{"id":5255,"date":"2014-01-24T15:51:41","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T22:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/?p=5255"},"modified":"2016-04-07T15:52:04","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T22:52:04","slug":"6-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/?p=5255","title":{"rendered":"– 6 –"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWould you like to be protected from bad weather at sea?\u201d says Peter, because he\u2019s aces at protecting people from bad weather, when they\u2019re at sea.<\/em><\/p>\n

. . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cActually,\u201d Sally admits, \u201cthat would be kind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

. . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d says Peter, \u201cdone, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sally grins. She gives a little fist-pump. Then her attention drifts to Bethany. She gives a kind of sad half-smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cBugs,\u201d says Bethany.<\/p>\n

\u201cEh?\u201d Sally says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my blessing. I can protect you from buggy software. Like, when somebody releases a new tape or cartridge for a marvelous computing device, it\u2019ll usually have some sort of logic error buried deep in the code. But not if I\u2019ve <\/i>blessed you it won\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI . . . don\u2019t need that,\u201d Sally says.<\/p>\n

Linus\u2019 hand is on Sally\u2019s shoulder. It tightens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what you say,\u201d Bethany says. \u201cThen, one day, bam! And you\u2019re wishing, if only I\u2019d listened to Bethany back then and got her blessing!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou paint a distressing picture,\u201d Sally admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right,\u201d Bethany says. She looks away, then back. \u201cI actually protected you against software bugs back when you started staring at us. I thought, what if I die? So I extended it then, lest I feel ashamed in Heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sally is quiet for a while. Then, softly, she says, \u201cI\u2019m sorry I broke into your room and tried to strangle and eat you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethany waves the apology off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was wrong of me,\u201d Sally says. \u201cUs. I mean, we oughtn\u2019t have attacked you like that. You wouldn\u2019t have gotten that hat on. I thought it was good, but \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut sometimes,\u201d Bethany says, \u201cwhen you try to kill and eat people, they get hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Sally says. She nods a couple of times. \u201cYeah, like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She squints at Bethany. She looks at Bethany\u2019s half-hand. She licks her lips.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d says Bethany, \u201cI won\u2019t say that it\u2019s all right, but it\u2019s all right. Are \u2014 is this another fight, then, or just apologies?\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter looks up at Linus\u2019 eyes and looks away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re all really stuck,\u201d says Sally. It\u2019s almost a whine. \u201cYou\u2019re so stuck. It would make so much sense <\/i>to kill and free you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on,\u201d Linus says. He starts to pull her away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a jerk,\u201d Peter says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s reluctant. It\u2019s like it\u2019s being forced out of him. And Linus snarls. Linus turns. Linus presses Peter back into the back of the under-stairs nook with one hand and his teeth are bared and he says, \u201cDon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI shouldn\u2019t have said,\u201d Peter says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t<\/i>,\u201d Linus snaps.<\/p>\n

Peter closes his mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t,\u201d Linus, who will be Mr. Enemy one day, whispers. He lowers his hand. He looks down. \u201cThe more we eat, the hungrier we get. Did you know that? It\u2019s so. And I think it must be that way with murder. The more we kill, the easier we kill. Kill you, Peter, and the next killing\u2019s easier, and the next, and the next, and pretty soon I\u2019m slaughtering kittens for canap\u00e9s and murdering down the halls and the Devil won\u2019t even bother putting on my skin because I\u2019ll be wickeder than he. But I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know if I shouldn\u2019t just do it anyway. So shut up.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause: you poor trapped creature.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Peter doesn\u2019t say anything. It\u2019s not appropriate to say anything. Anything he could say would hurt Linus. So, against his own desire to speak, he doesn\u2019t say anything. Linus shudders.<\/p>\n

It is coalescing to clarity in Peter\u2019s mind. The thoughts that circle the core of him like jaguars around this world of ours are spiraling inwards towards a sense-making.<\/p>\n

He realizes that all he must do to reassure Linus here is to say something \u2014 say something normal, something imperfect, something that is not what a saint would say. Say something dumb, that he\u2019ll regret later. Say something that\u2019s what Peter would say, but not what a perfected Peter would say \u2014 not what Saint<\/i> Peter, who is all that is right and good in him, would say.<\/p>\n

There is something in the white hats that longs to free people from their chains; that will kill them, if it must, to set them free; this is both a preference and a hunger; so to comfort Linus he must simply say something unfettered, unburdened, something unaltered by his own red hat.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very easy. It\u2019s just like trying to mix yellow paint and blue paint to get green; only, instead of having yellow and blue paint, the only color that Peter has is red.<\/p>\n

He can\u2019t relax and be natural.<\/p>\n

Relaxing and being natural is the right thing to do. Doing the right thing to do will only hurt Linus more.<\/p>\n

His thoughts spiral faster and faster. Peter\u2019s right eye pinkens.<\/p>\n

Peter\u2019s nose begins to bleed.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood grief,\u201d says Lucy.<\/p>\n

She shoves Linus. He snarls, strikes at her, and misses.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust eat him or get out of here, you blockhead,\u201d Lucy says. \u201cPeople are going to think you two are a couple <\/i>if you stand there stammering at one another much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linus makes sputtering noises. Peter rubs his nose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d says Peter, because it\u2019s the right thing to say under the circumstances, \u201cI hear that when you hang out with the Devil, that\u2019s like hanging out with everyone who\u2019s ever hung out with the Devil \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, God<\/i>,\u201d Linus says, and skitters away to make fake retching and gagging noises with his tongue on fire.<\/p>\n

Sally, after a moment, goes to help, although neither of these things are actually activities with which she can assist.<\/p>\n

They depart.<\/p>\n

Lucy, though, she stays behind. She stares at them for a while.<\/p>\n

Bethany opens her mouth to say something. Just before she does, Lucy speaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d Bethany says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what that boy\u2019s got in his head,\u201d she says, meaning Edmund, \u201cbut I\u2019d rather not<\/i> eat more people than I can afford to. Each person I eat, that\u2019s got me that much closer to the wolf. That much more under his power. I can\u2019t afford that. I don\u2019t want this wolf-power. I want my<\/i> own<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not very good for us, either,\u201d Bethany points out.<\/p>\n

Lucy hesitates. She looks confused.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, with the eating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d Lucy says. She waves a hand dismissively. \u201cYou\u2019ll get over that, when you\u2019ve been eaten.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an extremely problematic position!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d says Lucy. \u201cI\u2019m an evil prophet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethany tilts her head. Then she smiles gently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d she says, \u201cAn evil prophet that won\u2019t suffer from softwa\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy almost rips her eyes out. Bethany ducks. Lucy follows up. Her knee comes up. Bethany is spiraling off through ninja-space; but there, outside the world, she sees Lucy\u2019s hand, larger than world or void, come closing in. She staggers down to fall against the remnants of a Michelangelo with Lucy\u2019s hand around her throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d growls Lucy. \u201cNo blessings. I don\u2019t want your hope. I don\u2019t want your dreams. I will get bloody gout if I want to get bloody gout. You are a filthy planetary people and I will have none of it. None of it. Do you understand me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethany blinks.<\/p>\n

Her backup gun \u2014 it was hidden in the wall, under the Michelangelo \u2014 is in her hand. It fires full-bore holy bullets into the gut of the evil prophet of \u2014<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t happen. Lucy sees it coming. She explodes into a vaporous white pall that scatters through the hallway, just in time to realize that Bethany cannot possibly have a backup gun hidden in the wall behind the Michelangelo just waiting for Linus to eat his way down to it and then for Lucy to hold Bethany pinned there.<\/p>\n

She re-condenses. She starts to shake her fist for rock-paper-scissors.<\/p>\n

Bethany is moving forward, a shining lance of sacred steel in her hand \u2014<\/p>\n

Lucy shutters closed her third eye. She blinds herself to the future. She attempts to press the attack, but somehow this fails too; she is sprawled indecorously on the floor.<\/p>\n

Bethany sits down beside her.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn it,\u201d whispers Lucy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Bethany says. She brushes aside Lucy\u2019s hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour filthy world<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucy pulls herself up. She looks at Bethany. Then she sighs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really your fault,\u201d she says. \u201cI guess. You\u2019re just . . . doing that thing. That saint thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d says Bethany.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really doing that saint thing,\u201d says Bethany. \u201cI\u2019m just going through the motions. There isn\u2019t actually any hope for me, any longer, so I\u2019m just sort of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d says Lucy.<\/p>\n

She smiles a little.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s great,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s awesome. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethany looks perplexed, since she\u2019d expected either sneering or sympathy. She\u2019s even more confused when Lucy hugs her, not with comfort but with cheerfulness, and then doesn\u2019t try to kill or eat her even a little bit!<\/p>\n

\u201cUm,\u201d says Bethany.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I want<\/i>,\u201d says Lucy. \u201cThat\u2019s all I want. All I want is for everyone on your world to give up hopes and dreams and hungers and succumb to the will of the wicked god of space, and then to die when the Fan Hoeng space fleet arrives. I didn\u2019t know. I\u2019m so, so sorry. I wouldn\u2019t have tried to eat you if I\u2019d known<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pats Bethany on the shoulder. She walks away. She is whistling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do cannibals keep apologizing to me?\u201d Bethany asks of Heaven, but Heaven has no real answers for the House of Saints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWould you like to be protected from bad weather at sea?\u201d says Peter, because he\u2019s aces at protecting people from bad weather, when they\u2019re at sea. . . . \u201cActually,\u201d Sally admits, \u201cthat would be kind.\u201d . . . \u201cWell,\u201d says Peter, \u201cdone, then.\u201d Sally grins. She gives a little fist-pump. Then her attention drifts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"series":[47],"class_list":["post-5255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-storm-that-saw-itself-chapter-3","series-the-storm-that-saw-itself"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Hat_3a_nobg.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5255"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6147,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5255\/revisions\/6147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5255"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=5255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}