Page 45 - WTP Vol. IX #5

ference. She knocked harder. “What’s going on?” she mouthed.
Finally the guide came out of the booth and spoke to her privately. “I’m afraid there was an engine prob- lem with our boat. They had to take it out of service. But they are sending another. It should be here in less than an hour.”
“But why don’t you tell the people here?” Vivian asked. Why do you leave them standing here suffer- ing when they could be relaxing?”
“We want them ready to get on quickly when the boat gets here. We don’t want to have to look for them. They’re liable to wander off. Then we’d have to round them up. It’s better like this, believe me.”
Vivian couldn’t agree. The tour company was wield- ing a kind of power over these people, she thought, but they would never admit to it. Even more Vivian was stunned by the willingness of the group to do what was expected of them without rebelling. They gave over their complete trust.
Vivian told the family group she had asked about the reason for the delay. The engineer seemed interested in the boat’s condition. “Yes, some of the equipment of these boats needs to be checked more often,” he said. “Some of them may be getting old.”
But he made no attempt to criticize the company before its representative in the glass booth. He just said, “We’ll wait a bit longer.” He wasn’t able to be really angry at the indifference in the company’s behavior and the consequent inconvenience it was inflicting on the passengers.
However, Vivian picked up on the engineer’s concern about the condition of older boats. What if the com- ing boat had not been checked thoroughly ? She didn’t know much about engines, but what if the next boat stalled in the middle of the lake in the dark? Perhaps it might drift and hit some rocks. Who would come to help them?
“I don’t like this situation,” Dr. Dichter thought to herself. Facing some of the waiting passengers, she said, “I don’t think they have treated us properly.
I’m tired of waiting so long. I’m going over to one of those cafes and have some supper. I’ll stay here over- night and go back by train in the morning.”
As she strode off, she saw little Sam scowl at his parents. “I want to go too. I’m tired. I’m hungry,”
(continued on next page)
“These people were like her patients,
she thought, unable to free themselves to enjoy what there was to enjoy.”
38