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Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Here's one to stump the panel. It's certainly stumped me for years, at any rate. It's the story of a catatonic schizophrenic told in the first person, and I haven't the foggiest notion of the author's name. The following quotation from the book's opening is probably so way off target as to be laughable, as it's quoted from a reading that took place probably 45 years ago, but here's the way I remember it:
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Who am I. They said I was a tonic. A tonic? Yes, they said I was cat tonic. A tonic for cats. No, that's not right. It was something else. "Cat O'Tonic", an Irish name. That's who I am. I'm catatonic!
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I thought the name of the book was Cat, but a search of that name brought up nothing.
Does anyone have any ideas? |
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Originally Posted by Witty Username
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Thanks! I just ordered a copy. It will be nice to get reacquainted with it after all these years and see just how far off the mark my "quote" of that passage was!
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And it was quite far off, indeed. What can I say? I originally read the book in 1968 while at the hospital at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina recuperating from two bouts of upper respiration infection that had been followed by pneumonia. Here's the actual opening of
Cat by Theodore Isaac Rubin:
His arms went on doing their work. Since they were no longer part of him, he wasn't tired. They could go on and on holding up his hands. He thought, my hands my hands—the hands, the fingers. The arms, hands, fingers—they weren't his—not anymore. They just were, by themselves—and they did the job. The fingers pressed against his closed eyelids. The eyes were still his. The fingers held them in. He had a pact with the fingers. They promised him not to let his eyes fall out.
His arm was touched. He screamed—he didn't want to lose his eyeballs. He heard the voices. He heard CAT—the word cat. Then, what seemed a while afterward, he heard TONIC—the word tonic. He thought, cat tonic—cat tonic. Then he thought, health tonic. Then a voice said catotonic—putting an O between the words and putting the words together into one word. But it didn't make sense. Then it made sense. Cat O'Tonic, an Irish name—but he wasn't Irish. And his first name wasn't Cat. He kept hearing the voices. He heard the word EXCITEMENT. Another voice put the name and the new word together. He heard—Cat O'Tonic excitement. Then he heard a voice screaming, and it screamed louder and louder. Now he heard the words—''I can't see, see, see, see, see, see. I can't see.'' He heard another voice say, "If he is so frantic about seeing, why doesn't he take his hands away from his eyes?" "Would it matter if he did?" said another voice.