The Binding Page #4

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Oh, no no no. Just, it's been

a lot of years, that's all.

May I come in?

Yes, but um, like I said on

the phone, I'm very busy

so I don't know how

long you can stay.

Look, Sam, I don't

wanna take up any more

of your time than

I have to, so...

You wanna know about Jacob.

Yes.

Jacob hasn't been out

of Anti-OC for years.

Doesn't really talk anymore,

not even to me,

but I go there every week,

look after him, look

after this place.

- Those were my mother's wishes.

- I understand.

I guess you remember

that Jacob was weird.

Just antisocial.

We thought low level

Asperger's or something,

but nothing that could

ever become dangerous.

But he started to have

outbursts, temper tantrums

he was too old to be having

in places he shouldn't

have been having them.

- Wasn't anyone concerned?

- Of course we were concerned.

But they were having

trouble diagnosing him,

and there'd be long

periods of time

in between episodes, and...

I mean, what were

we supposed to do?

Life goes on.

Are we supposed to

flee to Canada?

Leave him on somebody's

doorstep in a giant basket?

Then one day...

Yeah.

This doesn't mean

anything, you understand.

Bugs under the skin, dissecting

the neighborhood pets.

Crazy has patterns.

Do you understand?

It's always different,

but it's always the same.

I'm just trying to gather

as much information as I can.

Information is fine, just don't

start looking for meaning.

One day Jacob told us that he

was hearing voices in his head

every time he tried

to go to sleep,

so, obviously we all got

on the diagnosis train

in a big way and by that point

it had been going on much

longer than we knew about,

and he was near the edge.

Did he ever tell you what

the voices were saying?

Not at first.

No.

But after, when the

police asked why

he had put the knife

in so many times,

he said it was because

the voice told him

to cut out our mother's heart.

You didn't come here for

any kind of confirmation,

so why don't you just tell me

what you wanna know.

Because the,

the only thing is that...

If you could have done

anything differently,

what would it have been?

I would have had

my brother locked

in the deepest, darkest hole,

and sold the key

for scrap metal,

and if that didn't work,

I would have killed him.

Hey.

If it's another votary

I still don't wanna

talk to anyone.

Daniel has Bram on the phone.

Sarah, are you there?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm here.

How are you?

Oh.

Not good.

Not good at all.

I haven't...

I've just been at home.

Uriel and I both agree

I should...

take a leave of absence.

Bram, what happened?

Lord God.

We give you thanks for

the joy in the house this day.

Sooner or...

Sooner or later...

We all come to a crossroads.

What we perceive as...

As a moment of crises,

a time that we must choose

between the tangible

something...

And the...

The intangible everything.

Two...

Two impossible choices.

Please!

Please.

Control your child.

That's the problem.

When people can't even...

Don't you understand,

this is difficult?

What I'm doing right now.

Don't any of you

understand that?

Well...

I'd like an answer.

I don't know.

You don't know?

You don't know something

as simple as that?

Well then what are you gonna do

on the day of your reckoning?

The day that

Lord God comes to you

and demands of you

the impossible.

The day that the stakes are

higher than you could imagine,

and that doing the right thing

will utterly damn you.

Well!

Bram, please.

Hey, stop, stop.

How are you feeling now?

It's...

It's like a migraine,

but there is a heed.

It's that light, it's,

it's almost every

time I close my eyes.

And the voice.

It's worse than what I see.

The commandment is the same.

Always the same, it's...

It's so loud.

I feel like it could kill me

anytime it wants.

Okay, Bram, listen to me.

Have you spoken to Dr. Kore?

That was the next step, right?

If this didn't work

he said that, that he had

something you could try.

Something we could try.

I just got off the

phone with him.

He said it's something

we need to be in on together.

You don't have to do anything.

Are you still there?

Yeah.

Where should I meet you?

I'm outside.

I'd like to thank you

both for making the trip.

The office can be so impersonal

for visits like this.

Doctor, excuse me,

I assume Bram has

brought you up to speed.

I told him everything.

Oh yes, and it is

a beautiful story.

Pardon me?

Remarkable.

Extraordinary.

I am of a mind that anything

which can be considered truly

remarkable in this world

of quantifiable data,

should be considered beautiful.

Do you not agree?

Wow, look at him.

- Sarah.

- No.

No, no look at him.

I have had to watch him

recognize and then resist,

and then fight tooth and nail

against whatever it is

that is trying it's damnedest

to rip his mind apart.

And you're standing here

telling me that it's beautiful?

No, no no.

Of course not.

Not in the traditional sense.

He said you could help us.

Understand.

I make no promises.

I have prescribed your

husband enough medication

to knock the wren activity out

of a west Indian manatee.

And it's only made things worse.

Which leaves me to believe that

what we are dealing with

is not entirely internal.

What I said from

the beginning was...

What you have said

from the beginning,

as you perceive it,

is that God or something

very much in his image

appeared to you the night of

your daughter's Christening,

and almost every

night since then,

commanding you to take her life.

Not unlike the binding of Issac.

- Yes.

- Yes.

I once had a patient who I knew

relatively straight away

was manic depressive.

At first, oh he denied it.

Vehemently.

Delusions of grandeur so

characteristic of the disease.

He was unyielding.

So I invited him here

one evening like this.

I made a jiaco like tonight.

You've both seen that

there is corn in it.

I'm sorry, what are

you talking about?

By the time we

were ready to eat,

he had withdrawn.

He refused to make conversation.

So, I made a little remark

about where I'd got the corn.

At a farmer's market.

And do you know what he said?

No.

No, you didn't get it there?

No.

To the corn in it's entirety.

There's no corn in this he said.

Spooning the corn

into his mouth.

There was no change

in his demeanor.

He wasn't having an episode

or anything of that nature.

So, I slowly encouraged

him to explain himself.

He said, he had seen

the jar on the counter,

and the label had

said capers, so clearly

this was not corn.

Can you imagine?

I think what Sarah meant was...

Would you help me serve?

Please.

It's very good.

Great. I'm glad.

You should see if you can try

to get some of this down.

I think you'd like it.

- It has potatoes.

- What is this?

Are you messing with

us or something?

Why did you bring us here?

I thought we would enjoy

our dinner first, Bram.

Well, excuse me if I have

other things on my mind.

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