"And the piano-playing seems to soothe our patients who suffer from panic attacks," Dr. Berger said.
"Except for those who suffer from panic attacks in the dark," Dr. von Rohr pointed out. (Jack saw that she was conscious of the light from the windows catching the silver streak in her hair.)
"Are there other patients in Kilchberg who have been committed by a family member--I mean for life?" Jack asked.
"Ah, well . . ." Professor Ritter sighed.
"It's highly unusual for a private patient to stay here for a number of years," Dr. Berger said.
"We are expensive," Dr. von Rohr cut in.
"But worth it!" Dr. Horvath bellowed. "And William loves it here!"
"I'm not concerned about the cost," Jack said. "I was wondering about the long-term effect."
"Hospitalism, do you mean?" Dr. von Rohr asked in her just-asking way.
"What exactly is hospitalism?" Jack asked.
"The disease of being in a hospital--a condition in addition to your reason for being here, a second disease," Dr. Berger stated, but in such a way that he didn't seem to believe it--as if hospitalism were a speculative illness of the kind Dr. von Rohr was just asking about, an almost dreamy disease, which a fact man, like Dr. Berger, generally ruled out.
"There's no medication for hospitalism," Dr. Krauer-Poppe said--as if the disease didn't really exist for her, either.
"But William is happy here!" Dr. Horvath insisted.
"He's happier in St. Peter," Dr. von Rohr corrected Dr. Horvath. "Die Kirche St. Peter--the church," she explained to Jack. "Your father plays the organ there--Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, at eight o'clock."
"Jack can hear him play tomorrow morning!" Dr. Horvath cried.
"That should be worth the trip--even all the way from Los Angeles," Dr. Berger told Jack.
"One of us should go with Jack--he shouldn't go with William alone," Professor Ritter said.
"William never goes to St. Peter alone!" Dr. von Rohr exclaimed.
"They shouldn't go with Hugo, either," Dr. Krauer-Poppe suggested. "One of us should go with Jack and William."
"That's what I meant!" Professor Ritter said in an exasperated voice.
"I can take them!" Dr. Horvath shouted. "Your father will be excited to play for you!" he told Jack.
"Too excited, maybe," Dr. Krauer-Poppe said. "I should go, too--just in case there's a need for medication. A sedative might be in order."
"Too excited can be a trigger," Dr. Berger explained.
"Can be, usually isn't," Dr. von Rohr told Jack.
"Anna-Elisabeth and I will both go to St. Peter with them. Nothing can happen that we're not prepared for!" Dr. Horvath said assertively.
"Your father is special to us, Jack. It's a privilege to take care of him," Professor Ritter said.
"It is an honor to protect him," Dr. von Rohr countered--in her hair-splitting way.
"And what does he do with Hugo, when they go to town?" Jack asked the team.
Dr. Horvath jumped on the floor of the exercise hall. Professor Ritter restrained himself from saying "Ah, well . . ." for once. Dr. Krauer-Poppe emphatically folded her arms across the chest of her lab coat, as if to say there was no medication for what William and Hugo did in town. Dr. von Rohr uncharacteristically covered her face with her hands, as if she momentarily thought she were Dr. Krauer-Poppe.
"Sometimes they just go to a coffeehouse--" Professor Ritter started to say.