Читать книгу Innocent Witness - Leona Karr, Leona Karr - Страница 14

Steve saw little of Deanna the next few days, and his sessions with Penny settled into a pattern. While Hobo bounded around the playroom, sniffing and wagging his scrawny tail, Penny wandered around listlessly, looking at everything but showing no desire to draw pictures or play in the sandbox or dollhouse.

Steve made certain that everything was in the same place every day. One of the hotel maids was careless about her cleaning, and was inclined to shove things around as she dusted and swept the floor, but Steve wanted the environment in the therapy room to be secure and unchanged.

Every day, after a few minutes of looking around, Penny walked over to the window, drew the drapes and then dropped onto the corner floor mat. Sometimes she would lie on her back and, with her eyes wide open, stare at the ceiling. Sometimes she would turn over on her side and watch Hobo as he snooped around the room. The dog was always interested in the snacks that Steve had ready on the low table, and pestered him for food.

“You like cookies, don’t you, Hobo?” When Steve spoke to him and patted his head, Hobo’s tail wagged as if it were going to drop off from excitement.

Knowing that Penny was watching, one morning Steve rolled a ball across the room and Hobo brought it back. They played fetch for several minutes, and Steve didn’t make any effort to include Penny in the game. In play therapy, the child made all the choices, and as frustrating as it might be, nothing could be gained by imposing choices upon Penny.

At the end of the first week of sessions, Penny still remained passive and hadn’t shown the slightest interest in anything in the playroom. He gave his usual smile to Deanna as she collected the child and dog, without giving any sign of the lack of progress he was making with her daughter.

He sighed as he opened the window drapes that Penny habitually closed. When he heard light footsteps just outside the open hall door a few minutes after Deanna had left with her daughter, he turned and saw that she was standing in the doorway.

“Hi. Can I come in?”

“Sure. We’ve closed up shop for the weekend.”

It was the first time since his arrival at the hotel that she’d come anywhere near the playroom, and lately, every time he saw her around the hotel, she was too busy to do much chatting. “Want a cookie?”

She laughed and shook her head. “I just popped in for a minute, in case you wanted to tell me anything about…about the way Penny is responding.”

“I’m not sure I know how she’s responding. Not yet. Maybe you could clarify a few things for me?”

She nodded. “What would you like to know?”

“Does Penny seem to feel more comfortable in closed-in places with dim light and the window blinds drawn?”

Deanna looked puzzled. “Not at all. Where did you get that idea?”

“She doesn’t prefer the window drapes drawn in her room?”

Deanna shook her head. “Heavens no. Penny has a window seat in her bedroom and plays there all the time. Our whole apartment is light and airy. I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”