Read Online Scream: A DCI Mark Lapslie Investigation by Nigel McCrery - Free Book Online
Authors: Nigel McCrery
Ads: Link
it’s really high pitched. It happens when I see bright colours and bright lights. Only then.’
‘Thank you,’ Garland said, reassuring her. ‘And you, Jeanette?’
A middle-aged black woman, whose hair was plaited in a complex pattern, followed on. ‘Jeanette Sanderson. I … I see colours when I hear … musical notes. Boring, I know. Sorry.’
The man on her left was in his thirties, with a leather jacketand jeans. He had a ponytail. ‘Hi, everyone. I’m Chris. Chris Furlong. If I taste something in my mouth I can also feel it like shapes on my skin. Like, chicken makes me feel sharp spikes, and coffee makes me feel round, warm, soft things like –’ he blushed – ‘well, you know. Like … skin. Women’s skin.’
Garland glanced at the person in the last chair. ‘And finally …’
‘Dave Ferbrack,’ the last man said. He looked like a truck driver, somewhere indeterminate between thirty and fifty. ‘I smell shapes. I mean, when I touch things, like rough surfaces or smooth surfaces and stuff, I smell things that aren’t there, like cigar smoke and perfume and stuff. You know.’
‘Great. Thank you. You’re all here, of course, because you are looking for ways to control your synaesthesia. Rare condition. You six are the only people in Essex who suffer from it enough that it affects your lives, so far as I know. The most frequent occurrence is people who associate colours with words, or numbers, but that doesn’t work to the detriment of their lives. In fact, they quite like it.’
‘There are artists and musicians who depended on their synaesthesia as their muse,’ Arlene said quietly. ‘Oliver Messiaen and Alexander Scriabin are the best known composers, and Wassily Kandinsky the best known artist.’ She looked around nervously, as if afraid someone was going to contradict her, then continued. ‘Beethoven called B minor the black key and D major the orange key, but he might just have been being metaphorical. Same with Schubert, who said that E minor was “a maiden robed in white with a rose-red bow on her chest”.’ She blushed. ‘When I found out I had synaesthesia I spent a long time on the internet, learning all about it.’
‘Very good,’ Garland said warmly. ‘You’ve obviously done your homework, Arlene. Yes, some artists depended on synaesthesia,but with you, it’s different. You’ve all lost jobs, or had accidents, or suffered some form of nervous collapse because of it.’
‘I crashed me car,’ Steve Stottart muttered to Lapslie, but loud enough for the others to hear. ‘I were driving and someone was singing out of tune on the radio. I suddenly tasted something like rotting fish. I swerved and crashed into a parked car.’
Arlene shivered, and a couple of others grimaced in sympathy. Lapslie just nodded. He’d had much the same experience a few times.
‘Last time,’ Garland continued, ‘we discussed the history and the possible causes of synaesthesia. I’ll quickly go over what we said then, just to remind you – and for the benefit of Stephen.’
He paused, glanced around, then continued: ‘You’ll recall that it’s been generally accepted that the condition arises when extra connections in the brain cross between regions responsible for separate senses, but researchers at the University of Oxford have pinned down four chromosomal regions where gene variations seem to be linked to the condition. All of which means that it may be caused genetically, rather than by a problem in the brain’s wiring. One of those regions has also been associated with autism, so there may be a common genetic mechanism underlying the two. For that reason there’s unlikely to be a cure, but there are ways of reducing the symptoms. Most of you are already taking a new drug called thorazitol, which was originally developed as an antidote to LSD but which is believed to help suppress the cross-wiring in the brain, but it’s best used in conjunction with techniques such as
‘Thank you,’ Garland said, reassuring her. ‘And you, Jeanette?’
A middle-aged black woman, whose hair was plaited in a complex pattern, followed on. ‘Jeanette Sanderson. I … I see colours when I hear … musical notes. Boring, I know. Sorry.’
The man on her left was in his thirties, with a leather jacketand jeans. He had a ponytail. ‘Hi, everyone. I’m Chris. Chris Furlong. If I taste something in my mouth I can also feel it like shapes on my skin. Like, chicken makes me feel sharp spikes, and coffee makes me feel round, warm, soft things like –’ he blushed – ‘well, you know. Like … skin. Women’s skin.’
Garland glanced at the person in the last chair. ‘And finally …’
‘Dave Ferbrack,’ the last man said. He looked like a truck driver, somewhere indeterminate between thirty and fifty. ‘I smell shapes. I mean, when I touch things, like rough surfaces or smooth surfaces and stuff, I smell things that aren’t there, like cigar smoke and perfume and stuff. You know.’
‘Great. Thank you. You’re all here, of course, because you are looking for ways to control your synaesthesia. Rare condition. You six are the only people in Essex who suffer from it enough that it affects your lives, so far as I know. The most frequent occurrence is people who associate colours with words, or numbers, but that doesn’t work to the detriment of their lives. In fact, they quite like it.’
‘There are artists and musicians who depended on their synaesthesia as their muse,’ Arlene said quietly. ‘Oliver Messiaen and Alexander Scriabin are the best known composers, and Wassily Kandinsky the best known artist.’ She looked around nervously, as if afraid someone was going to contradict her, then continued. ‘Beethoven called B minor the black key and D major the orange key, but he might just have been being metaphorical. Same with Schubert, who said that E minor was “a maiden robed in white with a rose-red bow on her chest”.’ She blushed. ‘When I found out I had synaesthesia I spent a long time on the internet, learning all about it.’
‘Very good,’ Garland said warmly. ‘You’ve obviously done your homework, Arlene. Yes, some artists depended on synaesthesia,but with you, it’s different. You’ve all lost jobs, or had accidents, or suffered some form of nervous collapse because of it.’
‘I crashed me car,’ Steve Stottart muttered to Lapslie, but loud enough for the others to hear. ‘I were driving and someone was singing out of tune on the radio. I suddenly tasted something like rotting fish. I swerved and crashed into a parked car.’
Arlene shivered, and a couple of others grimaced in sympathy. Lapslie just nodded. He’d had much the same experience a few times.
‘Last time,’ Garland continued, ‘we discussed the history and the possible causes of synaesthesia. I’ll quickly go over what we said then, just to remind you – and for the benefit of Stephen.’
He paused, glanced around, then continued: ‘You’ll recall that it’s been generally accepted that the condition arises when extra connections in the brain cross between regions responsible for separate senses, but researchers at the University of Oxford have pinned down four chromosomal regions where gene variations seem to be linked to the condition. All of which means that it may be caused genetically, rather than by a problem in the brain’s wiring. One of those regions has also been associated with autism, so there may be a common genetic mechanism underlying the two. For that reason there’s unlikely to be a cure, but there are ways of reducing the symptoms. Most of you are already taking a new drug called thorazitol, which was originally developed as an antidote to LSD but which is believed to help suppress the cross-wiring in the brain, but it’s best used in conjunction with techniques such as
Similar Books
