“I might have a few words to say about privacy,” I answered, “not to mention freedom of speech, press, and opinion.” After a pause: “Uh, you told me you snatched the pamphlet?”
“I--” Eleanor drew back from Kate’s embrace. Through tears and hiccoughs, a strength spoke that I remembered: “No use for him to call copper if the evidence is gone.”
“May I see it?” I asked.
She hesitated. “It’s . . . a prank, Bob. Nothing s-s-significant. Jack’s waiting--”
--in my office, by request, while we conferred. He had shown me a self-possession which chilled this winter day.
“He and I will have a talk,” I said, “while Kate gets some coffee, and I expect some food, into you. But I’ve got to have something to talk about.”
She gulped, nodded, fumbled in her purse, and handed me several sheets stapled together. I settled into my favorite armchair, left shank on right knee, a good head of steam in my pipe, and read the document.
I read it twice. And thrice. I quite forgot the women.
Here it is. You won’t find any riddles.
But hark back. The date was the eleventh of March, in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-one.
Harry S. Truman was President of the United States, having defeated Thomas E. Dewey for election, plus a former Vice President who would later have the manhood to admit that his party had been a glove on the hand of Moscow. This was the capital of a Soviet Union which my adored FDR had assured me was a town-meeting democracy, our gallant ally in a holy war to bring perpetual peace. Eastern Europe and China were down the gullet. Citizens in the news included Alger Hiss, Owen Lattimore, Judith Coplon, Morton Sobell, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Somehow, to my friends and myself, they did not make Joseph McCarthy less of an abomination. But under the UN flag, American young men were dying in battle--five and a half years after our V-days!--and their killers were North Korean and Chinese. Less than two years ago, the first Russian atomic bombs had roared. NATO, hardly older, was a piece of string in the path of hundreds of divisions. Most of us, in an emotional paralysis which let us continue our daily lives, expected World War III to break out at any instant.
I could not altogether blame Sven Birkelund for jumping to conclusions.
But as I read, and read, my puzzlement deepened.
Whoever wrote this thing knew Communist language--I’d been through some books on that subject--but was emphatically not a Communist himself. What, then, was he?
Hark back, I say. Try to understand your world of 1951.
Apart from a few extremists, America had never thought to question her own rightness, let alone her right to exist. We knew we had problems, but assumed we could solve them, given time and good will, and eventually everybody of every race, color, and creed would live side by side in the suburbs and sing folk songs together. Brown vs. Board of Education was years in the future; student riots happened in foreign countries, while ours worried about student apathy; Indochina was a place where the French were experiencing vaguely noticed difficulties.
Television was hustling in, and we discussed its possible effects. Nuclear-armed intercontinental missiles were on their way, but nobody imagined they could be used for anything except the crudest exchange of destructions. Overpopulation was in the news but would soon be forgotten. Penicillin and DDT were unqualified friends to man. Conservation meant preserving certain areas in their natural states and, if you were sophisticated about such matters, contour plowing on hillsides. Smog was in Los Angeles and occasionally London. The ocean, immortal mother of all, would forever receive and cleanse our wastes. Space flight was for the next century, when an eccentric millionaire might finance a project. Computers were few, large, expensive, and covered with blinking lights. If you followed the science news, you knew a little about transistors, and perhaps looked forward to seeing cheap, pocket-sized radios in the hands of Americans; they could make no difference to a peasant in India or Africa. All contraceptives were essentially mechanical. The gene was a locus on the chromosome. Unless he blasted himself back to the Stone Age, man was committed to the machine.
Put yourself in 1951, if you can, if you dare, and read as I did that jape on the first page of which appeared the notice “Copyright © 1970 by John F. Havig.”
3
WITHIT’S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY
Activist: A person employing tactics in the cause of liberation which, when used by a fascist, are known as McCarthyism and repression.
Aggression: Any foreign policy advocated by a fascist.
Black: Of whole or partial sub-Saharan African descent; from the skin color, which ranges from brown to ivory. Not to be confused with Brown, Red, White, or Yellow. This word replaces the former “Negro,” which today is considered insulting since it means “Black.”
Bombing: A method of warfare which delivers high explosives from the air, condemned because of its effects upon women, children, the aged, the sick, and other noncombatants, unless these happen to have resided in Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Osaka, etc., though not Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Cf. missile.
Brown: Of Mexican descent; from the skin color, which ranges from brown to ivory. Not to be confused with Black, Red, White, or Yellow.
Brutality: Any action taken by a policeman. Cf. pig.
Chauvinism: Belief of any Western White man that there is anything to be said for his country, civilization, race, sex, or self. Chauvinist: Any such man; hence, by extension, a fascist of any nationality, race, or sex.
Colonialist: Anyone who believes that any European- or North American-descended person has any right to remain in any territory outside Europe or North America where his ancestors happened to settle, unless these were Russian. Cf. native.
Concentration camp: An enclosed area into which people suspect to their government or to an occupying power are herded. No progressive country or liberation movement can operate a concentration camp, since by definition these have full support of the people. NB: Liberals consider it impolite to mention Nisei in this connection.
Conformist: One who accepts establishment values without asking troublesome questions. Cf. nonconformist.
Conservative: See aggression, bombing, brutality, chauvinism, colonialist, concentration camp, conformist, establishment, fascist, imperialist, McCarthyism, mercenary, military-industrial complex, missile, napalm, pig, plutocrat, prejudice, property rights, racist, reactionary, repression, storm trooper, xenophobia.
Criminal: A fascist, especially when apprehended and punished. Cf. martyr.
Democracy: A nation in which the government, freely elected, remains responsive to the popular will, e.g., Czechoslovakia.
Development: (1) In fascist countries, the bulldozing of trees and hillsides, erection of sleazy row houses, etc., or in general, the exploitation of the environment. (2) In progressive countries, the provision of housing for the masses, or in general, the utilization of natural resources to satisfy human needs.
Ecology: (1) Obsolete: The study of the interrelationships of living things with each other and with the general environment. (2) Everything nonhuman which is being harmed by the establishment, such as trees and falcons but not including rats, sparrows, algae, etc. Thus progressive countries have no ecology.
Establishment: The powers that be, when these are conservative.
Fallout: Radioactive material from a nuclear weapon, widely distributed if this is tested in the atmosphere, universally condemned for its deleterious effect upon public health and heredity, unless the test is conducted by a progressive country.
Fascist: A person who favors measures possibly conducive to the survival of the West.
Freedom: Instant gratification.
Glory: An outworn shibboleth, except when applied to a hero or martyr.
Hero: A person who sacrifices and takes risks in a progressive cause. Cf. pig and storm trooper.
Honor: See glory.
Human rights: All rights of
the people to freedom, when held to take infinite precedence over property rights, since the latter are not human rights.
Imperialist: A person who advocates that any Western country retain any of its overseas territory.
Liberation: Foreign expulsion and domestic overthrow of Western governments, influences, and institutions. Sacred liberation: Liberation intended to result in a (People’s) Republic. Love: An emotion which, if universally felt, would automatically solve all human problems, but which some (see conservative) are by definition incapable of feeling.
Martyr: A person who suffers or dies in the cause of liberation. Not to be confused with a criminal or, collectively, with enemy personnel.
McCarthyism: Character assassination for political purposes, by asserting that some person is a member of the Communist conspiracy, especially when this is done by an admirer of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Not to be confused with asserting that some person is a member of the fascist conspiracy, especially when this is done by an admirer of Sen. Eugene McCarthy.
Mercenary: A soldier who, for pay, serves a government not his own. Cf. United Nations.
Military-industrial complex: An interlocking directorate of military and industrial leaders, held to be in effective control of the USA. Not to be confused with military and industrial leaders of the USSR or the various (People’s) Republics.
Missile: A self-contained device which delivers high explosives from the air, condemned for its effects upon women, children, the aged, the sick, and other noncombatants, unless these happen to have resided in Saigon, Da Nang, Hue, etc. Cf. bombing.
Napalm: Jellied gasoline, ignited and propelled against enemy personnel, condemned by all true liberals except when used by Israelis upon Arabs.
Native: A non-White inhabitant of a region whose ancestors dispossessed the previous lot.
Nonconformist: One who accepts progressive values without asking troublesome questions. Cf. conformist.
Nuclear weapon: A weapon employing some form of atomic energy, used by fascist governments for purposes of aggression and by progressive governments to further the cause of peace.
One man, one vote: A legal doctrine requiring that, from time to time, old gerrymanders be replaced with new ones. The object of this is the achievement of genuine democracy.
Organic: Of foods, grown only with natural manures, etc., and with no chemical sprays, etc., hence free of harmful residues and of earthborne diseases or serious insect infestation, since surrounding lands have been artificially fertilized and chemically sprayed.
Peace: The final solution of the fascist problem. Peaceful coexistence: A stage preliminary to peace, in which aggression is phased out and sacred liberation proceeds.
People: (Always used with the definite article and often capitalized.) Those who support liberation. Hence everyone not a fascist is counted among them, whether he wants to be or not.
Personnel: Members of a military or police organization, whether hostile or useful. Not to be confused with human beings.
Pig: (1) An animal known for its value, intelligence, courage, self-reliance, kindly disposition, loyalty, and (if allowed to follow its natural bent) cleanliness. (2) A policeman. Cf. activist.
Plutocrat: A citizen of a republic who, because of enormous wealth which he refuses to share with the poor, wields undue political power. Not to be confused with a Kennedy.
Poor: (Always used with the definite article and often capitalized.) That class of persons who are defined by someone as possessing less than their rightful wealth and privilege. The progressive definition includes all non-fascist Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow persons, regardless of income.
Pot: Marijuana. Must we go through that alcohol-tobacco-tranquilizers-are-legal routine again?
Prejudice: Hostility or contempt for a person or group, on a purely class basis and regardless of facts. Not to be confused with judgment passed on enemies of the people (see conservative).
Progressive: Conducive to liberation.
Property rights: The alleged rights of persons who have earned or otherwise lawfully obtained property, or of taxpayers who have similarly acquired property which is then designated public, to be secure in the enjoyment thereof, irrespective of human rights.
Racist: A White person who, when any Black person rings a bell, fails to salivate.
Reactionary: Not progressive.
Red: (1) Of American Indian descent; from the skin color, which ranges from brown to ivory. Not to be confused with Black, Brown, White, or Yellow, nor with “Mexican,” even though most Mexicans are of American Indian stock. (2) Struggling for liberation or struggling in its aftermath.
Repression: Denial of the right of free speech, e.g., by refusal to provide a free rostrum for an activist, or the right of a free press, e.g., by refusing to print, televise, or stock in libraries every word of an activist, or the right to be heard, e.g., by mob action against an activist. Not to be confused with protection of the people from reactionary infection.
Republic: A country whose government is chosen not on a basis of heredity or riches but by the electorate, from whom political power grows. People’s Republic: One in which the electorate consists of a gun barrel.
Self-determination: The right of a culturally or ethnically distinct group to govern themselves, as in Biafra, East Pakistan, Goa, Katanga, the Sinai, Tibet, the Ukraine, etc.
Storm trooper: A person who sacrifices and takes risks in a fascist cause. Cf. hero.
United Nations: An international organization which employs Swedish, Indian, Irish, Canadian, etc. troops in other parts of the world than these so as to further self-determination.
White: Of Caucasoid descent; from the skin color, which ranges from brown to ivory. Not to be confused with Black, Brown, Red, or Yellow.
Winds of change: Poetic metaphor for the defeat of reactionary forces. Not applicable to any advance or restoration of these.
Women’s Liberation: A movement which opposes male chauvinism.
Xenophobia: Distrust of the ability of strangers to run your life for you.
Yellow: Of Mongoloid descent; from the skin color, which ranges from brown to ivory. Not to be confused with Black, Brown, Red, or White.
4
FOR A MOMENT, as I entered, my office was foreign to me. That rolltop desk, gooseneck reading lamp, worn leather-upholstered swivel chair and horsehair-stuffed seat for visitors, shelf of reference books, framed diploma, door ajar on the surgery to give a glimpse of cabinets wherein lay instruments and drugs that Koch would mostly have recognized--all was out of place, a tiny island in time which the ocean was swiftly eroding away; and I knew that inside of ten years I’d do best to retire.
The snowfall had thickened, making the windows a pale dusk. Jack had turned the lamp on so he could read a magazine. Beyond its puddle of light, shadows lay enormous. The steam radiator grumbled. It turned the air dry as well as warm.
He rose. “Sorry to give you this bother, Dr. Anderson,” he said.
I waved him back into the armchair, settled myself down, reached for a fresh pipe off the rack. That much smoking was hard on the mouth, but my fingers needed something to do.
Jack nodded at the pamphlet I’d tossed on the desk. “How do you like it?” he asked tonelessly.
I peered through the upper half of my bifocals. This was not the boy who knew he would lose his father, nor the youth who tried and failed to hide his wretchedness when his mother took unto him a stepfather-only last year. A young man confronted me, whose eyes were old.
They were gray, those eyes, in a narrow straight-nosed face upon a long head. The dark-blond hair, the slim, middle-sized, slightly awkward body were Tom’s; the mouth, its fullness and mobility out of place in that ascetic countenance, was Eleanor’s; the whole was entirely Jack Havig, whom I had never fathomed.
Always a careless dresser, he wore the plaid wool shirt and blue denims in which he had gone for that tramp across the hills. His attitude seemed alert rathe
r than uneasy, and his gaze did not waver from mine.
“Well,” I said, “it’s original. But you must admit it’s sort of confusing.” I loaded the pipe.
“Yeah, I suppose. A souvenir. I probably shouldn’t have brought anything back.”
“From your, uh, trip away from home? Where were you, Jack?”
“Around.”
I remembered a small stubborn person who gave the same reply, after an unknown had returned him to his father. It led me to recall much else.
My wooden match made a scrit and flare which seemed unnaturally strong. I got the tobacco burning, took a good taste and smell of it, before I had my speech put together.
“Listen, Jack. You’re in trouble. Worse, your mother is.” That jarred him. “I’m the friend of you both, I want to help, but damnation, you’ll have to cooperate.”
“Doc, I wish I could,” he whispered.
I tapped the pamphlet. “Okay,” I said, “tell me you’re working on a science-fiction story or something, laid in 1970, and this is background material. Fine. I’d think you’re needlessly obscure, but never mind; your business.” Gesturing with the pipestem: “What is not your business is the fact it’s mimeographed. Nobody mimeographs anything for strictly personal use. Organizations do. What organization is this?”
“None. A few friends.” His neck stiffened. “Mighty few, among all those Gadarene swine happily squealing their slogans.”
I stood. “How about a drink?”
Now he smiled. “Thanks. The exact prescription I want.”
Pouring from a brandy bottle--sometimes it was needful for both a patient and myself, when I must pronounce sentence--I wondered what had triggered my impulse. Kids don’t booze, except a little beer on the sly. Do they? It came to me afresh, here was no longer a kid.
He drank in the way of an experienced if not heavy drinker. How had he learned? He’d been gone barely a month.
I sat again and said: “I don’t ask for secrets, Jack, though you know I hear a lot in my line of work, and keep them. I demand your help in constructing a story, and laying out a program of future behavior, which will get your mother off the hook.”
There Will Be Time Page 3
