The Uses of Enchantment

Was high-school sophomore Mary "Mimsy" Veal abducted from a New England prep-school hockey field in late 1985, or did she make that all up after reappearing weeks later? Better a liar than damaged goods, her social-climber mum thought, sending her, apparently suffering post-traumatic amnesia, into counseling with a therapist who perceived prevarication paralleling a 300-years-prior abduction by Indians and Mary's case, complete with golden-tomahawk visions, as a means to celebrity.