On Monday evenings, before seeing my second analytic-case-to-be—a 57-year-old man who is still coming twice a week, once on the couch, once face-to-face—I work with a smart 9-year-old boy, Matthew, who suffers a severe stuttering and difficulties in socializing. In the last few sessions, Matthew began to express some negative feelings about me by questioning the cost of the treatment. After complaining about the money his parents pay me for talking and playing with him—because this is, he said, the only thing we do together—the child asked me to close my eyes, put two Post-its on my glasses to be sure I could not see what he was doing, and turned