Comstock had devoted a great deal of cerebration to just this point, but that did not make it any easier to say it aloud. In the lengthening silence, The Grandfather bent down from his great height till his gaunt, strong face was on a level with Comstock's. "Well?" "The secret," Comstock said, "is the exact opposite of what you claimed." "Ahh?" The exclamation was almost jubilant. "Yes," Comstock hurried on, fearing that if he didn't say it in a rush he never would get out the words, "You don't rule because you are afraid but because there is nothing that you fear." "Come, come," The Grandfather smiled thinly, "each man, no matter how brave, has some secret fear. For instance fat people fear death." The change of subject was so sudden that it thew Comstock off his mental stride. "Fat people?" he queried. "Surely," The Grandfather said, "the thought must have occurred to you. Fat people are fat because they fear dying. Did you ever see a very thin person naked?" To think, Comstock's veering brain thought, that the day would ever come when he'd hear The Grandfather of all people use a dirty word like n...d! "If you've ever seen a thin person nude, you can realize that their skeleton is omnipresent. This, to a fat person, is detestable. They want to hide their ever present _memento mori_ decently. They don't want always to be reminded of that which is hidden inside of all of us, waiting for us.... That's why they get fat. Padding. That's all it is, padding to hide the grisly skeleton who sits with us at every feast." Struggling to get his attention on to this new vagary of The Grandfather, Comstock said, "But fat people die sooner than skinny ones." "Certainly," The Grandfather nodded, "but what's that got to do with it? That's reality. The statistic that obesity shortens life is hard and true. But that reality only comes once, at the end of the line. To the fat person the important thing to hide from is the ever-present reminder that the day he is born he begins to die. That's the big trick they try to employ. To forget that fact. But I digress. You were saying?" * * * * * What had he been saying? This maundering of the Grandfather, could it be that like the Elders, The Grandfather was senile? Comstock looked down at his own beginning paunch and wondered if this was why the Grandfather had brought up the subject of fat, then he said, "I was saying that the reason you rule is because you have no fears." "Yes. That was the subject under discussion, wasn't it?" Again The Grandfather stroked his beard. "Now then, just how did you arrive at that rather startling idea? Remember I don't agree with you, for as I said, every human being fears something." "I am sure you are right," Comstock said tensely. "I am sure that every human being fears something ... or someone." "I find your remarks contradictory."