A nine-year-old boy in analysis for behavior and learning problems developed an intense transference reaction marked by increasing excitement and competitive anxiety. These were traceable to scopophilic interests, primal scene excitement, and oedipal rivalries. When his father underwent surgery close to the genitals, the child's conflicts surfaced with such intensity that he no longer was able to effectively master them through play and verbal expression alone. He solved his dilemma by making symbolic use of the telephone as a means of representing his masturbatory fantasies and the guilts and fears associated with them. Not only could his symbolic use of the telephone be observed as it came into being, but its utilization for the purposes of defense, mastery, conflict resolution, and the facilitation of developmental progression could be explored and understood.