"There was me." "That is, Alex, and my three droogs." "That is, Pete, Georgie and Dim." "And we sat in the Korova Milk Bar, trying to make up our rassoodocks  what to do with the evening." "The Korova Milk Bar sold milk plus." "Milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom  which is what we were drinking." "This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence." "In Dublin 's fair city" "Where the girls are so pretty" "I first set my eyes" "On sweet Molly Malone" "As she wheeled her wheelbarrow" "Through streets broad and narrow" "Crying, ""Cockles and mussels.... """ "One thing I could never stand  was to see a filthy, dirty old drunkie howling away at the filthy songs of his fathers and going ""blerp blerp "" in between as it might be a filthy old orchestra in his stinking guts." "I could never stand to see anyone like that, whatever his age." "But more especially when he was real old, like this one was." "Can you spare some cutter, me brothers?" "." "Go on!" "Do me in, you bastard cowards!" "I don't want to live anyway." "Not in a stinking world like this." "And what's so stinking about it?" "." "It's a stinking world because there's no law and order anymore!" "It stinks because it lets the young get onto the old like you done!" "It's no world for an old man any longer." "what kind of a world is it at all?" "." "Men on the moon." "Men spinning around the earth." "And there's not no attention paid to earthly law and order no more." "Oh, dear land" "I fought for thee" "It was at the derelict casino that we came across Billy-boy and his four droogs." "They were about to perform a little of the old in-out, in-out on a weepy young devotchka they had there." "well, if it isn't fat, stinking  billy goat Billy-boy in poison." "How are thou thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip-oil?" "." "Come and get one in the yarbles if you have any yarbles you eunuch jelly, thou." "Let's get them, boys!" "The police!" "Come on." "Let's go!" "The Durango 95 purred away real horrorshow." "A nice, warm vibratey feeling all through your guttiwuts." "soon it was trees and dark, my brothers  with real country dark." "We fillied around with other travelers of the night playing Hogs of the Road." "Then we headed west." "What we were after now was the old surprise visit." "That was a real kick and good for laughs and lashing of the old ultra-violent." "who on earth could that be?" "." "I'II go and see." "Yes, who is it?" "." "Excuse me, can you please help?" "." "There's been a terrible accident!" "My friend's bleeding to death!" "Can I please use your telephone?" "." "we don't have a telephone." "You'II have to go somewhere else." "But, missus, it's a matter of Iife and death!" "who is it, dear?" "." "A young man." "He says there's been an accident." "He wants to use the telephone." "I suppose you better let him in." "wait a minute, will you?" "." "I'm sorry, but we don't usually let strangers in" "what do you want from me?" "." "Pete, check the rest of the house." "Dim...." "I'm singing in the rain" "Just singing in the rain" "What a glorious feeling" "I'm happy again" "I'm laughing at clouds so dark up above" "The sun 's in my heart" "And I'm ready for love" "Let the stormy clouds chase" "Everyone from the place" "Come on with the rain" "I've a smile on my face" "I'll walk down the lane" "With a happy refrain" "And I'm singing" "Just singing in the rain" "Viddy well, little brother." "Viddy well." "We were all feeling a bit shagged and fagged and fashed it having been an evening of some small energy expenditure." "so we got rid of the auto and stopped at the Korova for a nightcap." "Hello, Lucy." "Had a busy night?" "." "we've been working hard too." "Pardon me, Luce." "There was some sophistos from the TV studios around the corner laughing and govoreeting." "The devotchka smeched away, not caring about the wicked world one bit." "Then the disk on the stereo twanged off and out." "And in the short silence before the next one came on she suddenly came with a burst of singing." "And it was like, for a moment, O my brothers some great bird had flown into the milk bar." "And I felt all the malenky little hairs on my plott standing endwise." "And the shivers crawling up like slow, malenky lizards and then down again." "Because I knew what she sang." "It was a bit from the glorious Ninth, by Ludwig van." "what did you do that for?" "." "For being a bastard with no manners." "without a dook of an idea about how to comport yourself public-wise." "I don't like you should do what you done." "And I'm not your brother no more and wouldn't want to be." "watch that." "Do watch that, if to continue to be on live thou dost wish." "Yarbles!" "Great, bouncy yarblockos to you!" "I'II meet you with chain or nozh or britva anytime." "I'm not having you aiming tolchocks at me reasonless." "It stands to reason, I won't have it." "A nozh scrap anytime you say." "Doobidoob." "A bit tired maybe." "Best not to say more." "Bedways is rightways now." "So best we go homeways and get a bit of spatchka." "Right, right?" "." "Where I lived was with my dada and mum in municipal flat block 18-A, Linear North." "It had been a wonderful evening." "And what I needed now to give it the perfect ending  was a bit of the old Ludwig van." "Oh, bliss!" "Bliss and heaven!" "It was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh." "It was like a bird of rarest spun heaven metal." "Or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship gravity all nonsense now." "As I slooshied I knew such lovely pictures." "alex." "alex!" "what do you want?" "." "It's past eight, alex." "You don't want to be late for school, son." "Bit of a pain in the gulliver, Mum." "Leave us be, and I'II try and sleep it off." "And then I'II be as right as dodgers for this after." "But you've not been to school all week, son." "Got to rest, Mum." "Got to get fit." "Otherwise, I'm liable to miss a Iot more school." "I'II put your breakfast in the oven." "I've got to be off meself now." "AII right, Mum." "Have a nice day at the factory." "He's not feeling too good again this morning, Dad." "Yes." "Yes, I heard." "You know what time he got in?" "." "No, I don't." "I'd taken me sleepers." "I wonder where exactly is it he goes to work of evenings." "Like he says it's mostly odd things he does." "Helping-Iike  here and there, as it might be." "Hi, hi, hi, Mr. Deltoid." "Funny surprise, seeing you here." "AIex-boy!" "Awake at last, yes?" "." "I met your mother on the way to work, yes?" "." "She gave me the key." "She said something about a pain somewhere." "Hence, not at school, yes?" "." "A rather intolerable pain in the head, brother sir." "It should be clear by this afterlunch." "Or certainly by this evening, yes." "The evening's the great time, isn't it, AIex-boy?" "." "Cup of the old chai, sir?" "." "No time, no time." "Sit, sit, sit!" "T o what do I owe this extreme pleasure, sir?" "." "Anything wrong, sir?" "." "wrong?" ". why should you think of anything being wrong?" "." "Have you been doing something you shouldn't?" "." "Just a manner of speech." "Yes, well, it's just a manner of speech from your  post-corrective advisor to you that you watch out, little alex." "Because next time it's not going to be the corrective school." "Next time it'II be the Barley place, and all my work ruined." "If you've no respect for yourself you at Ieast might have some for me, who sweated over you." "A big, black mark, I tell you, for every one we don't reclaim." "A confession of failure for every one of you who ends up in the stripy hole." "I've been doing nothing I shouldn't." "The millicents have nothing on me, brother." "Sir, I mean." "Cut out this clever talk about millicents." "Just because the police haven't picked you up doesn't mean that you've not been up to some nastiness." "There was a bit of nastiness last night." "Some very extreme nastiness, yes?" "." "A few of a certain Billy-boy's friends were ambulanced off late." "Your name was mentioned." "The words got to me by the usual channels." "Certain friends of yours were named also." "Nobody can prove anything about anybody, as usual." "I'm warning you, little alex  being a good friend to you as always the one man in this sore and sick community who wants to save you from yourself!" "what gets into you all?" "." "we've been studying the problem for damn well near a century." "But we get no farther with our studies." "You got a good home here." "Good, loving parents." "You've got not too bad of a brain." "Is it some devil that crawls inside of you?" "." "Nobody's got anything on me." "I been out of the millicents' rookers for a Iong time." "That's just what worries me." "A bit too long to be safe." "You're about due, by my reckoning." "That's why I' m warning you to keep your handsome young proboscis out of the dirt." "Do I make myself clear?" "As an unmuddied lake, sir." "As clear as an azure sky of deepest summer." "You can rely on me, sir." "Excuse me, brother." "I ordered this two weeks ago." "Can you see if it's arrived?" "." "Just a minute." "Pardon me, ladies." "Enjoying that, are you, my darling?" "." "A bit cold and pointless, isn't it, my lovely?" "." "what's happened to yours, my little sister?" "." "who you getting, bratty?" "." "Goggly Gogol?" "." "Johnny Zhivago?" "." "The Heaven 1 7?" "what you got back home to play your fuzzy warbles on?" "." "I bet you've got little pitiful, portable picnic players." "Come with Uncle and hear all proper." "Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones." "You are invited." "Hi, hi, hi, there." "well, hello." "He are here!" "He have arrived!" "Hooray!" "welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well!" "To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this surprising visit?" "." "we got worried." "There we were, waiting and drinking away at the old knifey moloko and you had not turned up." "And we thought you might have been, Iike offended by something or other." "So around we come to your abode." "Appy polly loggies." "I had something of a pain in the gulliver, so I had to sleep." "I was not awakened when I gave orders for wakening." "Sorry about the pain." "Using the gulliver too much-Iike, maybe." "Giving orders and discipline and such, perhaps." "You sure the pain is gone?" "." "You sure you'd not be happier back in bed?" "." "Let's get things nice and sparkling clear." "This sarcasm, if I may call it such does not become you, my little brothers." "As I am your droog and leader I' m entitled to know what goes on." "Now then, Dim." "what does that great big horsey gape of a grin portend?" "." "AII right, no more picking on Dim, brother." "That's part of the new way." "New way?" "." "what's this about a new way?" "." "There's been some very large talk behind my sleeping back, I know it." "If you must have it, have it, then." "we go around shop crasting and the like..." "And will the English in the coffee mesto saying he can fence anything any malchick tries to crast." "The shiny stuff." "The ice!" "The big, big money's available, is what will the English says." "And what will you do with the big, big, big money?" "." "Have you not everything you need?" "." "If you need a motorcar, you pluck it from the trees." "If you need pretty polly, you take it." "Brother, you think and talk sometimes like a Iittle child." "T onight we pull a man-size crast." "Good!" "Real horrorshow!" "Initiative comes to thems that wait." "I've taught you much, my little droogies." "Now tell me what you had in mind, Georgie-boy." "The old moloko plus first." "would you not say?" "." "Something to sharpen us up." "Some moloko plus." "You got to go there first." "we got a start on you." "Moloko plus!" "As we walked along the flatblock marina I was calm on the outside, but thinking all the time." "so now it was to be Georgie the General saying what we should do and what not to do." "And Dim as his mindless, grinning bulldog." "But suddenly I viddied that thinking was for the gloopy ones and that the oomny ones used, like, inspiration and what Bog sends." "For now it was lovely music that came to my aid." "There was a window open with a stereo on and I viddied right at once what to do." "I had not cut into any of Dim 's main cables." "And so with the help of a clean tashtook  the red, red kroovy soon stopped." "And it did not take long to quieten the two wounded soldiers  down in the snug of the Duke of New York." "Now they knew who was master and leader." "sheep, thought I." "But a real leader knows always when, like  to give and show generous to his unders." "Now we' re back to where we were." "Yes?" "." "Just like before, and all forgotten?" "." "Right, right, right?" "." "Right." "Right." "Right." "well, Georgie-boy this idea of yours for tonight." "T ell us all about it, then." "Not tonight." "Not this nochy." "Come, come, come, Georgie-boy." "You' re a big, strong chelloveck, Iike us all." "we' re not little children, are we, Georgie-boy?" "." "what, then, didst thou in thy mind have?" "." "It's this health farm." "A bit out of the town." "Isolated." "It's owned by this rich ptitsa who lives there with her cats." "The place is shut down for a week and she 's completely on her own." "It's full up with, like, gold and silver and, like, jewels." "Tell me more, Georgie-boy." "Tell me more." "Oh, shit!" "who's there?" "." "Excuse me, can you please help?" "." "There's been a terrible accident!" "Can I please use your telephone for an ambulance?" "." "I'm frightfully sorry." "There's a telephone in the public house a mile down the road." "I suggest you use that." "But missus, this is an emergency!" "It's a matter of Iife and death!" "Me friend's lying in the middle of the road, bleeding to death!" "I'm very sorry, but I never open the door to strangers after dark." "Very well, madam." "You can't be blamed for being suspicious with so many scoundrels and rogues of the night about." "I'II try and get help at the pub, then." "I'm sorry if I disturbed you." "Thank you very much." "Good night." "Dim, bend down." "I'II get in that window and open the front door." "Radlett Police Station?" "Good evening." "It's Miss weathers at woodmere Health Farm." "I'm sorry to bother you, but something rather odd just happened." "It's probably nothing at all, but you never know." "A young man rang the bell, asking to use the telephone." "He said there's been some kind of accident." "The thing that caught my attention was what he said." "His words sounded like those quoted in the papers this morning in connection with the writer and his wife who were assaulted." "Just a few minutes ago." "If you think that's necessary." "But I'm quite sure he's gone away now." "AII right, fine." "Thank you very much." "Hi, hi, hi, there." "At last we meet." "Our brief govorett through the Ietter-hole was not satisfactory." "who are you?" "." "How the hell did you get in here?" "." "what the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" "." "Naughty, naughty, naughty!" "You filthy old soomaka." "Now listen here, you little bastard!" "Just turn round and walk out of here the same way you came in." "Leave that alone!" "Don't touch it!" "It's a very important work of art." "what the bloody hell do you want?" "." "T o be perfectly honest, madam  I' m taking part in an international students' contest to see who can get the most points for selling magazines." "Cut the shit, sonny and get out of here before you get yourself into serious trouble." "I told you to leave that alone!" "Now get out of here  before I throw you out!" "wretched, slummy bedbug!" "I'II teach you to break into real people's houses." "Fucking little  bastard!" "Let's go." "The police are coming!" "One minoota, droogie." "You bastards!" "I' m blind!" "I'm blind, you bastards!" "I can't see!" "It's no good sitting there in hope, my little brothers." "I won't say a single solitary slovo unless I have my lawyer here." "I know the Iaw, you bastards." "Righty-right, T om." "we'II have to show our friend alex here that we know the Iaw too." "But that knowing the Iaw isn't everything." "Nasty cut you've got there, little alex." "Shame, isn't it?" "." "Spoils all your beauty." "who gave you that, then?" "." "How'd you do that, then?" "." "what's your point, you bastard?" "." "That is for your lady victim." "You ghastly wretched scoundrel." "Get him off me!" "You rotten little bastard!" "Good evening, Mr. Deltoid." "Good evening, Sergeant." "They're in room B, sir." "Thank you very much." "Sergeant" "Good evening." "Good evening, Inspector." "would you Iike your tea now, sir?" "." "No, thank you, Sergeant." "May I have some paper towels, please?" "." "we' re interrogating the prisoner now." "Perhaps you'd care to come inside." "Thank you very much." "Good evening, Sergeant." "Good evening, all." "Oh, dear!" "This boy does look a mess, doesn't he?" "." "Just look at the state of him." "Love's young nightmare-Iike." "Violence makes violence." "He resisted his lawful arrestors." "This is the end of the line for me." "The end of the line, yes." "And what of me, brother sir?" "." "Speak up for me." "I'm not so bad." "I was led on by the treachery of others." "Sings the roof off lovely, he does, sir." "where are my treacherous droogs?" "." "Get them before they get away!" "It was all their idea, brothers." "They forced me to do it." "I'm innocent!" "You are now a murderer, little alex." "A murderer." "Not true, sir." "It was only a slight tolchok." "She were breathing, I swear it." "I've just come from the hospital." "Your victim has died." "You try to frighten me." "Admit so, sir." "This is some new form of torture." "Say it, brother sir." "It'II be your own torture." "I hope to God it'II torture you to madness." "If you'd care to give him a bash in the chops, don't mind us." "we'II hold him down." "He must be a great disappointment to you, sir." "This is the real weepy and tragic part of the story beginning  O my brothers and only friends." "After a trial, with judges and a jury and hard words spoken against your friend and humble narrator he was sentenced to 14 years in staja Number 84-F among smelly perverts and hardened prestoopniks." "The shock sending my dada beating his bruised and krovvy rookers against unfair Bog in His Heaven." "And my mum boo-hoo-hooing in her mother's grief at her only child and son of her bosom like, letting everybody down real horrorshow." "Morning." "One up from Thames, mister." "Right!" "Open up the cell!" "Yes, sir." "Here are the prisoner's committal forms." "Thank you, mister." "Name?" "." "alexander DeLarge." "You are now in H. M. Prison Parkmoor." "From this moment, you will address all prison officers as "sir. "" "Name?" "alexander DeLarge, sir." "Sentence?" "." "1 4 years, sir." "Crime?" "." "Murder, sir." "Right." "T ake the cuffs off him, mister." "You are now 655321." "It is your duty to memorize that number." "Thank you, mister. well done." "Thank you." "Let the officer out." "AII right, empty your pockets." "Are you able to see the white line painted on the floor directly behind you  655321?" "." "Then your toes belong on the other side of it!" "Yes, sir." "Right." "Carry on." "Pick that up and put it down properly." "One half-bar of chocolate." "One bunch of keys on white metal ring." "One packet of cigarettes." "Two plastic ball pens." "One black, one red." "One pocket comb, black plastic." "One address book, imitation red leather." "One ten-penny piece." "One white metal wristlet watch Timawrist, on a white metal expanding bracelet." "Anything else in your pockets?" "." "No, sir." "Right." "Sign here for your valuable property." "The tobacco and chocolate you brought in you lose that as you are now convicted." "Now over to the table and get undressed." "were you in police custody this morning?" "." "One jacket, blue pinstriped." "Prison custody?" "Yes, sir, on remand." "One necktie, blue." "Religion?" "." "C. of E., sir." "Do you mean the Church of England?" "." "Yes, sir." "The Church of England." "Brown hair, isn't it?" "." "Fair hair, sir." "blue eyes?" "blue, sir." "Do you wear eyeglasses or contact lenses?" "." "No, sir." "One shirt, blue." "Collar attached." "Have you been receiving medical treatment for any serious illness?" "." "One pair of boots, black leather." "Zippered. worn." "Have you ever had any mental illness?" "." "Do you wear any false teeth or any false limbs?" "." "One pair of trousers, blue pinstriped." "Have you ever had any attacks of fainting or dizziness?" "." "One pair of socks, black." "Are you an epileptic?" "." "One pair of underpants, white with blue waistband." "Are you now, or have you ever been, a homosexual?" "." "Right." "The mothballs, mister." "Mothballs, sir." "Now then, face the wall  bend over and touch your toes." "Any venereal disease?" "." "Crabs?" "." "Lice?" "." "Through there for the bath." "One for a bath." "what's it going to be, eh?" "." "Is it going to be in and out of institutions like this though more in than out for most of you?" "." "Or are you going to attend to the divine word and realize the punishments that await unrepentant sinners in the next world as well as this?" "." "A Iot of idiots you are selling your birthright for a saucer of cold porridge." "The thrill of theft." "Of violence." "The urge to live easy." "well, I ask you what is it worth when we have undeniable proof yes, incontrovertible evidence that hell exists?" "." "I know!" "I know, my friends." "I have been informed in visions that there is a place darker than any prison  hotter than any flame of human fire where souls of unrepentant criminal sinners like yourselves" "Don't you laugh, damn you!" "Don't you laugh." "I say, Iike yourselves scream in endless and unendurable agony." "Their skin  rotting and peeling." "A fireball spinning in their screaming guts!" "I know." "Yes, I know!" "AII right, you lot!" "we'II end by singing hymn 258 in the prisoner's hymnal." "And let's have a Iittle reverence, you bastards!" "I was a wandering sheep" "Sing up, damn you!" "I did not love the fold" "Louder!" "I did not love my shepherd's voice" "I would not be controlled" "Louder!" "It had not been edifying." "Indeed not." "Being in this hellhole and human zoo for two years now." "Being kicked and tolchoked by brutal warders and meeting leering criminals and perverts ready to dribble all over a luscious young malchick like your storyteller." "It was my rabbit  to help the prison charlie with the sunday service." "He was a bolshy, great burly bastard." "But he was very fond of myself, me being very young and also now very interested in the Big Book." "I read all about the scourging and the crowning with thorns." "And I could viddy myself helping in and even taking charge of the tolchoking and the nailing in." "Being dressed in the height of Roman fashion." "I didn 't so much like the latter part of the Book  which is more like all preachy talking  than fighting and the old in-out." "I like the parts where these old yahoodies tolchok each other and then drink their Hebrew vino and getting onto the bed with their wives ' handmaidens." "That kept me going." ""Seek not to be like evil men." "Neither desire to be with them  because their minds studieth robberies and their lips speak deceits. "" "If thou lose hope, being weary in the days of distress thy strength shall be diminished." "Fine, my son." "Fine." "Father?" "I have tried, have I not?" "." "You have, my son." "I've done my best, have I not?" "." "Indeed." "I've never been guilty of any institutional infraction, have I?" "." "You certainly have not, 655321." "You've been very helpful." "And you've shown a genuine desire to reform." "Father can I ask you a question in private?" "." "Certainly, my son." "Certainly." "Is there something troubling you, my son?" "." "Don't be shy to speak up." "Remember  I know of the  urges that can trouble young men deprived of the society of women." "It's nothing like that, Father." "It's about this new thing they' re all talking about." "About this new treatment." "It gets you out of prison in no time." "And makes sure you never get back in again." "where did you hear about this?" "." "who's been talking about these things?" "." "These things get around." "Two warders talk, as it might be." "And somebody can't help overhearing what they say." "Then somebody picks up a scrap of newspaper in the workshops and the newspaper tells all about it." "How about putting me in for this new treatment?" "." "I take it you are referring to the Ludovico technique." "I don't know what it's called." "I just know it gets you out quickly and makes sure you never get back in again." "That is not proven, 655321." "In fact, it is only in the experimental stage at this moment." "It has been used, hasn't it?" "." "It has not been used in this prison yet." "The governor has grave doubts about it." "And I've heard there are very serious dangers involved." "I don't care about the dangers." "I just want to be good." "I want for the rest of my Iife to be one act of goodness." "The question is whether or not this technique really makes a man good." "Goodness comes from within." "Goodness is chosen." "when a man cannot choose  he ceases to be a man." "I don't understand about the whys and wherefores, Father." "I only know I want to be good." "Be patient, my son." "Put your trust in the Lord." "Instruct Thy Son and He shall refresh thee and shall give delight to thy soul." "Amen." "Mister!" "AII present and correct, sir!" "Right!" "AII present and correct, sir!" "Prisoners, halt!" "Now pay attention!" "I want you in two lines  up against that wall, facing this way." "Go on, move!" "Hurry up!" "Stop talking!" "Prisoners ready for inspection, sir!" "How many to a cell?" "Four in this block, sir." "Cram criminals together and what do you get?" "." "Concentrated criminality." "Crime in the midst of punishment." "I agree, sir. we need larger prisons, more money." "Not a chance, my dear fellow." "The government can't be concerned any longer with outmoded penalogical theories." "Soon we may need all prison space for political offenders." "Common criminals are best dealt with on a purely curative basis." "IKill the criminal reflex, that's all." "Full implementation in a year's time." "Punishment means nothing to them." "They enjoy their so-called punishment." "You're absolutely right, sir." "Shut your bleeding hole!" "who said that?" "." "I did, sir." "what crime did you commit?" "." "The accidental killing of a person, sir." "He brutally murdered a woman in furtherance of theft." "Fourteen years, sir." "Excellent." "He's enterprising aggressive outgoing young  bold vicious." "He'II do." "Fine." "we could still look at C-block." "No, no." "That's enough." "He's perfect." "I want his records sent to me." "This vicious young hoodlum will be transformed out of all recognition." "Thank you very much for this chance." "Let's hope you make the most of it, my boy." "Shall we go to my office?" "." "Thank you." "Come in." "Sir!" "655321." "Sir!" "Very good, Chief." "Over to the line." "T oes behind it." "Full name and number to the governor." "alexander DeLarge, sir." "655321, sir." "I don't suppose you know who that was this morning." "That was no less a personage than the Minister of the Interior." "The new Minister of the Interior." "what they call a very new broom." "These new ridiculous ideas have come at last." "And orders are orders though I may say to you in confidence, I do not approve." "An eye for an eye, I say." "If someone hits you, you hit back, do you not?" "." "why should not the state, severely hit by you hooligans  not hit back also?" "." "The new view is to say " no. "" "The new view is that we turn the bad into good." "AII of which seems to me to be grossly unjust." "Shut your filthy hole, you scum!" "You are to be reformed." "T omorrow you will go to this man, Brodsky." "You will be leaving here." "You will be transferred to the Ludovico medical facility." "It's believed you'II be able to leave state custody in a fortnight." "I suppose that prospect pleases you?" "Answer the governor's question!" "Yes, sir." "Thank you very much." "I've done my best here, I really have, sir." "I' m very grateful to all concerned, sir." "Sign this where it's marked." "Don't read it, sign it!" "It says you're willing to have your sentence commuted to submission to the Ludovico treatment." "And this." "And another copy." "The next morning I was taken to  the Ludovico medical facility  outside the town center." "I felt a malenky bit sad having to say goodbye to the old staja as you will, when you leave a place you 've gotten used to." "Right, halt the prisoner." "Good morning, sir." "I' m Chief Officer Barnes." "I've got 655321 on a transfer from Parkmoor to the Ludovico Centre, sir." "Good morning." "Yes, we've been expecting you." "I' m Dr. Alcot." "Dr. Alcot." "Very good, sir." "Are you prepared for the prisoner?" "." "Yes, of course." "I wonder if you'd mind signing these documents, sir." "There, sir." "And there, sir." "And there." "There you are." "Prison escort, move forward!" "Halt!" "Excuse me, sir." "Is that the officer who will take charge of the prisoner?" "." "A word of advice, doc." "You'II have to watch this one." "A right brutal bastard he has been, and will be again in spite of all his sucking up and reading the Bible." "we can manage things." "Show the young man to his room." "Right, sir." "Come this way, please." "Morning, Charlie." "Good morning, Doctor." "Good morning, alex." "My name is Dr. Branom." "I' m Dr. Brodsky's assistant." "Good morning, missus." "Lovely day." "Indeed, it is." "May I take that?" "How are you feeling?" "." "Fine, fine." "Good." "In a few minutes you'II meet Dr. Brodsky and begin your treatment." "You' re a very lucky boy to have been chosen." "I realize that, and I' m very grateful." "we're going to be friends, aren't we?" "." "I hope so, missus." "what's the hypo for?" "." "Sending me to sleep?" "." "Nothing of the sort." "Vitamins will it be, then?" "." "Something like that." "You're undernourished, so after each meal we'II give you a shot." "Roll over on your right side." "Loosen your pajama pants and pull them halfway down." "what exactly is the treatment here going to be, then?" "." "It's quite simple, really." "we're going to show you some films." "You mean like going to the pictures?" "." "Something like that." "That's good." "I Iike to viddy the old films now and again." "And viddy films I would." "Where I was taken to, brothers  was like no cine I ever viddied before." "I was bound up in a straitjacket and my gulliver was strapped to a headrest  with wires running away from it." "Then they clamped, like, lid-locks on me eyes so that I could not shut them, no matter how hard I tried." "It seemed a bit crazy to me but I let them get on with what they wanted to get on with." "If I was to be a free malchick again in a fortnight I would put up with much in the meantime, O my brothers." "The first film was a very good, professional piece of cine like it was done in Hollywood." "The sounds were real horrorshow." "You could slooshy the screams and moans very realistic." "You could even get the breathing and panting  of the tolchocking malchicks at the same time." "And then what do you know?" "soon our dear old friend  the red, red vino on tap  the same in all places like it's put out by the same firm began to flow." "It was beautiful." "It's funny how the colors of the real world  only seem really real  when you viddy them on a screen." "Now, all the time I was watching this I was beginning to get very aware  of, like, not feeling all that well." "And this I put down to all the rich food and vitamins." "But I tried to forget this, concentrating on the next film  which jumped right away on a young devotchka  who was being given the old in-out, in-out  first by one malchick  then another." "Then another." "When it came to the 6th or 7th malchick Ieering and smecking and then going into it I began to feel really sick." "But I could not shut me glazzies." "And even if I tried to move my glazzballs about I still could not get out of  the line of fire of this picture." "Get me up." "I' m going to be sick." "Get something for me to be sick in!" "Very soon now, the drug will cause the subject to experience a deathlike paralysis together with deep feelings of terror and helplessness." "One of our early test subjects described it as being like death." "A sense of stifling or drowning." "And it is during this period, we have found the subject will make his most rewarding associations  between his catastrophic experience, environment and the violence he sees." "Dr. Brodsky is pleased with you." "You've made a very positive response." "T omorrow there will be two sessions, morning and afternoon." "You mean I have to viddy two sessions in one day?" "." "I imagine you'II feel a bit limp by the end of the day." "But we have to be hard on you." "You have to be cured." "It was horrible." "Of course it was horrible." "Violence is a very horrible thing." "That's what you're learning now." "Your body's learning it." "I just don't understand about feeling sick the way I did." "I never used to feel sick." "I used to feel the very opposite." "Doing it or watching it, I used to feel real horrorshow." "You felt ill this afternoon because you're getting better." "when we're healthy, we respond to the hateful with fear and nausea." "You' re becoming healthy, that's all." "By this time tomorrow, you'II be healthier still." "It was the next day, brothers and I had truly done my best morning and afternoon to play it their way and sit like a horrorshow cooperative malchick in the chair of torture  while they flashed nasty bits of ultra-violence on the screen  though not on the soundtrack, the only sound being music." "Then I noticed, in all my pain and sickness  what music it was that, like, cracked and boomed." "It was Ludwig van." "Ninth symphony, fourth movement." "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "please, I beg you!" "It's a sin!" "It's a sin!" "Sin?" "." "what's all this about sin?" "." "That!" "Using Ludwig van like that." "He did no harm to anyone." "Beethoven just wrote music." "Are you referring to the background score?" "." "You've heard Beethoven before?" "." "So you' re keen on music?" "." "Can't be helped." "Here's the punishment element perhaps." "The governor ought to be pleased." "I' m sorry, alex." "This is for your own good." "You'II have to bear with us for a while." "But it's not fair." "It's not fair I should feel ill when I hear lovely, lovely Ludwig van." "You must take your chance, boy." "The choice has been all yours." "You needn't take it any further, sir." "You've proved to me all this ultra-violence and killing is wrong, wrong and terribly wrong!" "I've learned me lesson, sir." "I see now what I've never seen before." "I' m cured." "Praise God!" "You' re not cured yet, boy." "But, sirs." "Missus!" "I see that it's wrong!" "It's wrong because it's, Iike, against society." "Because everybody has the right to live and be happy without being tolchocked and knifed!" "No, no, boy." "You really must leave it to us." "But be cheerful about it." "In less than a fortnight now, you'II be a free man." "Ladies and gentlemen at this stage, we introduce the subject himself." "He is, as you will perceive, fit and well-nourished." "He comes straight from a night's sleep and a good breakfast  undrugged  unhypnotized." "T omorrow we send him out with confidence into the world again as decent a lad as you would meet on a May morning." "what a change is here, ladies and gentlemen." "From the hoodlum the state committed to unprofitable punishment two years ago." "Unchanged after two years." "Unchanged, do I say?" "." "Not quite." "Prison taught him the false smile, the rubbed hands of hypocrisy." "The fawning, greased, obsequious Ieer." "Other vices it taught him as well as confirming him in those he had long practiced before." "Our party promised to restore law and order and to make the streets safe for the ordinary peace-Ioving citizen." "This pledge is now about to become a reality." "Ladies and gentlemen, today is an historic moment." "The problem of criminal violence is soon to be a thing of the past." "But enough of words." "Actions speak louder than." "Action now." "Observe all." "Our necks are out a Iong way on this, Minister." "I have complete faith in Brodsky." "If the polls are right, we have nothing to lose." "Hello, heap of dirt." "You don't wash much, do you, judging by the horrible smell." "why do you say that?" "." "I had a shower this morning." "He had a shower this morning." "You trying to call me a liar?" "." "No, brother." "You must think I'm awfully stupid." "why did you do that, brother?" "." "I've never done wrong to you." "You want to know why I did that?" "." "well, you see  I do this and that and this because I don't like your horrible type, do I?" "." "And if you want to start something you just go ahead." "Go on!" "please do!" "I'm going to be sick." "You' re going to be sick, are you?" "." "I' m going to be sick." "please let me get up." "You want to get up?" "." "well, now you listen to me." "If you want to get up you've got to do something for me." "Here." "Here." "You see that?" "." "You see that shoe?" "." "I want you to lick it." "Go on!" "Lick it!" "And, O my brothers, would you believe  your faithful friend and long-suffering narrator pushed out his red yabzick a mile and a half  to lick the grahzny, vonny boots." "And again!" "The horrible killing sickness had whooshed up and turned the joy of battle into a feeling I was going to snuff it." "And again." "Nice and clean." "Thank you very much." "That will do very well." "Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen." "she came towards me  with the light, like it was the light light of heavenly grace." "And the thing that flashed in me gulliver  was that I'd like to have her there on the floor  with the old in-out, real savage." "But quick as a shot came the sickness." "Like a detective who 'd been watching around the corner and now followed to make his arrest." "Enough!" "Thank you very much." "Thank you, my dear." "Not feeling too bad now, are you?" "." "No, sir." "I feel really great, sir." "Good." "was it all right, sir?" "." "Did I do well?" "Fine, my boy." "Absolutely fine." "You see, ladies and gentlemen our subject is impelled towards the good  by paradoxically being impelled towards evil." "The intention to act violently is accompanied by strong feelings of physical distress." "T o counter these, the subject has to switch to a diametrically opposed attitude." "Any questions?" "." "Choice!" "The boy has no real choice, has he?" "." "Self-interest." "The fear of physical pain drove him to that grotesque act of self-abasement." "Its insincerity was clearly to be seen." "He ceases to be a wrongdoer." "He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice." "Padre, these are subtleties." "we' re not concerned with motives, with the higher ethics." "we are concerned only with cutting down crime." "And with relieving the ghastly congestion in our prisons." "He will be your true Christian ready to turn the other cheek." "Ready to be crucified, rather than crucify." "Sick to the very heart at the thought even of killing a fly." "Reclamation." "Joy before the angels of God." "The point is that it works!" "And the very next day, your friend and humble narrator  was a free man." "Son!" "Hi, hi, hi there, my Pee and Em." "Mum." "How are you, love?" "." "Nice to see you." "Dad." "Lad." "What a surprise." "Good to see you." "IKeeping fit?" "." "How are you, then?" "." "I' m fine, fine." "IKeeping out of trouble, you know." "I' m back!" "Good to see you." "why didn't you let us know what was happening?" "." "I wanted it to be, Iike, a big surprise for you and Pee." "It's a surprise, all right." "A bit bewildering too." "we've only just read about it in morning papers." "You should have let us know, lad." "Not that we're not very pleased to see you again, and all cured too, eh?" "." "That's right." "They did a great job on me." "I' m completely reformed." "Still the same old place, then?" "." "There's a strange fellow sitting on the sofa  munchy-wunching Iomticks of toast." "That's Joe." "He lives here now." "The lodger." "That's what he is." "He rents your room." "How do you do, Joe?" "." "Find the room comfortable, do you?" "." "No complaints?" "I've heard about you." "I know what you've done." "Breaking the hearts of your poor, grieving parents." "So you' re back, eh?" "." "Back to make life a misery for your lovely parents once more?" "." "Over my dead corpse, you will." "Because, you see, they've let me be more like a son to them than like a lodger." "Don't go fighting here, boys." "Do put your hand over your mouth, please." "It's bloody revolting." "Are you all right?" "." "It's the treatment." "It's disgusting." "Enough to put you off your food." "Leave him be, Joe." "It's the treatment." "Do you think we ought to do something?" "." "would you Iike me to make you a nice cup of tea, son?" "." "what have you done with all me own personal things?" "." "That was all took away, son." "By the police." "New regulation, see about compensation for the victims." "what about Basil?" "." "where is my snake?" "." "He met with like, an accident." "He passed away." "what's going to happen to me, then?" "." "I mean that's my room he's in." "There's no denying that." "This is my home also." "what suggestions have you, my Pee and Em, to make?" "." "AII this needs thinking about, son." "we can't very well just kick Joe out." "Not just like that, can we?" "." "I mean Joe's here doing a job." "A contract it is." "Two years." "we made, Iike, an arrangement." "Didn't we, Joe?" "." "You see, son Joe's paid next month's rent already so whatever we may do in the future, we can't just say to Joe to get out, now can we?" "." "No, but it's much more than that." "I mean, I've got you two to think of who've been like a father and mother to me." "It wouldn't be right for me to go off and leave you two to the tender mercies of this young monster who's been like no real son at all." "Look, he's weeping now." "But that's all his craft and artfulness." "Let him go and find a room somewhere else." "Let him learn the errors of his way, and that a bad boy doesn't deserve such a good mum and dad as he's had." "AII right." "I know how things are now." "I've suffered and I've suffered and I've suffered." "And everybody wants me to go on suffering." "You've made others suffer." "It's only right that you should suffer proper." "I've been told everything you've done sitting around the family table." "And pretty shocking it was to listen to." "It made me real sick, a Iot of it did." "Now look what you've gone and done to your mother." "Come on." "It's all right now." "Right!" "I'm leaving now." "You won't ever viddy me no more." "I'II make me own way." "Thank you very much." "Let it lie heavy on your consciences." "Now don't take it like that, son." "Can you spare some cutter, me brother?" "." "Can you spare some cutter, me brother?" "." "Can you spare some cutter, me brother?" "." "Thanks, brother." "Jamey Mack!" "May the hokey fly!" "Mother of God and all the blessed saints in heaven preserve us!" "I never forget a face, me God!" "I never forget any face." "Leave me alone, brother." "I've never seen you before!" "This is the poisonous young swine that near done me in." "Him and his friends." "They beat me and kicked me and punched me." "Stop him!" "Stop him!" "They laughed at me blood and me moans, this murderous dog!" "Then there was like a sea of dirty, smelly old men  trying to get at your humble narrator  with their feeble rookers and horny old claws." "It was old age having a go at youth." "And I daren 't do a single solitary thing, O my brothers." "It being better to be hit at like that  than want to sick and feel that horrible pain." "AII right, all right!" "Stop it now!" "Come on." "Stop breaking the state's peace, you naughty boys!" "Back away!" "Go away with you!" "what's your trouble, sir?" "." "well!" "well, well, well!" "If it isn't little Alex." "Long time no viddy, droog." "How goes?" "." "It's impossible." "I don't believe it." "Evidence of the old glazzies." "Nothing up our sleeves." "No magic, little alex." "A job for two who are now of job age." "The police." "Come on, alex." "Come for walking." "Come, come, come, my little droogies." "I just don't get this at all." "The old days are dead and gone." "For what I did in the past, I've been punished." "I've been cured." "That was read out to us." "The inspector read it all out to us." "He said it was a very good way." "But what is all this?" "It was them that went for me, brothers." "You're not on their side, and can't be." "You can't be, Dim." "It was someone we fillied with back in the old days trying to get his own revenge after all this time." "Remember?" "." "A long time is right." "I don't remember them days too horrorshow." "And don't call me Dim no more, either." "Officer, call me." "Enough is remembered, though, little alex." "And this is to make sure you stay cured." "That's enough." "A bit more." "He's still kicking." "Cured, are you?" "." "Be viddying you some more sometime, droogie." "Where was I to go, who had no home and no money?" "I cried for meself." "Home, home, home." "It was home I was wanting." "And it was home I came to, brothers not realizing, in the state I was in  where I was and had been before." "who on earth could that be?" "." "I'II see who it is." "Yes, what is it?" "." "please...." "Frank, I think this young man needs some help." "My God!" "what's happened to you, my boy?" "." "And would you believe it, O my brothers and only friends  there was your faithful narrator being held helpless like a babe in arms and suddenly realizing where he was and why ""home"" on the gate had looked so familiar." "But I knew I was safe." "I knew he would not remember me." "For in those carefree days I and my so-called droogs  wore our maskies, which were like real horrorshow disguises." "Police." "Ghastly, horrible police they beat me up, sir." "The police beat me up." "I know you!" "Isn't it your picture in the newspapers?" "Didn't I see you on the video this morning?" "." "Are you not the poor victim of this horrible new technique?" "." "Yes, sir." "That's exactly who I am and what I am, sir." "A victim." "Then, by God, you've been sent here by providence!" "T ortured in prison, then tortured by the police." "My heart goes out to you." "You're not the first to come here." "The police like to bring their victims to this village." "But it's providential that you who are also another kind of victim, should come here." "But you' re cold and shivering." "Julian draw a bath for this young man." "Certainly, Frank." "Thank you very much." "God bless you." "He can be the most potent weapon imaginable to ensure the government is not returned in the election." "The government's big boast, sir is the way they have dealt with crime:." "Recruiting young roughs into the police  proposing will-sapping techniques of conditioning." "we've seen it before in other countries." "The thin end of the wedge." "Before we know it, we'II have the full apparatus of totalitarianism." "This young boy is a living witness to these diabolical proposals." "The people, the common people, must know, must see." "There are traditions of liberty to defend." "That tradition is all." "The common people will let it go, yes." "They'II sell liberty for a quieter life." "That is why they must be led." "Driven." "Pushed." "Fine." "Thank you very much, sir." "He'II be here." "I'm singing in the rain" "Just singing in the rain" "What a glorious feeling" "I'm hap-hap-happy again" "I'm laughing at clouds so dark up above" "The sun 's in my heart" "I'm ready for love" "Let the stormy clouds chase" "Everyone from the place" "Come on with the rain I've a smile on my face" "I'll walk down the lane" "Good evening, sir." "Good evening." "It was very kind of you to leave this out for me." "There was no one around, so I started." "Hope that's all right, sir." "Of course." "Food all right?" "." "Great, sir." "Great." "T ry the wine." "Thank you, sir." "Cheers." "Happy days." "won't you join me?" "." "My health doesn't allow it." "No, thank you." "" 1 960, Château Saint-Estèphe." "Médoc. "" "Very good brand." "Very good color, sir." "Smells nice too." "Very nice little number." "Here's to it." "Very refreshing, sir." "Very refreshing." "I' m pleased you appreciate good wine." "Have another glass." "My wife  used to do everything for me and leave me to my writing." "Your wife?" "." "Is she away?" "." "She's dead!" "I'm sorry to hear about that." "She was very badly raped, you see." "we were assaulted by vicious young hoodlums in this very room you' re sitting in now." "I was left a helpless cripple, but for her the agony was too great." "The doctors said it was pneumonia  because it happened later, during a flu epidemic." "The doctors told me it was pneumonia, but I knew what it was." "A victim of the modern age." "Poor, poor girl!" "And now you." "Another victim of the modern age." "But you can be helped." "I phoned some friends while you were having your bath." "Some friends?" "." "They want to help you." "Help me?" "Help you." "who are they?" "." "Very, very important people." "And they' re interested in you." "This'II be these people now." "I don't want to trouble you any further." "I should be leaving." "No trouble at all." "Here." "Let me fill your glass." "So this is the young man." "How do you do, sir?" "." "Missus." "I'm very pleased to meet you." "I hope you forgive us for coming at this hour  but we heard you were in trouble and so we came over to see if we could help." "Very kind of you, sir." "Thank you very much." "I understand you had a rather  unfortunate encounter with the police tonight." "Yes, I suppose you could call it that." "How are you feeling now?" "." "Much better, thank you." "Feel like talking, answering a few questions?" "." "Fine, sir." "Fine." "As I said, we've heard about you." "we are interested in your case." "we want to help you." "Thank you very much." "Shall we get down to it?" "." "Fine." "Fine, sir." "The newspapers mentioned in addition to being conditioned against acts of sex and violence you've inadvertently been conditioned against music." "I think that was something that they didn't plan for." "You see, missus  I' m very fond of music." "Especially Beethoven." "Ludwig van Beethoven." "B-E" "It's all right, thank you." "And it just so happened that while they were showing me a particularly bad film of, Iike, a concentration camp the background music was playing Beethoven." "So now you have the same reaction to music as you do to sex and violence?" "." "No, missus." "You see, it's not all music." "It's just the Ninth." "You mean Beethoven's Ninth Symphony?" "." "That's right." "I can't listen to the Ninth anymore at all." "when I hear the Ninth, I get, Iike this funny feeling." "And then all I can think about is, Iike, trying to snuff it." "I beg your pardon?" "." "Snuff it." "Death, I mean." "I just want to die peacefully like, with no pain." "Do you feel that way now?" "." "No, sir, not exactly." "I still feel very miserable." "Very much down in spirits." "Do you still feel suicidal?" "." "Put it this way:." "I feel very low in myself." "I can't see much in the future." "I feel that any second, something terrible is going to happen to me." "well done, Frank." "Get the car, would you, please?" "." "I woke up  the pain and sickness all over me like an animal." "Then I realized what it was." "The music coming up from the floor  was our old friend, Ludwig van and the dreaded Ninth symphony." "Let me out!" "Open the door!" "Come on, open the door!" "T urn it off!" "T urn it off!" "Stop it!" "T urn it off!" "please!" "T urn it off!" "suddenly, I viddied what I had to do and what I had wanted to do." "And that was to do myself in." "To snuff it." "To blast off forever, out of this wicked, cruel world." "One moment of pain, perhaps and then sleep." "Forever and ever and ever." "I jumped, O my brothers and I fell hard." "But I did not snuff it." "If I had snuffed it I would not be here to tell what I told have." "I came back to life after a long, black, black gap  of what might have been a million years." "He's recovered consciousness, Doctor." "Hello, lad." "Hello, son." "How are you?" "You feeling better?" "." "what gives  O my Pee and Em?" "." "what makes you think you are welcome?" "." "There, there, Mother." "It's all right." "He doesn't mean it." "You were in the papers again, son." "It said they had done great wrong to you." "It said  how the government drove you to try and do yourself in." "And when you think about it, son  maybe it was our fault too in a way." "Your home's your home when all's said and done, son." "Good morning." "Good morning, Doctor." "How are you feeling today?" "." "Fine." "Good." "May I?" "." "I' m Dr. T aylor." "Haven't seen you before." "I' m your psychiatrist." "Psychiatrist!" "Do I need one?" "Just part of hospital routine." "Are we going to talk about me sex life?" "." "I'm going to show you some slides and you' re going to tell me what you think about them." "Jolly good." "You know anything about dreams?" "." "Something, yes." "You know what they mean?" "." "Perhaps." "You concerned about something?" "." "No, not concerned, really  but I've been having this nasty dream." "Very nasty." "It's like when I was all smashed up, you know and half-awake and unconscious-Iike  I kept having this dream." "AII these doctors were playing around with me gulliver." "You know, Iike the inside of me brain." "I seem to have this dream over and over again." "Do you think it means anything?" "." "Patients with injuries like yours often have dreams of this sort." "It's all part of the recovery process." "Now then, each of these slides needs a reply from one of the people in the picture." "You tell me what you think the person would say all right?" "." "Righty-right." "" Isn't the plumage beautiful?" ". "" "I just say what the other person would say?" "." "Don't think about it too long." "Say the first thing that pops into your mind." "Cabbages." "IKnickers." "It's not got a beak." "Good." ""The boy you always quarreled with is seriously ill. "" "My mind is a blank and I'II smash your face for you, yarblockos." "Good." ""what do you want?" ". "" "No time for the old in-out, love." "I've just come to read the meter." "Good." ""You sold me a crummy watch." "I want my money back. "" "You know what you can do with that watch?" "." "Stick it up your ass!" ""You can do whatever you Iike with these. "" "Eggiwegs." "I would Iike to smash them." "And pick them all up and throw" "Fucking hell!" "There." "That's all there is to it." "Are you all right?" "." "Hope so." "Is that the end, then?" "." "I was quite enjoying that." "Good." "I'm glad." "How many did I get right?" "." "It's not that kind of a test." "But you seem well on the way to making a complete recovery." "when do I get out, then?" "." "I' m sure it won't be long now." "so I waited and, O my brothers I got a lot better munching away at eggiwegs and lomticks of toast and lovely steakie-wakes." "And then one day  they said I was going to have a very special visitor." "Just wait outside for a moment, would you, Officer?" "." "I' m afraid my change of schedule has thrown you." "The patient's in the middle of supper." "That's quite all right, Minister." "No trouble at all." "Good evening, my boy." "Hi there, my little droogies." "How are you getting on, young man?" "." "Great, sir." "Just great." "Can I do anything more for you?" "." "I don't think so, Sir Leslie." "Then I leave you to it." "Nurse!" "You seem to have a whole ward to yourself, my boy." "Yes, sir." "And a very lonely place it is too when I wake up in the night with me pain." "Anyway, good to see you on the mend." "I kept in touch with the hospital, of course." "And now I've come down personally to see how you' re getting along." "I've suffered the tortures of the damned." "T ortures of the damned." "Yes, I can appreciate that you've had an extremely" "Oh, look." "Let me help you with that, shall I?" "." "I can tell you that I, and the government of which I'm a member are deeply sorry about this, my boy." "Deeply sorry." "we tried to help you." "we followed recommendations that turned out to be wrong." "An inquiry will place the responsibility where it belongs." "we want you to regard us as friends." "we put you right." "You're getting the best of treatment." "we never wished you harm." "But there are some who did, and do." "And I think you know who those are." "There are certain people who wanted to use you for political ends." "They would have been glad to have you dead for they thought they could then blame it on the government." "There is also a certain man a writer of subversive literature who has been howling for your blood." "He's been mad with desire to stick a knife into you." "But you' re safe from him now." "we put him away." "He found out that you had done wrong to him." "At least he believed you had done wrong." "He formed this idea in his head that you had been responsible for the death of someone near and dear to him." "He was a menace." "we put him away for his own protection." "And also for yours." "where is he now?" "." "we put him away where he can do you no harm." "You see, we are looking after your interests." "we are interested in you." "when you leave, you'II have no worries. we'II see to everything." "A good job on a good salary." "what job and how much?" "." "You'II have an interesting job at a salary you regard as adequate." "Not only for the job you're going to do and in compensation for what you believe you have suffered  but also because you are helping us." "Helping you?" "." "we always help our friends, don't we?" "." "It is no secret that this government  has lost a Iot of popularity because of you, my boy." "There are some who think that at the next election we shall be out." "The press has chosen to take a very unfavorable view of what we tried to do." "But public opinion has a way of changing." "And you, alex if I may call you alex...." "Certainly." "what do they call you at home?" "." "My name is Frederick." "As I was saying, alex you can be instrumental in changing the public's verdict." "Do you understand, alex?" "." "Do I make myself clear?" "As an unmuddied lake, Fred." "As clear as an azure sky of deepest summer." "You can rely on me, Fred." "Good." "Good boy." "I understand you' re fond of music." "I have arranged a Iittle surprise for you." "Surprise?" "." "One that I hope that you will like as a  how shall we put it as a symbol of our new understanding." "An understanding between two friends." "I was cured, all right!"