Short Story, “The Yellow Pill”

The main character in this short story is a psychiatrist named Dr. Cedric Elton. Or is his name Gar Castle? The confusion begins when Gerald Bocek, a criminal who had shot and killed six people and wounded two at a supermarket was brought into Cedric’s office. Gerald claimed that he was only defending himself, saying "’I blasted five Venusian lizard pirates who boarded our ship, and melted the door off of one gear locker and seared the paint on two others.’” What does Jerry mean when he talks about them being in a spaceship? I think that this story consist of two different views/worlds. Gerald is in the world with Mars Port, where everyone in the office is in a spaceship with lizard pirates and gear lockers. Gerald says that Dr. Cedric has surrounded himself with different protective delusions in his world, imagining himself to be a famous psychiatrist named Dr. Cedric Elton when his name is Gar Castle in Gerald’s space madness world. He also claims that Dr. Cedric’s receptionist, Helena Fitzroy is the expediter at Mars Port. Throughout the story, Gerald tells Dr. Cedric/Gar to take a yellow pill. "’Take one of those yellow pills in the medicine locker, Gar,’ he pleaded. ’It can't hurt you.’" This made me wonder what these yellow pills are meant to do. Does the effect somehow associate with distinguishing between these two worlds? Cedric takes the yellow pill to confirm that Helena is real, if she is. Instead, when he takes the pill he sees four gear lockers and the bodies of five blue-scaled Venusian lizards. This helps me to understand that taking the yellow pill can somehow take you to a different world, or help you to view the world differently.