`` he had no choice , '' kyle said . `` i can manage with it , dear , '' she said , smiling at him . they landed on either side of the front door and flattened themselves back . that hope was quickly dashed when he went away for a week to volunteer with the middle school 's outdoor education program and came back to find his mother in the hospital after a nervous breakdown . `` in thirty years of working with mentally disturbed patients , you have never seen a single case of multiple personality disorder ? '' 