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'Your pain is self-chosen.
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It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick
self.' Ponder on that, people of
Orphaleseand friends. No, I mean really ponder," he explained, glancing at the
bound "friends" on the platform.
"We always do that for a minute. Ada there will play us some music so we can
ponder."
CHANDLER SHIFTED uncomfortably, while an old woman crippled by arthritis began
fumbling a tune out of an electric organ. The bum Ellen Braisted had given him
was beginning to hurt badly. If only these people were not such obvious nuts,
he thought, he would feel a lot better about casting his lot in with them. But
maybe it took lunatics to do the job. Sane people hadn't accomplished much.
And anyway he had very little choice. . . .
"Ada, that's enough," ordered the fat youth. "Meg, come on up here. People of
Orphalese, now you can listen again while Meg explains to the new folks how
all this got started, seeing Guy's in no condition to do it."
The teen-ager marched up to the platform and took the parade-rest position
learned in some high. school debating societyin the days when there were
debating societies and high schools. "Ladies and gentlemen, well, let's start
at the beginning. Guy tells this better'n I do, of course, but I
guess I remember it all pretty well too. I ought to. I was in on it and all.
I" She grimaced and said, "Well, anyway, ladies and gentlemenpeople of
Orphalesethe way Guy organized this Orphalese self-protection society was,
like
Walter says, he was possessed. The only difference between
Guy and you and me was that he knew what to do about it, because he read the
book, you see. Not that that helped him at first, when he was took over. He
was really seized.
Yes, people of Orph'lese, he was taken and while his whole soul and brain and
body was under the influence of'
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t some foul wanderer fiend from hell he did things tha"~
ladies and gentlemen of Orph'lese, I wouldn't want to tell you. He was a harp
in the hand of the mighty, as it says.
Couldn't help it, not however much he tried. Only while he was doingthe
thingshe happened to catch his hand in a gas flame and, well you can see it
was pretty bad."
With a deprecatory smile Guy held up a twisted hand.
"And, do you know, he was free of his imp right then and there! Now, Guy is a
scientist, people of Orph'lese, he worked for the telephone company, and he
not only had that training in the company school but he had read the book, yon
see, and he put two and two together. Oh, and he's my uncle, of course. I'm
proud of him. I've alwavs loved him, and even when hewhen he was not one with
himself, you know, when he was doing those terrible things to me, I knew it
wasn't Uncle Guy that was doing them, but something else. I didn't know what,
though.
And when he told me he had figured out the Basic Rule, I
went along with him every bit. I knew Guy wasn't wrong, and what he said was
from Scripture. Imps fear pain! So we got to love it. That one I know by
heart, all right:
Could you keep your heart from wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your
pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy.' That's what it savs. ri kt~"
So that's why we got to hurt ourselves, people of Ornh'lpse and new
brothersbecause the Wanderers don't like it when we hurt and they leave us
alone. Simple's that.
"Well" the girl's face stiffened momentarily"I knew
7 wasn't going to be seized. So Guy and I got Else, that's the other girl he'd
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been doing things to, and we knew she wasn't going to be taken either. Not if
the imps feared pain like Guy said, because," she said solemnly, "I want to
tell you Guy hurt us pretty bad.
"And then we came out here, and found this place, and ever since then we've
been adding brothers and sisters. It's been slow, of course, because not many
people come this way any more, and we've had to kill a lot. Yes, we have.
Sometimes the possessed just can't be saved, but"
Abruptly her face changed.
Suddenly alert, her face years older, she glanced around the room. Then she
relaxed ...
And screamed.
Guy leaped up. Hoarsely, his voice almost inarticulate as he tried to talk
with his broken jaw, he cried, "Wha. . .
Wha's . . . matter, Meg?"
"Uncle Guy!" she wailed. She plunged off the platform and flung herself into
his arms, crying hysterically.
"Who:"'
She sobbed, "I could feel it! They took me. Guy, you promised me they
couldn't!"
He shook his head, dazed, staring at her as though she were indeed
possessedstill possessed, and telling him some fearful great lie to destroy
his hopes. He seemed unable to comprehend what she had said. One of the
hunters bellowed in stark fear: "For God's sake, untie us!
Give us a chance, anyway!" Chandler yelled agreement. In one split second
everyone in the room had been transmut-
ed by terror into something less than human. No one seemed capable of any
action. Slowly the plump youth who had presided moved over to the hunter bound
in the
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t dentist's chair and began to fumble blindly at the knots.
Ellen Braisted dropped her head into her hands and began to shake.
The cruelty of the moment was that they had all tasted hope. Chandler writhed
wildly against his ropes, his mind racing out of control. The world had become
a hell for everyone, but a bearable hell until the promise of a chance to end
it gave them a full sight of what their lives had been. Now that that was
dashed they were far worse off than before.
Walter finished with the hunter and lethargically began to pick at Chandler's
bonds. His face was slack and unseeing.
Then it, too, changed.
The plump youth stood up sharply, glanced about, and walked off the platform.
Ellen Braisted raised her face from her hands and, her eyes streaming, quietly
stood up and followed. The old lady with the arthritis about-faced and limped
with them.
Chandler stared, puzzled, and then comprehended.
They were marching toward the corner of the room where the rifles were
stacked. "Possessed!" Chandler bel-
lowed, the words tasting of acid as they ripped out of his throat. "Stop them!
YouGuylook!" He flailed wildly at his loosened bonds, lunged, tottered and
toppled, chair and all, crashingly off the platform.
The three possessed ones did not need to hurry; they had all the time in the
world. They were already reaching out for the rifles when Chandler shouted.
Economically they turned, raising the butts to their shoulders and began to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]