Father with a capital F and father with a small f. Now, surely, Comstock thought, he would have the courage to face again the being whom he feared had to be overcome before their desire could come to fruition. * * * * * Facing The Grandfather was still difficult, Comstock found. Many things conspired to make it so. First was his training, but second was the terrible ego position of being so much smaller than the towering figure, who stood, beard foaming down his chest, his hands behind his back as he paced back and forth in his sanctum and said, "Just before I feared your imminent collapse last night you said that you did not think I was a human being. Would you care to amplify your statement at this time?" Rather than stand before The Grandfather, his head tilted back like a child facing an irate parent, Comstock decided to sit down. That way he could stare at The Grandfather's belt and speak to it, instead of getting a crick in his neck. "Before I go back to that line of thought," Comstock said rather pompously. "I would like to take this opportunity of saying that in some ways I feel you have acted like an egregious idiot." "Oh?" "If I understand what I was told, you set up this whole strict very moral world just so that disease could be cured by what our people considered to be sins. Correct?" "Correct." "I think you've got the whole thing wrong." "I see." "Of course you've been around a lot longer than I have, but if I may say so, I think you got the whole blasted thing turned around." "You are being quite objectionable, Father Comstock." "Objectionable, perhaps, but I notice that you do not say that I am incorrect in my assumption." "I am waiting to see what your assumption may be." "I think that disease is caused by sin." "And you feel that this is different than saying that sin can cure disease?" Was the old gent really an imbecile? Comstock wondered irritably. It seemed quite obvious to him that somewhere along the line the basic idea had been lost sight of, and the antithesis set up in its place. "In one of the earth books I read there was a reference to what was called psychosomatic medicine. Now, if I understood what I read correctly, the theory of this kind of curing was that the person who was sick was punishing himself for some sin that he thought he had committed," Comstock said thoughtfully. "Yes?" "The cure then, was to assure the person that his sin was either non-existent or not heinous." "I see." "But the way you've run our world, you've made us commit real sins in order to be cured of non-existent diseases." The Grandfather stared off into space. Then he snapped his fingers and said, "By golly, I bet you're right! Now that you say it out loud that does seem to be what the scientists were thinking about. Guess I got things a little mixed up."