After entering Jims's dream, the Doctor altered his memories, making him believe he had passed out from drinking too much. Thus, when he woke in his room at half past four in the afternoon, he had no idea what had happened that day.
But as he apologized for his lapse in manners, he suddenly froze, then broke into a delighted expression:
"Doctor Schneider, that sense of fatal crisis that had been troubling me, like a long snake coiled around my body, is gone!"
Perhaps because he was overly excited, even his wording became unusually literary.
Mr. Jims strode to the window and shoved open the narrow room's window. The choking smell of smog rushed in from outside. Shade and Doctor Schneider hurriedly stepped back, but Mr. Jims instead took a deep breath before coughing violently:
"Cough, cough. I mean, cough, cough, oh, this really has some kick. Doctor, I feel completely better. Yes, I don't even feel any danger standing by the window now."
"For God's sake, close the window."
Doctor Schneider said hurriedly.
"Doctor, how did you do it?"
Mr. Jims closed the window and asked in astonishment. Doctor Schneider considered it for a moment:
"Before going to sleep, you challenged your courage with Detective Hamilton's pistol. After falling asleep under my assisted hypnosis, you must have recalled that near-death sensation in your dream because of it."
"You may not remember what happened in the dream, but people in dreams instinctively lower their psychological defenses, bringing you closer to death than in reality. That is why some people can be frightened to death in their dreams."
Shade said solemnly, and Doctor Schneider nodded:
"Yes, that is my unique hypnotherapy. Though the experiences in the dream have been forgotten, your subconscious still remembers that you once died and overcame a