He spent the week-end making plans. "They'll probably assign me a
machinist and a couple of electronics experts from the hill," he told
Alice. "I can use graduate students for work with the animals. I hope
they give me Dr. Munitz from Psych as a consultant, because I like
him much better than Veerhof. By early spring we should have things
rolling."
Monday at three o'clock on the dot, Dr. MacNare knocked on the door of
the board room, and entered. He was not unfamiliar with it, nor with
the faces around the massive walnut conference table. Always before he
had known what to expect--a brief commendation for the revisions in his
textbook on calculus for its fifth printing, a nice speech from the
president about his good work as a prelude to a salary raise--quiet,
expected things. Nothing unanticipated had ever happened here.
Now, as he entered, he sensed a difference. All eyes were fixed on him,
but not with admiration or friendliness. They were fixed more in the
manner of a restaurateur watching the approach of a cockroach along
the surface of the counter.
Suddenly the room seemed hot and stuffy. The confidence in Dr.
MacNare's expression evaporated. He glanced back toward the door as
though wishing to escape.
"So it's _you_!" the president said, setting the tone of what followed.
"This is _yours_?" the president added, picking up the neatly typed
manuscript, glancing at it, and dropping it back on the table as though
it were something unclean.
Dr. MacNare nodded, and cleared his throat nervously to say yes, but
didn't get the chance.
"We--all of us--are amazed and shocked," the president said. "Of
course, we understand that psychology is not your field, and you
probably were thinking only from the mathematical viewpoint. We are
agreed on that. What you propose, though...." He shook his head slowly.
"It's not only out of the question, but I'm afraid I'm going to have
to request that you forget the whole thing--put this paper where no
one can see it, preferably destroy it. I'm sorry, Dr. MacNare, but the
university simply cannot afford to be associated with such a thing even
remotely. I'll put it bluntly because I feel strongly about it, as do
the other members of the Board. _If this paper is published or in any
way comes to light, we will be forced to request your resignation from
the faculty._"
"But why?" Dr. MacNare asked in complete bewilderment.
"Why?" another board member exploded, slapping the table. "It's the
most inhuman thing I ever heard of, strapping a newborn animal onto
some kind of frame and tying its legs to control levers, with the
intention of never letting it free. The most fiendish and inhuman
torture imaginable! If you didn't have such an outstanding record I
would be for demanding your resignation at once."
"But that's not true!" Dr. MacNare said. "It's not torture! Not in any
way! Didn't you read the paper? Didn't you understand that--"
"I read it," the man said. "We all read it. Every word."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account