SEIZE THE DAY
393
Dr. T amkin took the attitude that they were a pair of gentlemen
experimenting with lard and grain futures. The money, a few hundred
dollars, meant nothing much to either of them. He said to Wilhelm,
"Watch. You'll get a big kick out of this and wonder why more people
don't go into
it.
You think the Wall Street guys are so smart-geniuses?
That's because most of us are psychologically afraid to think about the
details. Tell me this. When you're on the road, and you don't under–
stand what goes on under the hood of your car, you'll worry what'll
happen if something goes wrong with the engine. Am I wrong?" No, he
was right. "Well," said Dr. Tamkin with an expression of quiet triumph
about his mouth, almost the suggestion of a jeer, "it's the same psycho–
logical principle, Wilhelm. They are rich because you don't understand
what goes on. But it's no mystery, and by putting in a little money and
applying certain principles of observation, you begin to grasp it.
It
can't be studied
in
the abstract. You have to take a specimen risk
so that you feel the process, the money-flow, the whole complex. To
know how it feels to be a seaweed you have to get in the water. In a
very short time we'll take out a hundred per cent profit." Thus Wil–
helm had to pretend at the outset that his interest in the market was
theoretical.
"Well," said Tamkin when he met him now in the lobby, "what's
the problem, what is this family situation? T ell me." He put himself
forward as the keen mental scientist. Whenever this happened Wilhelm
didn't know what to reply. No matter what he said or did
it
seemed
that Dr. Tamkin saw through him.
"I had some words with my dad."
Dr. Tamkin saw nothing extraordinary in this. "It's the eternal same
story," he said. "The elemental conflict of parent and child. It won't end,
ever. Even with a fine old gentleman like your dad."
"I don't suppose it will. I've never been able to get anywhere with
him. He objects to my feelings. He thinks they're sordid. I upset him
and he gets mad at me. But maybe all old men are alike."
"Sons, too. Take it from one of them," said Dr. Tamkin. "All the
same, you should be proud of such a fine old patriarch of a father. It
should give you hope. The longer he lives, the longer your life-ex–
pectancy becomes."
Wilhelm answered, brooding, "I guess so. But I think I inherit
more from my mother's side, and she died in her fifties."
"A problem arose between a young fellow I'm treating and his
dad-I just had a consultation," said Dr. Tamkin, as he removed
his dark gray hat.
"So early in the morning?" said Wilhelm with a glint of suspicion.
"Over the telephone, of course."
What
::t
creature Tamkin was when he took off his hat! The indirect
light showed the many intricacies of his bald skull, his gull's nose, his
rather handsome eyebrows, his vain mustache, his deceiver's brown eyes.
His figure was stocky, rigid, short in the neck, so that the large ball
of the occiput touched his collar. His bones were peculiarly formed, as
