Elephant Man - Christine Sparks [36]
“Yes,” Merrick repeated, even more distinctly. His lips were moving more easily now, as though he was beginning to get the hang of what they were for.
“Very good, oh yes,” Treves told him heartily. “Now listen. I’m going to say some things to you and I want you to repeat them—um—” He pulled himself up on the word “repeat.” He must remember to keep it very simple. “I want you to say them back to me. Do you understand? I’m going to say some things to you and I want you to say them back to me. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” said Merrick at once, but there was no way of knowing from his face whether he knew what he was saying, or was merely reciting mindlessly the word he had learned.
“Excellent! Now, say …” Treves leaned forward and mouthed the word emphatically, “Hello.”
Again there was the gusty choke from the back of Merrick’s throat as he fought to form his mouth into the right shape. But eventually he managed near enough.
“Hello,” said Treves again.
“Hello.” This time the word was quite discernible.
“My—name—is—” recited Treves slowly.
This one took longer as it was impossible for Merrick to close his lips as the letter “m” demanded.
“My—name is—” he got it out at last.
“John Merrick.”
“John—Merrick.” The Elephant Man repeated the words almost as soon as they were out of Treves’ mouth. His eyes were eager for more.
“Say ‘Merrick,’ ” Treves instructed him.
Again the Elephant Man fought with the “m” and it came out more like “n.”
“Say ‘Mmmmmerrick.’ ” Treves drew out the “m” as long as possible to see if the creature would grasp the principle.
The twisted lips came together, parted, came together again.
“Mmmmmerrick,” the Elephant Man got out at last.
“Well, that’s all right. I understand you. Now say the whole thing again. Hello …”
He would have repeated the whole sentence, but Merrick broke in on him.
“Hello—my name is—John Mmmmerrick.”
Treves looked at him with pride. There was a quickness in that head—not an intelligence—he couldn’t allow himself to think that for a moment. But a quickness such as he had found years ago in a pet dog who had learned to do tricks for him.
They worked for an hour. Merrick seemed like a sponge ready to sop up anything that was offered him. Sounds he could make in the back of his throat came to him easily. Those that required the use of his deformed lips took longer and were blurred. But he had ceased to babble incoherently, and the eyes that looked back into Treves’ were bright with willingness. More and more frequently he interrupted Treves in his anxiety to show how quickly he had grasped something. Once the doctor found himself remembering an incident from his days as a medical student when in his eagerness to show himself a superior student he had rushed to reply to a question from his professor before the words were fully out of the man’s mouth.
“Not so fast, Treves,” the professor had reproved him. “We cannot all be favored of the gods. I dare say some of your fellow students would actually prefer to hear me finish?”
There had been a few titters of unfriendly laughter, for the young Frederick Treves’ headlong rush to be first in excellence at everything had not won him popularity among the mediocre. Even then the criticism leveled at him had been “too ambitious—too heedless of others.”
He marvelled that he, “favored of the gods,” should have discovered something in common with this pitiable, unfavored creature. But Merrick’s hurry to demonstrate that he had understood was developing a faint but perceptible “show-off” element, which made Treves grin in sympathetic memory.
He was in a thoroughly good mood when a knock on the door disturbed him.
“Come in.” He swiveled his chair round to find himself confronting Mothershead and bounded up to speak to her, full of a joviality that made her eye him warily. “Why, my dear Mrs. Mothershead, how good of you to join us. Mr. Merrick,” Treves wheeled back to face Merrick, “will you please introduce yourself?”
Hesitantly but with clear emphasis, Merrick looked Mothershead directly in the eyes and said, “Hello, my name is