He seems to identify you as a mother figure. Apparently you’ve acted like the idealized mother he’s never had. If you can put up with his infantile behavior for a few days, I think he’ll come out of it okay. He’s basically a good kid with a sound personality who’s undergone a tremendous amount of stress. The only thing I’ve seen that’s even slightly abnormal about his conscious personality is that he likes to suck his thumb in secret. I don’t think you’ll ever break him on that habit, nor would I want to try. There are far worse things in life than being a thumbsucker in the privacy of your own home. If, after he comes out of the fugue state, he regresses in private from time to time in acceptable ways, I would be extra loving until he returns to normal. In short, I would baby him. He’s had enough discipline to last a lifetime, for that matter, several lifetimes! Give me a call tomorrow and tell me how he’s doing.”

Ruth saw the doctor to the door and shut it behind him. “That poor boy,” she thought, “I never dreamed that Mary was an alcoholic. No wonder I never saw her drink. I thought it was a religious belief. It’s going to be tough to take care of a two-year-old toddler in a fourteen-year-old body, but I accepted responsibility for him and I’ve got to try. If the doctor’s right, it should only last a day or two and he’ll be back to normal. It’s not any worse than nursing him through a bad illness.” Ruth went back and found Tony asleep on the couch. She put Jay-Jay into his playpen and woke Tony up enough to get him up the stairs and into his bed. She took his coverlet and put it away, replacing it with a fleecy flannel blanket and tucking it around him. When she kissed him goodnight, his eyelids fluttered open and he looked at her and said, “Night-night mama!”

She smiled down at him and said, “Time to go night-night, baby. Mama loves you.” Ruth put the pacifier in his mouth and turned out the light as she left the room.

Tony woke later that night feeling decidedly strange. He could see it was still dark, but he was horribly thirsty. His diaper was wet and he needed to be changed. He called out softly for Mrs. Feldman over and over until he heard her coming down the hall.  He called her name again and he heard the door open and her say softly, “Tony…, Tony, Honey? Was that you calling me? Do you need me? Mama’s right here baby.”

He tried to call her again, but his mouth was so dry he could hardly speak. All he managed to say was “Thirsty!”

Ruth heard him and replied, “Okay Honey. Mama will get you something to drink. I’ll be right back.”

He heard her footsteps on the stairs as she when down to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later. She left the bedroom light off, guiding herself to his bed with only the hall light for illumination. She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped the nipple of the bottle between his lips, holding it in place until he could hold it himself. Tony practically gagged on the nipple! When he had asked her for something to drink, he expected her to bring him a glass of water. Not a baby bottle of formula! Had she found out about the bottle of Jay-Jay’s formula he had taken? He blushed hotly in the semidarkness as his reflexes betrayed him and his mouth began to suck automatically.