Free Amos Gets Married by Gary Paulsen Page B

illusions always seem real. People in the desert who are dying of thirst sometimes think they see water and actually start swimming in the sand.” Dunc looked back at him. “I wouldn’t worry about it. It happens all the time.”
    “If you say so …”
    A station wagon pulled up beside them and stopped at the stop sign. Melissa’s mother was driving her to school. Melissa looked out the passenger window. She saw Amos—and smiled.
    Amos’s eyes popped wide open. He stared at the car instead of watching where he was going. He ran through the Swansons’ white picket fence and landed headfirst in their rose bushes.
    When Dunc heard the crash, he turned around and rode back to his friend. “You definitely have a problem.”
    “But she”—Amos sputtered—“you didn’t see. She … I saw her.…”
    Dunc helped him up. “It’s okay, Amos. I’ll talk to your parents. We’ll get you some professional help.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go home? You look a little pale.” Dunc helped Amos lock what was left of his bike to the bike rack.
    Amos headed toward the school in a daze. “Melissa … car … smile …”
    Dunc led him through the double doors and down the hall. “Here’s your class, Amos. Do you think you’ll be all right?”
    Amos walked into his math class muttering, “Waved … me … love … Melissa.”
    By lunchtime, Dunc thought Amos seemed a little better. He still wasn’t quite back to normal, but he was able to speak in semi-intelligent sentences.
    Dunc pushed him through the cafeteria line. He took Amos’s elbow and led him to a table. When they were seated, Dunc reached into his book bag, took out a thick book, and plopped it on the table.
    “Do you see this, Amos? This book is going to help us get to the root of your problem.” He watched Amos dip a piece of lettuce in his chocolate milk.
    Dunc winced and took a deep breath. “This is a book on psychiatric abnormalities. Chapter fourteen describes you perfectly. It says when a person thinks about another person to the point of shutting out everything else, he may begin to imagine that he actually has a relationship with that person. Are you following me so far?”
    Amos nodded and dipped another piece of lettuce. “Melissa loves me.”
    “No, Amos. That’s what I’m talking about. She doesn’t love you. It says right here in the book—you imagined the whole thing, and you made your mind believe it was real.”
    Amos squinted at the book and scratched his head. “I don’t think that’s the way it happened.”
    “The book says there are several methods of treatment we can try. I personally think we should go with the electric shock therapy. That’s the one where we run electric currents through your brain over and over until you’re all better.”
    Amos looked at him. “And you think
I’m
crazy?”
    “I had a feeling you wouldn’t like that one.” Dunc ran his finger down the page. “How about ‘deprogramming’?”
    “Does it have anything to do with electricity?”
    “No. What you do on this one is tell yourself out loud over and over that what you think happened—didn’t happen.”
    “But Dunc, I saw her …”
    “You
thought
you saw her. But in reality you only saw what your mind wanted you to see.” Dunc patted the book. “It’s all right here on page three hundred and seven.”
    Amos looked confused. “If you say so.”
    “Let’s try it. Tell yourself it didn’t happen.”
    “It didn’t happen. But Dunc—”
    “No buts. If you want it to work, you have to keep saying it until you’ve put thewhole thing out of your mind, and then you’ll be cured.”
    Amos started. “It didn’t happen. It didn’t happen.…”
    Dunc kept a tally on the back of a napkin. “You’re doing great, Amos. You’re up to a hundred fifty-seven. Is it out of your system yet?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “We want to be sure. Keep going until the bell rings.”

“I feel a lot better.” Amos