Sixteenth Session

Richard seemed particularly pleased to see Mrs K. He said he was ‘terribly fond’ of her and that she was ‘sweet’. He told Mrs K. that his mother had not come; he did not mind that so much but he was sorry that she was still not well. (Obviously he was trying to be reasonable about it but his mood was serious and downcast.) He at once began to play, making groups as before: some children together; the minister alone on the roof; the minister and the pink woman together; groups of animals—two in one truck (cow and horse) looking at each other, and in the next truck a sheep looking towards them. A new detail was that the minister fell off the roof because he was pushed over by a little man; this was followed by the same action as on the previous day: the dog jumped into a truck and threw a man out of it. Richard again put up the ‘station’ (the same house that he had previously used for this) and said that there were slums at the back of the station. At this point he looked worried and was reluctant to answer Mrs K.'s question about what the slums looked like. But he remarked that there were dirty children there and diseases. When saying this he put aside a few figures that had some small defects, and said he did not want them. He set both trains going and the goods train collided with the electric train. Suddenly Richard bit the tower of a house (which he called a ‘church’). Then the dog bit somebody and disaster followed. Everything collapsed and the dog was the only survivor. Richard again put the toys aside, as he had done after the previous disasters, and said that he was ‘tired’ of them. He looked worried when he said so. He got up, looked round the room and went out of the door; he cheered up as he gazed (with genuine admiration) at the countryside,