Dr. Thompson ate lunch with them and explained the various group therapies and treatments the Institute was employing with Elizabeth. All the while, she sat to his side, openly mocking and deriding him with childish facial gestures and a frequent grandiose rolling of her eyes. While Faith found Dr. Thompson to be a dedicated and competent professional, she could not help but smirk at Elizabeth. Through all of the sadness and pain, she still saw in Elizabeth a glimmer of vitality-a child still wanting to be rescued from the suffering so that she could run and laugh and play with all of the other innocent, naive children around her.
It was this streak that also ran through Jacob. She knew that beneath the crusty, exterior layer of chiseled disappointment created by a lifetime of too much suffering lay a little boy who yearned to believe once more, to be taken away from the grief and bathed in the hopeful optimism that the world could be a better place. She realized now that she needed to tap into this if she was to push beyond his wall of fear and disillusionment. She must help him to envision his own happiness amid a lifetime of sorrow. Only then could he see all he had to offer to the creation of the life of another. Only then would he recognize the joy of the cycle of rebirth.
