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“I agree with Dr. Kaufman,” another woman calls out. “How is such a situation considered problematic?”

Suddenly the audience erupts in loud whispering and murmurs. Dr. Guthrie gets up from his seat and grabs the microphone from Dr. Anders. It is too high for his mouth and he ends up spending several seconds trying to wrench it back down to his height again.

“The problem, Dr. Kaufman and Dr. Marshall, is that once these parents took their son home, word started to spread that this could and perhaps even should be done. Within a matter of weeks, thirty families have demanded their children be removed from different Harmony locations, and have thus been returned to their homes.”

“With all due respect, sir, I still don’t see the problem,” Dr. Kaufman says. “Speaking as a mother, I find that to be heart-warming, to be honest.”

I look at her, my heart pounding.
If only I could be that courageous
.

“While I admire your motherly instincts, Dr. Kaufman, let me remind you, you are here solely as a member of The Association and as such, must perceive all information given to you from the lens of a Psychologist.”

“I’m afraid I can’t separate the two,” she says, still standing.

“I see. Please remind me what county you’re from, Dr. Kaufman?”

“I’m from County North Toronto. I live in Thornhill.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right,” Dr. Guthrie says. “So it would have taken you less than thirty minutes to get here, give or take?”

Dr. Kaufman nods.

“Might I remind you that I arrived from New York, and thus cannot waste my valuable time on pointless debates?” His voice rises and my heart starts to race.

“I came from Vancouver,” Dr. Marshall says, now also standing. “Given the distance, I was quite shocked to see all of the barbed wire along the fence welcoming me when I arrived. Not to mention the guards who seem to be patrolling Harmony Five’s grounds. Am I wrong in assuming that all of our Harmonies are meant to be mental health and rehabilitation facilities, and not prisons?”

Dr. Guthrie sighs loudly. “An email was sent to all Association members last week detailing this. The guards and barbed wire are simply a pilot project at Harmony Five and are merely being used as a deterrent. We now have two armed guards at this facility,
two
. Compare this to the two
hundred
guards who are employed at each of the four remaining prisons. Given it is a pilot project, no Association vote was needed.” He takes a sip of water.

“If I may be so bold as to ask, sir, why are these two guards armed?”

“The
arms
are merely tranquilizer guns, meant to briefly subdue any confused patient who may have heard about others being taken away by their parents, which brings me back to the topic at hand. Parental Abduction is a true concern and is related to the problem of de-institutionalization in general.” Dr. Guthrie turns his gaze away from the two women, dismissing them. I watch as they slowly sit back down. “As you know, we’ve prided ourselves in bringing down the rates of each mental illness. Bipolar Disorder, AD/HD, Down Syndrome, severe Anxiety Disorders, Psychosis, and Autism Spectrum Disorders, to name a few. The civilian population has been overcome with gratitude because of the sharp reduction of the mentally ill within their midst, all thanks to The Association’s hard work. But what will happen if this new, albeit very small trend of Parental Abduction not only continues, but grows at an alarming rate? As ethical, responsible Psychologists, are we just to remain passive and do nothing?”

A male Psychologist stands up. Again it’s my father! “I fully agree with you, Dr. Guthrie. This is an urgent matter that needs to be dealt with immediately. What do you suggest we do?”

Dr. Guthrie nods to my father. “Dr. Jenkins, thank you so much for your supportive comments. What I would like to do, and what I believe my colleagues in Europe and Australia would also like to do, is to make a permanent change in the Parental Handbook, so that a regulation will exist prohibiting the removal of disabled children who are in Full stays at any of the Harmony institutes.”

Again, whispering and murmuring can be heard around the room. Now my right foot is asleep, too
. Crap
!

Dr. Guthrie raises his hand. “I know tampering with any of the Regulations is a highly sensitive issue, given the respect we all of course have for the founding members of The Association in creating the Handbook. But as Dr. Jenkins just so aptly said, urgency exists to put an immediate stop to this practice of Parental Abduction before our communities are flooded once again with the mentally ill and faith drops in The Association as an organization and in Typology as a whole.” He glances around the room for effect. “As you know, requiring the parents of all mentally ill children and the children themselves to become sterilized, as well as the difficult process of choosing to End certain untreatable patients, has prevented the numbers of the mentally ill from growing to epidemic proportions and has led to decreases in all disorders.”

“Rather than calling them mentally ill, should you not perhaps use the words that were common in the past, such as feeble-minded, degenerates, imbeciles, and idiots?” Dr. Marshall says loudly.

“You’re out of order,” Dr. Guthrie barks.

“I agree with Dr. Marshall,” Dr. Kaufman says. “And with all due respect, sir, isn’t what you’re proposing tantamount to the practice of Eugenics, a horrific, inhuman practice used by the Nazis in the twentieth century and begun with an enacted law otherwise known as the T-4 program?” As Dr. Guthrie bangs a gavel, Dr. Kaufman continues. “For those whose memories may be fuzzy, the T-4 program was a euthanasia program begun in Germany to get rid of citizens thought to be mentally defective and somehow a burden on society. For several years physicians murdered thousands of children judged to be incurably sick. Most were killed with lethal injection. Does this sound familiar to anyone?” The woman’s voice rings loud and clear throughout the room, a voice to be reckoned with.

I glance towards the back of the room and see the large man moving forward. I then notice Dr. Guthrie wave him away, and he returns to the back wall.
Why are they allowed to stay when the other member got kicked out so quickly
?

Dr. Guthrie’s face turns red. “While I recognize your ethnic background may make you unusually sensitive to even the suggestion of Eugenics—”

“By ethnic background are you referring to the fact that I’m Jewish?” Dr. Kaufman asks.

Dr. Guthrie’s face turns redder. “While I recognize this is a sensitive area for you, your
ethnic background
does not excuse you from being impertinent! I would appreciate it if you would render myself and The Association the respect we deserve by refraining from comparison of our diligent work to that of the Nazis, who engaged in inhumane racial profiling, a procedure which The Association and which Typology in general wholeheartedly opposes.” He spits out his last words, as if they taste bitter on his tongue. “What our work here amounts to, Dr. Kaufman and Dr. Marshall, is a change in focus. All we are attempting to do is shift all of the energy, time, and money that our predecessors in the psychological fields spent trying to cure the incurable, and instead focus upon those who are most likely to benefit from our expertise. In other words, to continue to help the healthy members of society, as well as the worried well, all of whom seem to benefit from the widespread uses of Typology. As we all know, rates of depression and anxiety disorders have plummeted, thanks to each citizen’s knowledge of just where they fit in terms of their personality.” Dr. Guthrie pauses, his voice sounding more confident. Suddenly I’m aware of why the women haven’t been kicked out of the meeting. Dr. Guthrie is using this opportunity to give a speech, making sure each Member hears his words and his intentions. I feel my stomach tighten. “Do not let two generations of work be ruined over what can only be seen as an oversight by our founding members. I table a motion: all in favour of putting a permanent stop to Parental Abduction and keeping the mentally ill of our population within the confines of a treatment facility.”

“Seconded,” my father says.

“All in favour, raise their hands,” Dr. Guthrie says. The room fills with waving fingers and palms, as if we’re in a classroom with over-eager students, each trying to get the teacher’s attention.

“Motion carried.”

A giant lump forms in my throat and I try to push it down. My heart is racing and I’m afraid someone will pull me out of my hiding spot and use me in order to demonstrate how to End a person. I put my head down on my knees and just focus on trying to slow down my breathing. The T-4 programme and the Nazis? Clearly something else I was never taught about. When I look up again, I notice the two women Psychologists who spoke out are no longer in their seats, likely removed by the large man once Dr. Guthrie didn’t need them anymore.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Strange… You can read about a hundred atrocities, hear about a thousand, but you only have to see one.

—Alexander Klein

I stay in
my hiding spot until every person has left the banquet hall. Marcus was wrong. It takes almost four hours for the room to clear out, not two. By the time I try and crawl out from underneath the table I find my legs have cramped and I can’t stand. The best I can do is try and pull myself across the carpet, each muscle crying out in protest. Once out from under the table, I quickly try and massage the knots in my legs until the muscles start working again, and eventually manage to half-limp, half-hop out of the room.

Once I enter the hallway, I find Jessie waiting for me.

“Well, what did you find out?” she demands, pulling me by the arm.

“Ow! Slow down! I hurt!” I whisper.

She ignores me, and pulls my arm harder. “Did you get everything taped?”

I pat my front pocket. “I’ll give it to Marcus tomorrow.”

She nods, then pulls on me again. “You’re going to be late for Lights Out if we don’t hurry. Marcus has tried to keep Holly busy for as long as he could, but eventually she got suspicious and began looking for you. I blackmailed her other charge to throw a fit and have to get locked up, to give you more time.”

“Her other charge? Do you mean Amelia?” I think of the skinny thirteen-year-old who clearly suffers from some kind of eating problem and I fill up with guilt. “I didn’t want her to have to do that for me.”

“She didn’t, she did it to stop me from blabbing that she’s been stuffing things in her pockets during her weigh-ins. Not nice of me, I know, but we have bigger fish to fry.” She pulls me faster towards our dorm room. “I’ll come to your bunk after Lights Out, okay?”

“Okay,” I say. Despite feeling completely drained emotionally, despite knowing I want to first figure things out on my own before sharing what I found out with Jessie, I realize this meeting tonight is inevitable. Jessie is not someone to deny.

Within two hours, we’re both lying on my bunk, underneath the covers. I’m reminded of how I used to do this with Meg, who was so much gentler and big-sister than Jessie. For the first ten minutes Jessie lets me talk, telling her every detail I can think of about what happened during the meeting, including the possibility of there being two streams for Primary school, as well as the disturbing mention of the T-4 programme.

“Hey, I’ve heard of that before,” she says.

“Really? It’s horrific!” I whisper. “If The Association knows what happened before, why would they ever think of doing the same thing now?”

“I guess they don’t see it as the same. Remember they’re all coming from the belief that all people who are normal are different, but equal.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know all that. I just can’t understand how Psychologists who supposedly believe in the equality of all people can also End those who dare to challenge them or who don’t fit what they expect.”

“If you think about it too much you’ll get a headache,” Jessie whispers. “The main thing is that we are going to stop The Association once and for all, right?”

“I guess so,” I whisper.

“Besides, there’s some good news from what you told me, you know.”

“Like what?”

“It seems we have one and maybe two Association Psychologists on our side. We just have to figure out a way to get to them.”

“You mean Dr. Marshall and Dr. Kaufman?”

“Yeah,” Jessie says, then yawns. “Gotta get back to my bunk now. See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya.”

“Okay, bye,” I whisper back, before turning over. Suddenly I feel completely exhausted, physically, emotionally, mentally, you name it; I feel it. Just gone.

gh

Within what seems like minutes of shutting my eyes, someone shakes me awake. “Sophie!” the voice whispers, first quietly, then louder. “Sophie!”

“What?” I mutter.

“Sophie!” Jessie speaks louder, then pinches me hard on the arm.
It hurts
.

“Ouch!” I sit up. “What did you do that for?” I look angrily at Jessie, but then notice her face is all wet with tears. “Oh my god! What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Sophie!” she whispers. “They got Brendan! They got him!”

“What do you mean,
they got him?
Did they find him or something?”

Jessie nods. “Not only did they find him, they Ended him, just a few hours ago!” Jessie leans down on my covers, burying her face, her back heaving.

“What? No! No they couldn’t have! Brendan is safe! I know he’s safe!”

“No, he’s not,” she finally whispers, wiping at her face. “Sophie, he’s dead! They found him and they quickly labelled him an incurable psychotic with sadistic tendencies and they Ended him! It’s true! It’s true!”

“But, how do you know?” I whisper. I feel like I can’t breathe, like someone stole all of the air out of the room and refuses to give me even a lungful.

Jessie shakes her head vigorously. “I can’t tell you! All I can tell you is to keep following the rules, and don’t do anything at all unless you get a message from the Group.”

“But I’ve got to get to one of those Psychologists! To Dr. Kaufman! She said she’s from Thornhill, so I know I could find her if I try hard enough. I’ve got to tell her what’s happening! She might be able to help us!”