ready."
Randolph and the receptionist sat in the kitchen drinking coffee listening as Cecily made ready for bed—footsteps, the sound of the shower, the running water tap - all the usual sounds.