Edgar Hartley

**Edgar** is a minor character in *You Feel It Just Below the Ribs*. He was the charge of Dr. Miriam Gregory while he stayed at the Gateway Childhood Centre, and the first person she encountered who had prolonged resistance to the Watercolor Quiet.

## Biography

Edgar was born in his parents' cabin, in the middle of the woods fifty miles outside Memphis, former United States, in around 1936. His parents had isolated themselves in an attempt to wait out the Great Reckoning when they were teenagers, and only discovered that the war was over when they ventured out of the woods with teenage Edgar and encountered neighbourhoods they had never seen before. Peace Officers, spotting them, offered them money, housing, counseling, and education for their son.

Edgar was introduced to Miriam Gregory, who would oversee his memory treatment, in 1950. She met with him at his parents' new home, and the night before he left for Gateway Childhood Centre, his parents gave him a private party, with burgers, cake and ice cream. His parents dropped him off at the Childhood Centre in his best clothes with a big red suitcase. He appeared to adjust normally, but a few weeks into his stay, he approached Miriam upset and told her that his teacher had told the story of the girl and the damselfly wrong - differently to how his mother had told it. This was the first sign that the Watercolor Quiet was not working as expected with Edgar.

Although the regimen continued to appear effective as Miriam took Edgar through advanced Watercolor Quiet techniques over the next seven months, he continued to recall minor details about his parents and his life with them, such as the way his father cooked salmon. Even when he stopped appearing to recall old memories, he experienced bouts of depression, apparently still experiencing the emotions associated with separation without remembering who he had been separated from. Rosemary and others began to take great interest in Edgar's case. Miriam submitted a revised treatment plan which slowed the rate of Edgar's mandated sessions with her and the Watercolor Quiet, but she continued to see him off the record as a mentor and friend. She was surprised to find this deeply effective, but when she told Edgar that they no longer had to have their evening chats, he suddenly hugged her and begged her not to leave him. She promised not to. Rosemary interrupted the conversation, and told Miriam that the Department of Childhood Development was taking over Edgar's case the next day.

Miriam realised that she had not managed to free Edgar from a need from parental affection at all, and had inadvertently become a maternal figure to him. The next morning, he could not be found in the Childhood Centre, and without telling anybody, Miriam went to Edgar's parents' house. Upon confronting his parents, she confirmed her suspicion that he had been sneaking out of the Centre to see them throughout his treatment, and the whole family was attempting to fake their way through the regimen so that they didn't have to forget each other. However, Edgar had not come to them the previous night or that morning, and they had no idea where he was.

In fact, Edgar had been killed the previous night, and found dead in an empty lot about two miles from the Centre, causing the IID to be called in on the case. According to Rosemary, it was difficult to determine how he died because he had been disfigured to the extent that he was unrecognisable. At some later point, Miriam began to suspect that Rosemary herself had been behind Edgar's death, and when they met again in the mid 60s, she confirmed as much, asking Miriam if she would like to see her notes on his vivisection.

## Additional info

* The name "Edgar" is derived from the Old English elements "ead" for "wealth, fortune" and "gar" for "spear". The name is thought to have been popularised in the modern era by Sir Walter Scott's novel *The Bride of Lammermoor* (1819)

## References

1. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.164-65
2. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.166-68
3. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.171
4. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.180-82
5. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.184-86
6. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.189-91
7. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.198-99
8. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.272