Entanglement by Zygmunt Miloszewski Page B

happens next.”
     
    Rudzki leads Kwiatkowska and Kaim away from behind Jarczyk. Now they’re all standing next to each other, looking at Telak.
    Jarczyk (trembling and speaking with difficulty): I don’t want my children to stand here. I don’t want them to go to my husband’s parents. I felt better when they were standing behind me.
    Kwiatkowska: I’m glad I can see Daddy and my grandparents. I love them very much. Especially Daddy. I can see he’s sad and I’d like to help him.
    Kaim: Yes, I agree with my sister, but I feel quite faint. My heart is aching and I’m shaking badly.

    Kwiatkowska: May I go over to my grandparents? I feel physically drawn to them.
    Rudzki: All right, but just two paces.
    Beaming, Kwiatkowska walks towards the chairs. At this sight Jarczyk starts to cry. Pale as the wall, Kaim is rubbing his breastbone.
     
    This time it was Szacki who reached for the remote and stopped the film. Kaim’s grimace of pain froze on the screen, and so did Telak’s vacant stare, fixed on the wall.
    “How can it be possible for Kaim’s heart to be aching?” he asked. “I know he’s aware that Telak’s son is ill, but all the same…”
    “That’s a tricky one. There’s a certain theory, called the theory of morphogenetic fields, that’s used to explain Hellinger’s therapy. According to this theory, the sort of people we are does not depend on our genes alone, but also on an electromagnetic field. Hellinger says our soul resonates with everything that has happened within our family, and is connected with the living and the dead. During Family Constellation Therapy a stranger can enter into that resonance. We call it the ‘knowing field’.”
    “Do you believe that?”
    Rudzki made a vague gesture implying that he was prepared to accept the theory, but only for lack of any other.
    “I don’t think it matters. What’s important is whether something works or not. I don’t know how a computer works, but I get a great deal of use out of it.”
    “Did Telak’s son fall ill after his sister’s suicide?” asked Szacki.
    “Yes, that was when Bartek’s heart defect appeared. Illness is always a sign of a breach in the order. Its main dynamic is ‘rather me than you’. We decide to suffer in order to relieve another family member. Only restoring the balance and order allows the illness to be cured.”

    “Doesn’t Bartek have a better chance of recovery now that his father has gone?”
    Rudzki coughed. He waved apologetically and went into the kitchen, where he blew his nose noisily.
    “Mr Szacki,” he called from in there, “I wouldn’t be taking quite so long to consider the answer if it weren’t for your profession and the purpose of your visit. Do you see?”
    Szacki got up, took his mug and asked for something to drink.
    “So what’s the answer?” he asked, pouring into the mug some still mineral water that his host had handed to him.
    “I don’t know. Maybe. But only maybe. Or perhaps his condition will get even worse. You realize that Mr Telak didn’t depart in peace, having settled all his affairs. I think Bartek’s condition would have righted itself once the constellation was completed. A change occurs in the field, and from then on it resonates in a different way. That’s why the changes are also perceptible in people who aren’t taking part in the constellation - they might not even know about it.”
    They went back to the sofa.
     
    Rudzki: Mr Telak, please get up now.
    Telak gets up with evident effort. Jarczyk is crying even louder.
    Rudzki (to Kwiatkowska): Why do you want to go to your grandparents?
    Kwiatkowska: I want to relieve Daddy.
    Telak (devastated): No, that’s not possible, I refuse to hear of it.
    Kaim: I’m longing to go to my sister and my grandparents. I’m in pain. I want it to stop hurting. And for Dad to feel better.
    Jarczyk: This is unbearable. I want him to go away (she points at Telak). I don’t love him, I don’t even like him, he’s