Life Unbearable for Two-Year-Old Timmy

“Maman died today, or yesterday maybe,” says Timmy as he morosely stares into his third glass of absinthe. - photo by Brian Damp

Alex Ahmed

Child psychologists are stupefied by the case of Timmy McHenry, a two-year-old child who is stricken with crippling depression. “I’ve been really concerned about Timmy ever since he stopped taking pleasure in the things he used to love,” his mother, Christina McHenry said. “His rattle, his pacifier, the peek-a-boo game … they mean nothing to him.”

“I look into his eyes and I see not even the faintest glimmer of joy, of hope,” she added.

According to family sources, Timmy was once bristling with youthful vigor and his recent graduation from preschool marked an era of optimism for him and his family.

“I knew he was a smart kid,” father Don McHenry said. “He picked up everything — stuff I probably couldn’t understand — like it was second nature.”

But now, Timmy prefers to keep to himself and tends to be either asleep or crying in his crib. His mother added, “If we want him to join us for dinner, we practically have to carry him out.”

Clinical help has thus far proven ineffective, as the distraught family says that he remains just as unmotivated, listless and fussy, even after the prescription of powerful antidepressants and intensive shock therapy.

“Our methods have failed,” said noted psychiatrist Daniel Weiber. “We fear he may be beyond help, or worse, reading Camus.” Added Dr. Weiber, “There’s nothing I can do.”

“I remember long ago when I would offer him an ice cream cone and his eyes would light up with happiness,” Timmy’s mother said. “Now, he just stares back at me with dead eyes that seem to say, ‘What becomes of this cone when it is gone? What will become of me?’”

“After that, I get so depressed I have to eat the ice cream cone to pull myself together,” she said.

 Timmy’s room, once colorful and well lit, is now dim save for a desk lamp, which illuminates thick wisps of cigarette smoke and tattered copies of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit,” Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” and an old favorite, “Clifford the Big Red Dog Wallows in Futile Despair.”

When asked to give details about his condition, Timmy responded with utter resignation. “I don’t wanna,” he said. “I don’t wanna. I don’t wanna.”