Part 12 (1/2)
Elisha piped up, ”Mr. Easley, in some cultures, they love their neighbor. In some cultures, they eat their neighbor. Which do you respect?”
”I respect them both.”
”Both/and,” Elijah muttered in disgust.
”You can't have it both ways,” Elisha said, actually scolding him. ”If you respect my neighbor's right to invade my room and take my things, then you sure don't respect my right to peace and safety!”
”Either/or,” said Elijah.
Easley came back, ”Every person has a right-”
”No!” said Elisha. ”No one has the right to do something that's wrong!”
Easley leaned toward her. ”And I suppose you're going to tell us what's right and wrong?”
Some of the group murmured, ”Yeah, who do you think you are?” ”Yeah, who gave you the right?”
”I don't decide what's right and what's wrong,” Elisha answered. ”G.o.d decides.”
The moans and hoots from the group were so loud they echoed back from the buildings across the field.
Elisha pressed on, completing her thought for the whole group. ”Remember the Ten Commandments? Well, there are two more we didn't get to recite in Booker's cla.s.s: Don't lie, and don't want something that belongs to someone else. I think those two commandments right there would solve a lot of the problems around here.”
Now Easley leaned back, smiling, obviously glad Elisha had said such a thing. ”Ah. G.o.d. Religion. Holier-than-thou. Thou shalt not. Is that how it works? Just impose your religion on everyone so they can't think for themselves?”
”It isn't like that. G.o.d gave us-”
”Set yourself up as the one who makes all the rules, and tell everybody they have to see things your way because, after all, you have G.o.d in your camp. Now you have all the rights: the right to criticize and persecute and condemn, and why not lead a few more Crusades and Inquisitions while you're at it?”
”He twisted everything we said,” Elisha lamented as she and Elijah walked across the field together.
”He's good with speeches, have you noticed? When things start getting too illogical for him to argue, he starts working on everyone's feelings so n.o.body's thinking anymore.”
”And now we're the intolerant bigots and know-it-ails.”
”And n.o.body's really thought everything through. Very handy.”
”And very dangerous. Elijah, I'm all for investigating, but we're losing what friends we may have had, and I don't know what's going to keep these kids from doing ... something worse.”
A voice called from behind them, ”Hey! Jerry!”
Oh-oh. It was Rory, the big guy from last night. Oh, please, Lord, don't let him be looking for a fight. Elijah tried to keep his face from showing what he was thinking.
Rory didn't stop to talk, but just pa.s.sed by as he handed Elijah a note. ”Somebody wants to talk to you.” He kept going without looking back.
”Well, I'm glad somebody does,” Elisha complained.
Elijah read the note. ”It's from Mr. Booker.”
The note, in Booker's handwriting, included a rough map showing Elijah where to find the plain, unmarked door in back of the office building. Elijah reported to that door immediately and gave it a gentle knock.
”Come in,” came Booker's voice from inside.
Elijah opened the door and stepped into a small tool room. There were garden tools-shovels, rakes, hoes, picks, axeshanging on the walls, a wheelbarrow, some sacks of fertilizer, and a small workbench with some hammers, screwdrivers, and a vise. Mr. Booker was standing there, an elbow on the workbench, looking at him. He seemed entirely out of place in here. Elijah remained by the door and left it ajar.
”Come in, Jerry, and close the door.”
”Why am I here, Mr. Booker?”
Booker smiled understandingly. ”No need for concern, Jerry. This meeting is off the record and totally nonthreatening, I a.s.sure you.”
Elijah found a rake and let the handle drop through the gap in the door, preventing it from closing. Then he remained where he was. ”Go ahead.”
With a resigned smile, Booker began. ”So you've gotten to know Rory”
”Not the way I'd like to.”
”Well, it was Rory who recommended you. He was very impressed with your martial arts skills last night.”
”Recommended me for what?”
Booker tried to look relaxed, propping one foot on the fertilizer sacks. ”You're a bright fellow, a clear thinker, not flighty. A good student, too. Very resourceful, and even courageous. I've been giving it some thought, and I've decided to offer you a very special privilege.
”As you've observed, things are getting out of hand: the raids, the violence, the looting, and I'm sure plenty of other things we have yet to discover. Jerry, I'm sure you understand, when any society is threatened with disorder, firm measures must be taken. The evil has to be contained.”
”I thought you didn't believe in evil.”
He chuckled. ”It's just a convenient term I'm using for, shall we say, disruptive, undesirable behavior? When people can't be trusted to control their behavior, then someone else has to do the controlling. That's what police departments are for; security guards; metal detectors. Well, I am in need of policemen. I need to know what the kids are thinking, what trouble might be brewing so it can be dealt with. I may even need some brute force to contain disruptions.”
”So you want me to be a cop?”
”Mm-hm.”
”And a ... an informant?”
Booker weighed Elijah's choice of words and finally agreed with a nod. ”But I have no illusions. Loyalty comes at a price, like anything else.” He reached into his blazer pocket, pulled out his wallet, and produced two twenty-dollar bills, laying them on the workbench. ”Would it be worth, perhaps, forty dollars-forty real dollars-per day, plus a pipeline to all the KMs you might need? I can also see to it that other privileges make themselves available.”
”And who would I be working for? You?”
”For me, and indirectly, the academy. You won't be alone, of course. I've already hired some others among the student body, Rory being one of them.”
”To be what? Hired thugs?”
He laughed. ”Well, you make it sound so sinister. But think of the advantages, the main one being order on the campus. No more terrible disruptions, no more lootings, no more injuries.” He looked at Elijah a moment, and then raised an eyebrow as he said in a softer voice, ”And the advantage for you personally”
”Which is?”
”You would be connected with someone in power. I can make things happen. I can change the game to your advantage.” He leaned closer to Elijah, exhilarated with his own sales pitch. ”You've seen me and the others pa.s.s through that gate every evening. My boy, inside that gate is where the power is.”
Elijah paraphrased one of Booker's pet slogans. ”It's all about power, and you have it.”