He is glad to have this new case, this young girl, however difficult she might be. Yesterday, she went on at length and quite monotonously about her father. He wants to explain the secondary benefits of illness. It is important she understand how she is using her illness to get her father’s attention. She complains that her father has sent her to him to get her to do what he wishes, but behind that lies her own wish to get her father to do what she wishes. The doting father seems willing to do almost anything for her, including paying for a session that she does not attend. Once again the rude girl is very late. He looks at the clock and decides to distract himself by writing to his friend Fliess about this new case. He writes a few words and then puts down his pen and runs his hand over the ring of bronze statuettes and terra-cotta figurines. He moves them as he once did his toy soldiers when he was a child. He remembers sticking labels on the flat of their backs with Napoléon’s marshals’ names on them.
