They'd Rather Be Right Read Free

anyhow,” Joey’s father said. His relief was apparent, that he would not be required to stand by, and he was using it to play the part of the ever faithful servant.
    “Here’s a room where you may wait, Mrs. Carter,” Dr. Martin said to Joey’s mother. He opened a door and showed her in to a small waiting room. “There are magazines. Make yourself quite comfortable.
    This may take an hour or so,”
    “Thank you, Doctor.” It was the first time she had spoken, and her voice contained the awe and respect she felt. A thread of resentment, too. It wasn’t fair; some had so many advantages to get educated. Oth-ers—But the resentment was drowned out in the awe and respect. These were not just ordinary doctors. They taught doctors!
    She sat tentatively on the edge of a wooden chair; the hardest one in the room. The worn red feather in her hat drooped, but her back remained straight.
    Joey felt the doctor thinking, “Relax, woman! We’re not going to skin him alive!” But he merely closed the door. Joey could still see her sitting there, through the closed door; not relaxing, not reaching for a magazine. Her lips were pulled tight against her teeth to keep her prayer from showing. “Dear God, oh, dear God—”
    Dr. Martin came back over from closing the door, and led Joey to a chair near the bookcase.
    “Now, you just sit down there and relax, Joey. We’re not going to hurt you. We’re just going to visit a little, and ask you some questions.” But his mind was darting in and out around his desires. I’d better start in on routine IQ tests, leave the Rorschach for Ames. Now that it’s standard, he’ll use it. Leave word association for him, too. That’s his speed. Maybe I should give the multiphasic; no, better leave that for Ames. He’ll discredit it, but it’ll make him feel very modem and up-to-date to use it. I mustn’t forget I’m just the errand boy around here. I wish / could run the Rhine ESP deck on the boy, but if Ames came in and caught me at it—”
    The office phone rang, and Martin picked it up hurriedly. It was the president’s office calling.
    “Dr. Ames asked me to tell you he will be tied up for almost an hour,” the operator said disinterestedly. “The patient will just have to wait.”
    “Thank you,” Martin said slowly. Joey felt his lift of spirit. I can run a few samples of the Rhine cards.
    I just have to know. I wish I could get away from this place, into a school where there’s some latitude for research. I wish Marion weren’t so tied down here with her family and that little social group she lords it over. “My husband is assistant to the dean of psychology!” That’s much more important to her than any feeling I’ve got of frustration. If I quit here, and got into a place where I could work, really work, it would mean leaving this town. Marion wouldn’t go. She’s a big frog in a little puddle here. And still tied to her parents—and I’m tied to Marion. If anybody needs psych help, I do. I wish 1 had the courage—”
    Joey, as frequently with adults, could not comprehend all the words and sentences, but the somatic indecision and despair washed over him, making him gasp for breath.
    Martin went over to a desk, with sudden resolution, and from far back in a drawer he pulled out a thin deck of cards.
    “We’re going to play a little game first, Joey,” he said heartily, as he sat down at his desk and pulled a sheet of paper toward him. “There are twenty-five cards here. Five of them have a circle, five a star, a wavy line, a cross, a rectangle. Do you know what a rectangle is, Joey?”
    Joey didn’t, but the vision of a square leaped into his mind.
    “Yes, sir,” Joey said. “It’s a sort of square.”
    “That’s right,” Martin said approvingly, making a mental note that the boy shouldn’t have known the word, and did. “Now I’m going to look at a card, one at a time, and then you guess what kind of an image there is on it. I’ll write down