Pale Fire: Illustrated Sports Illustrated Sports Pale Fire Journal | Page 73
the things written in the Commentary were highly unbelievable, and inconsistent. I began to wonder whether the Commentary was all the ramblings of an insane man.
Researching Matherson’ s, I learned that it is a very secret government institute for the clinically insane involved in legal cases where charges have been dropped. I decided to request a visit with the patient listed under the name‘ Pale Fire’, and to my complete shock, it was granted. When I arrived at the interview, however, I was told that I was not allowed to see the patient, as they had special legal privileges which exempted them from the law that they had to submit themselves to an investigation, and did not wish to reveal their identity. I was instead sat in a chair in a room, with a door that separated myself from an adjacent room in which sat the mysterious patient. Any questions that I wanted to ask had to be scrawled on a piece of paper, and were sent to the other room by a Doctor, who always returned fairly quickly with a written reply. The patient didn’ t so much as cough, and their replies were, very strangely enough, written in what seemed to be two separate handwritings. I question to this day whether there truly were two separate individuals in the adjacent room, or whether there was one person writing in two different scripts. I don’ t believe this case will ever be solved. Below is transcribed the entirety of our conversation, with annotations marking which handwriting was used on each note.
-R. Lamberty
Q: How are you today?
A:( Handwriting 1) Sometimes I don’ t know which emotion I feel at which time. Often I feel all of them at once. I cannot say whether I am happy, or sad, because I am both.
the things written in the Commentary were highly unbelievable, and inconsistent. I began to wonder whether the Commentary was all the ramblings of an insane man.
Researching Matherson’ s, I learned that it is a very secret government institute for the clinically insane involved in legal cases where charges have been dropped. I decided to request a visit with the patient listed under the name‘ Pale Fire’, and to my complete shock, it was granted. When I arrived at the interview, however, I was told that I was not allowed to see the patient, as they had special legal privileges which exempted them from the law that they had to submit themselves to an investigation, and did not wish to reveal their identity. I was instead sat in a chair in a room, with a door that separated myself from an adjacent room in which sat the mysterious patient. Any questions that I wanted to ask had to be scrawled on a piece of paper, and were sent to the other room by a Doctor, who always returned fairly quickly with a written reply. The patient didn’ t so much as cough, and their replies were, very strangely enough, written in what seemed to be two separate handwritings. I question to this day whether there truly were two separate individuals in the adjacent room, or whether there was one person writing in two different scripts. I don’ t believe this case will ever be solved. Below is transcribed the entirety of our conversation, with annotations marking which handwriting was used on each note.
-R. Lamberty
Q: How are you today?
A:( Handwriting 1) Sometimes I don’ t know which emotion I feel at which time. Often I feel all of them at once. I cannot say whether I am happy, or sad, because I am both.