1. Nerves
Phineas is often a cool customer in the two-level department store
of life, but every so often...some particular event...you know? He
loses it. Could happen to anyone, &c.
Post-onset timetable of nervous behavior by P.
0:00:03 -- Shakes.
0:00:08 -- Knot in stomach.
0:00:16 -- Hands become unsteady.
0:01:12 -- Tries to latch onto different train of thought; fails.
0:01:44 -- Eyes dart about.
0:02:39 -- Paces.
0:03:25 -- Scribbles on pad of paper.
0:03:52 -- Has to sit down.
0:03:58 -- Stands again.
0:04:42 -- Starts to come down.
0:05:31 -- [Optional relapse]
0:07:15 -- Normal.
2. Nattering
P. usually finds it difficult to get conversational with people he
doesn't already know, but sometimes, when he's in just the right mood,
he will talk your ear off. If you are patient with those who think
out loud, you might enjoy it. Although he rarely comes to useful
conclusions, he does manage to convey at these times a sense that he
does have an interest in the world outside, vague and ill-formed
though it be. In conversations of this type he tends to grimace a
lot; he finds it difficult to think about things happening outside
his own head.
3. Numbness
"Sometimes," he said, "I feel a certain metaphysical numbness. Oh, I
don't read much into it, it's not important. It's just that there are
times when I am completely unaffected by everything. [Examples.]
Everyone gets that, right? Sometimes?" Phineas? Metaphysical
numbness? Color it "existential" and await further developments.
|