Dragged into Darkness by Simon Wood

priority.
    “It’s okay, baby,” Charlene reassured.  “This is Dr. Birnbaum , he’s here to help us.”
    Marcy joined her mother on the bed.  Birnbaum was amazed by the child’s ability.  Unlike him, she stepped confidently and without trepidation, not once tripping over the trash filling the room.  She knew every square inch of the mess, like someone with a map to a minefield.
    Charlene wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulders.  Marcy looked lovingly at her mother.  Regardless of the environment, the child was happy.  Not everybody could say that—even in the cleanest of homes.
    “Charlene, I wonder if I could have a couple of minutes with Marcy? ”
    She nodded.
    “Charlene, I want you to do something for me while I’m with Marcy.  Think about what you want to do and how you want me to help you.  I’m your therapist, but I can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.  It’s entirely up to you.”
    “Okay.”
    “Good.  Marcy, do you want to show me your room?”
    Marcy hopped off the bed and expertly cut a trail through the refuse.  Sadly, the girl’s room was no better than the rest of the house.  The room was filled with every disposable item an eleven-year-old would generate.  Boxes for every present she had ever received towered precariously.  Packaging for all her clothes littered the floor.  Receipts for the items in the room bulged from a cigar box.  Charlene’s sickness had infected her daughter, too.
    Or so it looked to the casual observer.  At second glance, Marcy wasn’t her mother’s daughter.  Plastic storage containers, filled with toys and cherished possessions, formed a wall around her bed.  Between her bed and the containers was a no-man’s land, a foot wide where a scrap of filth couldn’t be seen.  Whether Marcy was aware or not, she had drawn a line between where Charlene finished and Marcy began.  It was a comforting sight.  
    He joined Marcy on the bed.  “Do you know why I’m here, Marcy?”
    She nodded.
    “Good.  I just want to ask a couple of questions.”
    “You won’t take mom away, will you?”  The outburst was dread-filled.
    “No.  I’m not here for that.”  He smiled.
    She wasn’t convinced.
    “I want to know what you think about your mother’s habits.  Some people would say that this lifestyle is unhealthy.”  Birnbaum pointed at the trash mountains.  “What would you say?”
    “I don’t know.  But it makes mom happy.”
    “Don’t you think it would make your mom happier if all this wasn’t here?”
    “Maybe.”
    “I think it would.  I think your mom is very unhappy and I don’t think this helps.  And, I think with our help we can make her very happy.  Will you help me?”
    Her gaze bore into him.  She read him as easily as a comic book.  She smiled.  “Yes.”
    Birnbaum smiled back.  He had an ally.  Marcy was strong and Charlene would latch onto that.  “Let’s see how your mom is getting on.”
    Charlene beamed when Marcy leapt into her arms.
    “So, Charlene, what’s it to be?”
    “I want you to help me,” she said without any hesitation.
    “Fantastic.  I want to start now.”
    Charlene’s smile faltered.  “You’re not going to call the sanitary department, are you?”
    “Not unless you want me to.”
    “No.”
    “Well, I have some exercises we can start to get the ball rolling.  Hold on one second.”  He ran out to his car and returned with three file boxes.  “Right, I was hoping we could get started today.  So, I prepared these boxes.”
    On each box Birnbaum had written, in magic marker—Things I can’t do without, Things I could do without and Things I don’t need.
    “It’s simple.  What we do is sort everything into these categories.  We fill the boxes with those items that apply.”
    “So, we don’t have to throw anything out?” Charlene said hopefully.
    “No.  Anything we don’t need, we throw out.”
    Charlene looked doubtful.
    “Then we look