CAN YOU WALT?Hope is a waking dream. AristotleAt 12:30 A.M. on a very early Monday morning I was awakened bythe insistent ringing of the telephone. Calls at this time meant'onlyone thing--trouble. From deep sleep I was quickly roused, and I pickedup the phone. My answering service said, "Dr. Olson? This is an emergency,I'll connect you directly with the party." "Hello. Who is this?" "Doe? This is Sarah. I've got a rope hung in my bedroom, andI'm going to hang myself tonight." "Well, why did you wake me up to tell me that? You and I bothknow you can kill yourself any time you choose, and neither God norI can stop you if you decide to die. Although you must admit, Sarah,you really don't have any talent for hanging yourself. Remember thelast time you hung the rope? You fell off the chair and broke yourribs. You're still taped up! Besides, you're not even in your apartmentnow. You are in a phone booth outside, on the street." "How did you know that?" "Well, I may be sleepy, but I'm not stupid: I know you can't-afford a phone, and I can hear by the traffic going by that you're in aphone booth. By the way, i'm scheduled to see you at noon on Friday. Can you wait till Friday to commit suicide? You haven't been eating too well lately, so what kind of a sandwich would you like at Friday noonT' ~What did you say, Doc?" "Sarah, can you wait till Friday to die? Please tell me what kind of sandwich you would like . . . bologna, ham salad, egg salad, tuna fish, salamiT' "What are you trying to de, Doc?" "I'm trying to find out if you can wait till Friday to die. We can have one last meal together, and give each other a big hug good-by. Then you can go kill yourself. Now I'd like you to make a decision. What kind of sandwich would you like?" 3