He shouted. It did not matter if he were overheard. That any of the
prisoners were agents of the Bureau of Health and Sanity didn't seem
likely. Anyway, he didn't care. They wouldn't do anything to him they
hadn't planned before this.
"Got any idea where we're going?"
"Sure. F.M.R.C. 3. Federal Male Rehabilitation Camp No. 3. I spent two
weeks in the hills spying on it."
Jack looked the speaker over. Like all those in the truck, he wore a
frayed shirt, a stained and torn coat, and greasy, dirty trousers. The
black bristles on his face were long; the back of his neck was covered
by thick curls. The brim of his dusty hat was pulled down low. Beneath
its shadow his eyes roamed from side to side with the same fear that
Jack knew was in his own eyes.
Hunger and sleepless nights had knobbed his cheekbones and honed his
chin to a sharp point. An almost visible air clung to him, a hot aura
that seemed to result from veins full of lava and eyeballs spilling out
a heat that could not be held within him. He had the face every transie
had, the face of a man who was either burning with fever or who had seen
a vision.
Jack looked away to stare miserably at the dust boiling up behind the
wheels, as if he could see projected against its yellow-brown screen his
retreating past.
He spoke out of the side of his mouth. "What's happened to us? We should
be happy and working at good jobs and sure about the future. We
shouldn't be just bums, hobos, walkers of the streets, rod-hoppers,
beggars, and thieves."
His friend shrugged and looked uneasily from the corners of his eyes. He
was probably expecting the question they all asked sooner or later: _Why
are_ you _on the road?_ They asked, but none replied with words that
meant anything. They lied, and they didn't seem to take any pleasure in
their lying. When they asked questions themselves, they knew they
wouldn't get the truth. But something forced them to keep on trying
anyway.
Jack's buddy evaded also. He said, "I read a magazine article by a Dr.
Vespa, the head of the Bureau of Health and Sanity. He'd written the
article just after the President created the Bureau. He viewed, quote,
with alarm and apprehension, unquote, the fact that six percent of those
between the ages of twelve and twenty-five were schizophrenics who
needed institutionalizing. And he was, quote, appalled and horrified,
unquote, that five percent of the nation were homeless unemployed and
that three point seven percent of those were between the ages of
fourteen and thirty. He said that if this schizophrenia kept on
progressing, half the world would be in rehabilitation camps. But if
that occurred, the sane half would go to pot. Back to the stone age. And
the schizos would die."
* * * * *
He licked his lips as if he were tasting the figures and found them
bitter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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