Lincoln in the Bardo(52)
Rather too much, said the Vermonter.
Listen, the bass lisper intoned. At the time Marie and I did away with that baby, we felt ourselves to be working in the service of good. Honestly! We loved one another; the baby was not quite right; was an impediment to our love; its (his) stunted development impeded the natural expression of our love (we could not travel, could not dine out, were rarely given the slightest degree of privacy) and so it seemed (to us, at that time) that to remove the negative influence that was that baby (by dropping him into Furniss Creek) would free us up; to be more loving, and be more fully in the world, and would relieve him of the suffering entailed in being forevermore not quite right; would, that is, free him up from his suffering as well, and maximize the total happiness.
It seemed that way to you, the Brit said.
It did, it truly did, the bass lisper said.
Does it seem that way to you now? the woman asked.
Less so, the bass lisper said sadly.
Then your punishment is having the desired effect, the woman said.
the reverend everly thomas
We were as we were! the bass lisper barked. How could we have been otherwise? Or, being that way, have done otherwise? We were that way, at that time, and had been led to that place, not by any innate evil in ourselves, but by the state of our cognition and our experience up until that moment.
By Fate, by Destiny, said the Vermonter.
By the fact that time runs in only one direction, and we are borne along by it, influenced precisely as we are, to do just the things that we do, the bass lisper said.
And then are cruelly punished for it, said the woman.
Our regiment was being badly cut up by the Baluches, the Brit said. But then the tide turned, and a mess of them surrendered to us, with a white flag, and, well—down into the ditch they went, and the men fired, upon my command (none of them unhappily, mind you), and we threw in their white flag on top of the savages and covered them up. How could I have done otherwise? With time flowing in only one direction and myself made just as I was? With my short temper and my notions of manhood and honor, my schoolboy history of being beaten to within an inch of my life by three older brothers, that rifle feeling so beautiful in my hands and our enemies appearing so loathsome? How was I (how are any of us) to do other than that which we, at that time, actually do?
And did that argument persuade? the woman said.
You know very well, you tart, that it did not! the Brit said. For here I am.
Here we all are, said the Vermonter.
And ever shall be, said the Brit.
Nothing to be done about it, said the bass lisper.
Nothing ever to have been done about it, said the woman.
roger bevins iii
Glancing over, I saw a look pass over the Reverend’s face—a flicker of resolve, or defiance.
hans vollman
To be grouped with these, accepting one’s sins so passively, even proudly, with no trace of repentance?
I could not bear it; must I, even now, be beyond all hope?
(Perhaps, I thought, this is faith: to believe our God ever receptive to the smallest good intention.) the reverend everly thomas
Enough, the Vermonter said.
Down to business, said the woman. We have wasted too much effort on this one already.
The previous one? said the Brit. The girl? Much more amenable.
Wonderful child, said the woman. Completely passive.
Never gave us a bit of trouble, said the Brit.
Had our way with her just as pretty as you please, the bass lisper said.
Then again, she did not have all of this “help,” said the Vermonter.
True, the Brit said. No one helped her a single bit.
Young man? the woman said. Is it to be here? Or on the roof?
roger bevins iii
The lad was silent.
hans vollman
On the roof, the Reverend said. If you please.
Very well, said the woman.
The carapace fell away at once, and the boy was free.
roger bevins iii
If I might request the honor of carrying him up there? the Reverend said.
Certainly, the woman said.
hans vollman
I reached down, picked the boy up.
Ran.
Out of the crypt and into the night.
Ran-skimmed.
Ran-skimmed like the wind.
Toward the only place that now held the slightest hope of affording him refuge.
the reverend everly thomas
LXXXII.
Joyful, joyful!
An exceedingly bold stroke!
roger bevins iii
Bastard! the woman cried out wearily.
hans vollman
Mr. Vollman and I ran-skimmed out of the white stone home in pursuit of the Reverend.
roger bevins iii
A low wave burst out behind us, a moving knee-high wall comprised of whatever substance the demonic beings happened to be inhabiting in that instant (grass, dirt, headstone, statue, bench)— hans vollman
Which passed us now— roger bevins iii
(Like children in the surf, we were lifted, then set down again.) hans vollman
—and overtook the Reverend.
roger bevins iii
Who, slapped and harangued by the matter-blur that plashed up all about him, broke down the small hill near the gardener’s shed.
hans vollman
The chapel now coming into sight, we suddenly understood his intention.
roger bevins iii
The demonic beings split into two divisions, as it were, coming up fast on either side of the Reverend, then performed a crossing maneuver, at knee level, tripping him up.