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diff --git a/59368-0.txt b/59368-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..633b9ac --- /dev/null +++ b/59368-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,504 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59368 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + juvenile delinquent + + BY EDWARD W. LUDWIG + + _When everything is either restricted, + confidential or top-secret, a Reader + is a very bad security risk._ + + [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from + Worlds of If Science Fiction, October 1955. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that + the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +Tick-de-tock, _tick-de-tock_, whispered the antique clock on the first +floor of the house. + +There was no sound save for the ticking--and for the pounding of +Ronnie's heart. + +He stood alone in his upstairs bedroom. His slender-boned, +eight-year-old body trembling, perspiration glittering on his white +forehead. + +To Ronnie, the clock seemed to be saying: + +_Daddy's coming, Daddy's coming._ + +The soft shadows of September twilight in this year of 2056 were +seeping into the bedroom. Ronnie welcomed the fall of darkness. He +wanted to sink into its deep silence, to become one with it, to escape +forever from savage tongues and angry eyes. + +A burst of hope entered Ronnie's fear-filled eyes. Maybe something +would happen. Maybe Dad would have an accident. Maybe-- + +He bit his lip hard, shook his head. No. No matter what Dad might do, +it wasn't right to wish-- + +The whirling whine of a gyro-car mushroomed up from the landing +platform outside. + +Ronnie shivered, his pulse quickening. The muscles in his small body +were like a web of taut-drawn wires. + +Sound and movement below. Mom flicking off the controls of the +kitchen's Auto-Chef. The slow stride of her high heels through the +living room. The slamming of a gyro-car door. The opening of the front +door of the house. + +Dad's deep, happy voice echoed up the stairway: + +"Hi, beautiful!" + +Ronnie huddled in the darkness by the half-open bedroom door. + +_Please, Mama_, his mind cried, _please don't tell Daddy what I did._ + +There was a droning, indistinct murmur. + +Dad burst, "He was doing _what_?" + +More murmuring. + +"I can't believe it. You really saw him?... I'll be damned." + +Ronnie silently closed the bedroom door. + +_Why did you tell him, Mama? Why did you have to tell him?_ + +"Ronnie!" Dad called. + +Ronnie held his breath. His legs seemed as numb and nerveless as the +stumps of dead trees. + +"_Ronnie! Come down here!_" + + * * * * * + +Like an automaton, Ronnie shuffled out of his bedroom. He stepped +on the big silver disk on the landing. The auto-stairs clicked into +humming movement under his weight. + +To his left, on the wall, he caught kaleidoscopic glimpses of Mom's old +pictures, copies of paintings by medieval artists like Rembrandt, Van +Gogh, Cezanne, Dali. The faces seemed to be mocking him. Ronnie felt +like a wounded bird falling out of the sky. + +He saw that Dad and Mom were waiting for him. + +Mom's round blue eyes were full of mist and sadness. She hadn't +bothered to smooth her clipped, creamy-brown hair as she always did +when Dad was coming home. + +And Dad, handsome in his night-black, skin-tight Pentagon uniform, had +become a hostile stranger with narrowed eyes of black fire. + +"Is it true, Ronnie?" asked Dad. "Were you really--really reading a +book?" + +Ronnie gulped. He nodded. + +"Good Lord," Dad murmured. He took a deep breath and squatted down, +held Ronnie's arms and looked hard into his eyes. For an instant he +became the kind, understanding father that Ronnie knew. + +"Tell me all about it, son. Where did you get the book? Who taught you +to read?" + +Ronnie tried to keep his legs from shaking. "It was--Daddy, you won't +make trouble, will you?" + +"This is between you and me, son. We don't care about anyone else." + +"Well, it was Kenny Davis. He--" + +Dad's fingers tightened on Ronnie's arms. "Kenny Davis!" he spat. "The +boy's no good. His father never had a job in his life. Nobody'd even +offer him a job. Why, the whole town knows he's a Reader!" + +Mom stepped forward. "David, you promised you'd be sensible about this. +You promised you wouldn't get angry." + +Dad grunted. "All right, son. Go ahead." + +"Well, one day after school Kenny said he'd show me something. He took +me to his house--" + +"You went to that _shack_? You actually--" + +"Dear," said Mom. "You promised." + +A moment of silence. + +Ronnie said, "He took me to his house. I met his dad. Mr. Davis is lots +of fun. He has a beard and he paints pictures and he's collected almost +five hundred books." + +Ronnie's voice quavered. + +"Go on," said Dad sternly. + +"And I--and Mr. Davis said he'd teach me to read them if I promised not +to tell anybody. So he taught me a little every day after school--oh, +Dad, books are fun to read. They tell you things you can't see on the +video or hear on the tapes." + +"How long ago did all this start? + +"T--two years ago." + +Dad rose, fists clenched, staring strangely at nothing. + +"Two years," he breathed. "I thought I had a good son, and yet for two +years--" He shook his head unbelievingly. "Maybe it's my own fault. +Maybe I shouldn't have come to this small town. I should have taken a +house in Washington instead of trying to commute." + +"David," said Mom, very seriously, almost as if she were praying, "it +won't be necessary to have him memory-washed, will it?" + +Dad looked at Mom, frowning. Then he gazed at Ronnie. His soft-spoken +words were as ominous as the low growl of thunder: + +"I don't know, Edith. I don't know." + + * * * * * + +Dad strode to his easy chair by the fireplace. He sank into its +foam-rubber softness, sighing. He murmured a syllable into a tiny +ball-mike on the side of the chair. A metallic hand raised a lighted +cigarette to his lips. + +"Come here, son." + +Ronnie followed and sat on the hassock by Dad's feet. + +"Maybe I've never really explained things to you, Ronnie. You see, you +won't always be a boy. Someday you'll have to find a way of making a +living. You've only two choices: You work for the government, like I +do, or for a corporation." + +Ronnie blinked. "Mr. Davis doesn't work for the gover'ment or for a +corpor-ation." + +"Mr. Davis isn't normal," Dad snapped. "He's a hermit. No decent family +would let him in their house. He grows his own food and sometimes he +takes care of gardens for people. I want you to have more than that. I +want you to have a nice home and be respected by people." + +Dad puffed furiously on his cigarette. + +"And you can't get ahead if people know you've been a Reader. That's +something you can't live down. No matter how hard you try, people +always stumble upon the truth." + +Dad cleared his throat. "You see, when you get a job, all the +information you handle will have a classification. It'll be Restricted, +Low-Confidential, Confidential, High-Confidential, Secret, Top-Secret. +And all this information will be in writing. No matter what you do, +you'll have access to some of this information at one time or another." + +"B--but why do these things have to be so secret?" Ronnie asked. + +"Because of competitors, in the case of corporations--or because of +enemy nations in the case of government work. The written material you +might have access to could describe secret weapons and new processes +or plans for next year's advertising--maybe even a scheme for, er, +liquidation of a rival. If all facts and policies were made public, +there might be criticism, controversy, opposition by certain groups. +The less people know about things, the better. So we have to keep all +these things secret." + +Ronnie scowled. "But if things are written down, someone has to read +them, don't they?" + +"Sure, son. One person in ten thousand might reach the point where +his corporation or bureau will teach him to read. But you prove your +ability and loyalty first. By the time you're 35 or 40, they might +_want_ you to learn to read. But for young people and children--well, +it just isn't done. Why, the President himself wasn't trusted to learn +till he was nearly fifty!" + +Dad straightened his shoulders. "Look at me. I'm only 30, but I've been +a messenger for Secret material already. In a few years, if things go +well, I should be handling _Top_-Secret stuff. And who knows? Maybe by +the time I'm 50 I'll be _giving_ orders instead of carrying them. Then +I'll learn to read, too. That's the right way to do it." + +Ronnie shifted uncomfortably on the hassock. "But can't a Reader get a +job that's not so important. Like a barber or a plumber or--" + +"Don't you understand? The barber and plumbing equipment corporations +set up their stores and hire men to work for them. You think they'd +hire a Reader? People'd say you were a spy or a subversive or that +you're crazy like old man Davis." + +"Mr. Davis isn't crazy. And he isn't old. He's young, just like you, +and--" + +"Ronnie!" + +Dad's voice was knife-sharp and December-cold. Ronnie slipped off the +hassock as if struck physically by the fury of the voice. He sat +sprawled on his small posterior, fresh fear etched on his thin features. + +"Damn it, son, how could you even _think_ of being a Reader? You've got +a life-sized, 3-D video here, and we put on the smell and touch and +heat attachments just for you. You can listen to any tape in the world +at school. Ronnie, don't you realize I'd lose my job if people knew I +had a Reader for a son?" + +"B--but, Daddy--" + +Dad jumped to his feet. "I hate to say it, Edith, but we've got to put +this boy in a reformatory. Maybe a good memory-wash will take some of +the nonsense out of him!" + + * * * * * + +Ronnie suppressed a sob. "No, Daddy, don't let them take away my brain. +Please--" + +Dad stood very tall and very stiff, not even looking at him. "They +won't take your brain, just your memory for the past two years." + +A corner of Mom's mouth twitched. "David, I didn't want anything like +this. I thought maybe Ronnie could have a few private psychiatric +treatments. They can do wonderful things now--permi-hypnosis, creations +of artificial psychic blocks. A memory-wash would mean that Ronnie'd +have the mind of a six-year-old child again. He'd have to start to +school all over again." + +Dad returned to his chair. He buried his face in trembling hands, and +some of his anger seemed replaced by despair. "Lord, Edith, I don't +know what to do." + +He looked up abruptly, as if struck by a chilling new thought. "You +can't keep a two-year memory-wash a secret. I never thought of that +before. Why, that alone would mean the end of my promotions." + +Silence settled over the room, punctuated only by the ticking of the +antique clock. All movement seemed frozen, as if the room lay at the +bottom of a cold, thick sea. + +"David," Mom finally said. + +"Yes?" + +"There's only one solution. We can't destroy two years of Ronnie's +memory--you said that yourself. So we'll have to take him to a +psychiatrist or maybe a psychoneurologist. A few short treatments--" + +Dad interrupted: "But he'd _still_ remember how to read, unconsciously +anyway. Even permi-hypnosis would wear off in time. The boy can't keep +going to psychiatrists for the rest of his life." + +Thoughtfully he laced his fingers together. "Edith, what kind of a book +was he reading?" + +A tremor passed through Mom's slender body. "There were three books on +his bed. I'm not sure which one he was actually reading." + +Dad groaned. "_Three_ of them. Did you burn them?" + +"No, dear, not yet." + +"Why not?" + +"I don't know. Ronnie seemed to like them so much. I thought that maybe +tonight, after you d seen them--" + +"Get them, damn it. Let's burn the filthy things." + +Mom went to a mahogany chest in the dining room, produced three faded +volumes. She put them on the hassock at Dad's feet. + +Dad gingerly turned a cover. His lips curled in disgust as if he were +touching a rotting corpse. + +"Old," he mused, "--so very old. Ironic, isn't it? Our lives are being +wrecked by things that should have been destroyed and forgotten a +hundred years ago." + +A sudden frown contorted his dark features. + +_Tick-de-tock, tick-de-tock_, said the antique clock. + +"A hundred years old," he repeated. His mouth became a hard, thin line. +"Edith, I think I know why Ronnie wanted to read, why he fell into the +trap so easily." + +"What do you mean, David?" + +Dad nodded at the clock, and the slow, smouldering anger returned to +his face. "It's _your_ fault, Edith. You've always liked old things. +That clock of your great-great-grandmother's. Those old prints on the +wall. That stamp collection you started for Ronnie--stamps dated way +back to the 1940's." + +Mom's face paled. "I don't understand." + +"You've interested Ronnie in old things. To a child in its formative +years, in a pleasant house, these things symbolize peace and security. +Ronnie's been conditioned from the very time of his birth to like old +things. It was natural for him to be attracted by books. And we were +just too stupid to realize it." + +Mom whispered hoarsely, "I'm sorry, David." + +Hot anger flashed in Dad's eyes. "It isn't enough to be sorry. Don't +you see what this means? Ronnie'll have to be memory-washed back to the +time of birth. He'll have to start life all over again." + +"No, David, no!" + +"And in my position I can't afford to have an eight-year-old son with +the mind of a new-born baby. It's got to be Abandonment, Edith, there's +no other way. The boy can start life over in a reformatory, with a +complete memory-wash. He'll never know we existed, and he'll never +bother us again." + +Mom ran up to Dad. She put her hands on his shoulders. Great sobs burst +from her shaking body. + +"You can't, David! I won't let--" + +He slapped her then with the palm of his hand. The sound was like a +pistol shot in the hot, tight air. + +Dad stood now like a colossus carved of black ice. His right hand was +still upraised, ready to strike again. + +Then his hand fell. His mind seemed to be toying with a new thought, a +new concept. + +He seized one of the books on the hassock. + +"Edith," he said crisply, "just what was Ronnie reading? What's the +name of this book?" + +"_The--The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_," said Mom through her sobs. + +He grabbed the second book, held it before her shimmering vision. + +"And the name of this?" + +"_Tarzan of The Apes._" Mom's voice was a barely audible croak. + +"Who's the author?" + +"Edgar Rice Burroughs." + +"And this one?" + +"_The Wizard of Oz._" + +"Who wrote it?" + +"L. Frank Baum." + +He threw the books to the floor. He stepped backward. His face was a +mask of combined sorrow, disbelief, and rage. + +"_Edith._" He spat the name as if it were acid on his tongue. "Edith, +_you can read_!" + + * * * * * + +Mom sucked in her sobs. Her chalk-white cheeks were still streaked with +rivulets of tears. + +"I'm sorry, David. I've never told anyone--not even Ronnie. I haven't +read a book, haven't even looked at one since we were married. I've +tried to be a good wife--" + +"A good wife." Dad sneered. His face was so ugly that Ronnie looked +away. + +Mom continued, "I--I learned when I was just a girl. I was young like +Ronnie. You know how young people are--reckless, eager to do forbidden +things." + +"You lied to me," Dad snapped. "For ten years you've lied to me. Why +did you want to read, Edith? _Why?_" + +Mom was silent for a few seconds. She was breathing heavily, but no +longer crying. A calmness entered her features, and for the first time +tonight Ronnie saw no fear in her eyes. + +"I wanted to read," she said, her voice firm and proud, "because, as +Ronnie said, it's fun. The video's nice, with its dancers and lovers +and Indians and spacemen--but sometimes you want more than that. +Sometimes you want to know how people feel deep inside and how they +think. And there are beautiful words and beautiful thoughts, just like +there are beautiful paintings. It isn't enough just to hear them and +then forget them. Sometimes you want to keep the words and thoughts +before you because in that way you feel that they belong to you." + +Her words echoed in the room until absorbed by the ceaseless, ticking +clock. Mom stood straight and unashamed. Dad's gaze traveled slowly to +Ronnie, to Mom, to the clock, back and forth. + +At last he said, "Get out." + +Mom stared blankly. + +"Get out. Both of you. You can send for your things later. I never want +to see either of you again." + +"David--" + +"I said _get out_!" + +Ronnie and Mom left the house. Outside, the night was dark and a wind +was rising. Mom shivered in her thin house cloak. + +"Where will we go, Ronnie? Where, where--" + +"I know a place. Maybe we can stay there--for a little while." + +"A little while?" Mom echoed. Her mind seemed frozen by the cold wind. + +Ronnie led her through the cold, windy streets. They left the lights of +the town behind them. They stumbled over a rough, dirt country road. +They came to a small, rough-boarded house in the deep shadow of an +eucalyptus grove. The windows of the house were like friendly eyes of +warm golden light. + +An instant later a door opened and a small boy ran out to meet them. + +"Hi, Kenny." + +"Hi. Who's that? Your mom?" + +"Yep. Mr. Davis in?" + +"Sure." + +And a kindly-faced, bearded young man appeared in the golden doorway, +smiling. + +Ronnie and Mom stepped inside. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Juvenile Delinquent, by Edward W. Ludwig + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59368 *** diff --git a/59368-h/59368-h.htm b/59368-h/59368-h.htm index 6e96d40..01d3284 100644 --- a/59368-h/59368-h.htm +++ b/59368-h/59368-h.htm @@ -74,40 +74,7 @@ div.titlepage p { <body> -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Juvenile Delinquent, by Edward W. Ludwig - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Juvenile Delinquent - -Author: Edward W. Ludwig - -Release Date: April 26, 2019 [EBook #59368] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUVENILE DELINQUENT *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59368 ***</div> <div class="figcenter"> @@ -620,378 +587,7 @@ smiling.</p> -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Juvenile Delinquent, by Edward W. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Juvenile Delinquent - -Author: Edward W. Ludwig - -Release Date: April 26, 2019 [EBook #59368] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JUVENILE DELINQUENT *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - juvenile delinquent - - BY EDWARD W. LUDWIG - - _When everything is either restricted, - confidential or top-secret, a Reader - is a very bad security risk._ - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Worlds of If Science Fiction, October 1955. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Tick-de-tock, _tick-de-tock_, whispered the antique clock on the first -floor of the house. - -There was no sound save for the ticking--and for the pounding of -Ronnie's heart. - -He stood alone in his upstairs bedroom. His slender-boned, -eight-year-old body trembling, perspiration glittering on his white -forehead. - -To Ronnie, the clock seemed to be saying: - -_Daddy's coming, Daddy's coming._ - -The soft shadows of September twilight in this year of 2056 were -seeping into the bedroom. Ronnie welcomed the fall of darkness. He -wanted to sink into its deep silence, to become one with it, to escape -forever from savage tongues and angry eyes. - -A burst of hope entered Ronnie's fear-filled eyes. Maybe something -would happen. Maybe Dad would have an accident. Maybe-- - -He bit his lip hard, shook his head. No. No matter what Dad might do, -it wasn't right to wish-- - -The whirling whine of a gyro-car mushroomed up from the landing -platform outside. - -Ronnie shivered, his pulse quickening. The muscles in his small body -were like a web of taut-drawn wires. - -Sound and movement below. Mom flicking off the controls of the -kitchen's Auto-Chef. The slow stride of her high heels through the -living room. The slamming of a gyro-car door. The opening of the front -door of the house. - -Dad's deep, happy voice echoed up the stairway: - -"Hi, beautiful!" - -Ronnie huddled in the darkness by the half-open bedroom door. - -_Please, Mama_, his mind cried, _please don't tell Daddy what I did._ - -There was a droning, indistinct murmur. - -Dad burst, "He was doing _what_?" - -More murmuring. - -"I can't believe it. You really saw him?... I'll be damned." - -Ronnie silently closed the bedroom door. - -_Why did you tell him, Mama? Why did you have to tell him?_ - -"Ronnie!" Dad called. - -Ronnie held his breath. His legs seemed as numb and nerveless as the -stumps of dead trees. - -"_Ronnie! Come down here!_" - - * * * * * - -Like an automaton, Ronnie shuffled out of his bedroom. He stepped -on the big silver disk on the landing. The auto-stairs clicked into -humming movement under his weight. - -To his left, on the wall, he caught kaleidoscopic glimpses of Mom's old -pictures, copies of paintings by medieval artists like Rembrandt, Van -Gogh, Cezanne, Dali. The faces seemed to be mocking him. Ronnie felt -like a wounded bird falling out of the sky. - -He saw that Dad and Mom were waiting for him. - -Mom's round blue eyes were full of mist and sadness. She hadn't -bothered to smooth her clipped, creamy-brown hair as she always did -when Dad was coming home. - -And Dad, handsome in his night-black, skin-tight Pentagon uniform, had -become a hostile stranger with narrowed eyes of black fire. - -"Is it true, Ronnie?" asked Dad. "Were you really--really reading a -book?" - -Ronnie gulped. He nodded. - -"Good Lord," Dad murmured. He took a deep breath and squatted down, -held Ronnie's arms and looked hard into his eyes. For an instant he -became the kind, understanding father that Ronnie knew. - -"Tell me all about it, son. Where did you get the book? Who taught you -to read?" - -Ronnie tried to keep his legs from shaking. "It was--Daddy, you won't -make trouble, will you?" - -"This is between you and me, son. We don't care about anyone else." - -"Well, it was Kenny Davis. He--" - -Dad's fingers tightened on Ronnie's arms. "Kenny Davis!" he spat. "The -boy's no good. His father never had a job in his life. Nobody'd even -offer him a job. Why, the whole town knows he's a Reader!" - -Mom stepped forward. "David, you promised you'd be sensible about this. -You promised you wouldn't get angry." - -Dad grunted. "All right, son. Go ahead." - -"Well, one day after school Kenny said he'd show me something. He took -me to his house--" - -"You went to that _shack_? You actually--" - -"Dear," said Mom. "You promised." - -A moment of silence. - -Ronnie said, "He took me to his house. I met his dad. Mr. Davis is lots -of fun. He has a beard and he paints pictures and he's collected almost -five hundred books." - -Ronnie's voice quavered. - -"Go on," said Dad sternly. - -"And I--and Mr. Davis said he'd teach me to read them if I promised not -to tell anybody. So he taught me a little every day after school--oh, -Dad, books are fun to read. They tell you things you can't see on the -video or hear on the tapes." - -"How long ago did all this start? - -"T--two years ago." - -Dad rose, fists clenched, staring strangely at nothing. - -"Two years," he breathed. "I thought I had a good son, and yet for two -years--" He shook his head unbelievingly. "Maybe it's my own fault. -Maybe I shouldn't have come to this small town. I should have taken a -house in Washington instead of trying to commute." - -"David," said Mom, very seriously, almost as if she were praying, "it -won't be necessary to have him memory-washed, will it?" - -Dad looked at Mom, frowning. Then he gazed at Ronnie. His soft-spoken -words were as ominous as the low growl of thunder: - -"I don't know, Edith. I don't know." - - * * * * * - -Dad strode to his easy chair by the fireplace. He sank into its -foam-rubber softness, sighing. He murmured a syllable into a tiny -ball-mike on the side of the chair. A metallic hand raised a lighted -cigarette to his lips. - -"Come here, son." - -Ronnie followed and sat on the hassock by Dad's feet. - -"Maybe I've never really explained things to you, Ronnie. You see, you -won't always be a boy. Someday you'll have to find a way of making a -living. You've only two choices: You work for the government, like I -do, or for a corporation." - -Ronnie blinked. "Mr. Davis doesn't work for the gover'ment or for a -corpor-ation." - -"Mr. Davis isn't normal," Dad snapped. "He's a hermit. No decent family -would let him in their house. He grows his own food and sometimes he -takes care of gardens for people. I want you to have more than that. I -want you to have a nice home and be respected by people." - -Dad puffed furiously on his cigarette. - -"And you can't get ahead if people know you've been a Reader. That's -something you can't live down. No matter how hard you try, people -always stumble upon the truth." - -Dad cleared his throat. "You see, when you get a job, all the -information you handle will have a classification. It'll be Restricted, -Low-Confidential, Confidential, High-Confidential, Secret, Top-Secret. -And all this information will be in writing. No matter what you do, -you'll have access to some of this information at one time or another." - -"B--but why do these things have to be so secret?" Ronnie asked. - -"Because of competitors, in the case of corporations--or because of -enemy nations in the case of government work. The written material you -might have access to could describe secret weapons and new processes -or plans for next year's advertising--maybe even a scheme for, er, -liquidation of a rival. If all facts and policies were made public, -there might be criticism, controversy, opposition by certain groups. -The less people know about things, the better. So we have to keep all -these things secret." - -Ronnie scowled. "But if things are written down, someone has to read -them, don't they?" - -"Sure, son. One person in ten thousand might reach the point where -his corporation or bureau will teach him to read. But you prove your -ability and loyalty first. By the time you're 35 or 40, they might -_want_ you to learn to read. But for young people and children--well, -it just isn't done. Why, the President himself wasn't trusted to learn -till he was nearly fifty!" - -Dad straightened his shoulders. "Look at me. I'm only 30, but I've been -a messenger for Secret material already. In a few years, if things go -well, I should be handling _Top_-Secret stuff. And who knows? Maybe by -the time I'm 50 I'll be _giving_ orders instead of carrying them. Then -I'll learn to read, too. That's the right way to do it." - -Ronnie shifted uncomfortably on the hassock. "But can't a Reader get a -job that's not so important. Like a barber or a plumber or--" - -"Don't you understand? The barber and plumbing equipment corporations -set up their stores and hire men to work for them. You think they'd -hire a Reader? People'd say you were a spy or a subversive or that -you're crazy like old man Davis." - -"Mr. Davis isn't crazy. And he isn't old. He's young, just like you, -and--" - -"Ronnie!" - -Dad's voice was knife-sharp and December-cold. Ronnie slipped off the -hassock as if struck physically by the fury of the voice. He sat -sprawled on his small posterior, fresh fear etched on his thin features. - -"Damn it, son, how could you even _think_ of being a Reader? You've got -a life-sized, 3-D video here, and we put on the smell and touch and -heat attachments just for you. You can listen to any tape in the world -at school. Ronnie, don't you realize I'd lose my job if people knew I -had a Reader for a son?" - -"B--but, Daddy--" - -Dad jumped to his feet. "I hate to say it, Edith, but we've got to put -this boy in a reformatory. Maybe a good memory-wash will take some of -the nonsense out of him!" - - * * * * * - -Ronnie suppressed a sob. "No, Daddy, don't let them take away my brain. -Please--" - -Dad stood very tall and very stiff, not even looking at him. "They -won't take your brain, just your memory for the past two years." - -A corner of Mom's mouth twitched. "David, I didn't want anything like -this. I thought maybe Ronnie could have a few private psychiatric -treatments. They can do wonderful things now--permi-hypnosis, creations -of artificial psychic blocks. A memory-wash would mean that Ronnie'd -have the mind of a six-year-old child again. He'd have to start to -school all over again." - -Dad returned to his chair. He buried his face in trembling hands, and -some of his anger seemed replaced by despair. "Lord, Edith, I don't -know what to do." - -He looked up abruptly, as if struck by a chilling new thought. "You -can't keep a two-year memory-wash a secret. I never thought of that -before. Why, that alone would mean the end of my promotions." - -Silence settled over the room, punctuated only by the ticking of the -antique clock. All movement seemed frozen, as if the room lay at the -bottom of a cold, thick sea. - -"David," Mom finally said. - -"Yes?" - -"There's only one solution. We can't destroy two years of Ronnie's -memory--you said that yourself. So we'll have to take him to a -psychiatrist or maybe a psychoneurologist. A few short treatments--" - -Dad interrupted: "But he'd _still_ remember how to read, unconsciously -anyway. Even permi-hypnosis would wear off in time. The boy can't keep -going to psychiatrists for the rest of his life." - -Thoughtfully he laced his fingers together. "Edith, what kind of a book -was he reading?" - -A tremor passed through Mom's slender body. "There were three books on -his bed. I'm not sure which one he was actually reading." - -Dad groaned. "_Three_ of them. Did you burn them?" - -"No, dear, not yet." - -"Why not?" - -"I don't know. Ronnie seemed to like them so much. I thought that maybe -tonight, after you d seen them--" - -"Get them, damn it. Let's burn the filthy things." - -Mom went to a mahogany chest in the dining room, produced three faded -volumes. She put them on the hassock at Dad's feet. - -Dad gingerly turned a cover. His lips curled in disgust as if he were -touching a rotting corpse. - -"Old," he mused, "--so very old. Ironic, isn't it? Our lives are being -wrecked by things that should have been destroyed and forgotten a -hundred years ago." - -A sudden frown contorted his dark features. - -_Tick-de-tock, tick-de-tock_, said the antique clock. - -"A hundred years old," he repeated. His mouth became a hard, thin line. -"Edith, I think I know why Ronnie wanted to read, why he fell into the -trap so easily." - -"What do you mean, David?" - -Dad nodded at the clock, and the slow, smouldering anger returned to -his face. "It's _your_ fault, Edith. You've always liked old things. -That clock of your great-great-grandmother's. Those old prints on the -wall. That stamp collection you started for Ronnie--stamps dated way -back to the 1940's." - -Mom's face paled. "I don't understand." - -"You've interested Ronnie in old things. To a child in its formative -years, in a pleasant house, these things symbolize peace and security. -Ronnie's been conditioned from the very time of his birth to like old -things. It was natural for him to be attracted by books. And we were -just too stupid to realize it." - -Mom whispered hoarsely, "I'm sorry, David." - -Hot anger flashed in Dad's eyes. "It isn't enough to be sorry. Don't -you see what this means? Ronnie'll have to be memory-washed back to the -time of birth. He'll have to start life all over again." - -"No, David, no!" - -"And in my position I can't afford to have an eight-year-old son with -the mind of a new-born baby. It's got to be Abandonment, Edith, there's -no other way. The boy can start life over in a reformatory, with a -complete memory-wash. He'll never know we existed, and he'll never -bother us again." - -Mom ran up to Dad. She put her hands on his shoulders. Great sobs burst -from her shaking body. - -"You can't, David! I won't let--" - -He slapped her then with the palm of his hand. The sound was like a -pistol shot in the hot, tight air. - -Dad stood now like a colossus carved of black ice. His right hand was -still upraised, ready to strike again. - -Then his hand fell. His mind seemed to be toying with a new thought, a -new concept. - -He seized one of the books on the hassock. - -"Edith," he said crisply, "just what was Ronnie reading? What's the -name of this book?" - -"_The--The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_," said Mom through her sobs. - -He grabbed the second book, held it before her shimmering vision. - -"And the name of this?" - -"_Tarzan of The Apes._" Mom's voice was a barely audible croak. - -"Who's the author?" - -"Edgar Rice Burroughs." - -"And this one?" - -"_The Wizard of Oz._" - -"Who wrote it?" - -"L. Frank Baum." - -He threw the books to the floor. He stepped backward. His face was a -mask of combined sorrow, disbelief, and rage. - -"_Edith._" He spat the name as if it were acid on his tongue. "Edith, -_you can read_!" - - * * * * * - -Mom sucked in her sobs. Her chalk-white cheeks were still streaked with -rivulets of tears. - -"I'm sorry, David. I've never told anyone--not even Ronnie. I haven't -read a book, haven't even looked at one since we were married. I've -tried to be a good wife--" - -"A good wife." Dad sneered. His face was so ugly that Ronnie looked -away. - -Mom continued, "I--I learned when I was just a girl. I was young like -Ronnie. You know how young people are--reckless, eager to do forbidden -things." - -"You lied to me," Dad snapped. "For ten years you've lied to me. Why -did you want to read, Edith? _Why?_" - -Mom was silent for a few seconds. She was breathing heavily, but no -longer crying. A calmness entered her features, and for the first time -tonight Ronnie saw no fear in her eyes. - -"I wanted to read," she said, her voice firm and proud, "because, as -Ronnie said, it's fun. The video's nice, with its dancers and lovers -and Indians and spacemen--but sometimes you want more than that. -Sometimes you want to know how people feel deep inside and how they -think. And there are beautiful words and beautiful thoughts, just like -there are beautiful paintings. It isn't enough just to hear them and -then forget them. Sometimes you want to keep the words and thoughts -before you because in that way you feel that they belong to you." - -Her words echoed in the room until absorbed by the ceaseless, ticking -clock. Mom stood straight and unashamed. Dad's gaze traveled slowly to -Ronnie, to Mom, to the clock, back and forth. - -At last he said, "Get out." - -Mom stared blankly. - -"Get out. Both of you. You can send for your things later. I never want -to see either of you again." - -"David--" - -"I said _get out_!" - -Ronnie and Mom left the house. Outside, the night was dark and a wind -was rising. Mom shivered in her thin house cloak. - -"Where will we go, Ronnie? Where, where--" - -"I know a place. Maybe we can stay there--for a little while." - -"A little while?" Mom echoed. Her mind seemed frozen by the cold wind. - -Ronnie led her through the cold, windy streets. They left the lights of -the town behind them. They stumbled over a rough, dirt country road. -They came to a small, rough-boarded house in the deep shadow of an -eucalyptus grove. The windows of the house were like friendly eyes of -warm golden light. - -An instant later a door opened and a small boy ran out to meet them. - -"Hi, Kenny." - -"Hi. Who's that? Your mom?" - -"Yep. Mr. Davis in?" - -"Sure." - -And a kindly-faced, bearded young man appeared in the golden doorway, -smiling. - -Ronnie and Mom stepped inside. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Juvenile Delinquent, by Edward W. 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