The Jehovah Contract

'It's just fear,' Ann said when I told her about it that night. We sat in the bar of Casino Grande.

'Fear of failure?'

'No. I mean that believing in god is just fear. Fear of the unknown. And no matter how much anyone professes

not

to believe in god, deep down there is that trace of fear of the unknown that impels the belief in an unknowable power beyond man. It's the existence of that fear that you must believe in. That is what you must attack.'

Even though she'd been meeting with promotional people all day, she still maintained a glow of freshness and energy about her. She toyed with her champagne glass and smiled.

'In fact,' she said, 'rather than conjuring up a belief, perhaps you merely ought to suspend your

dis

belief temporarily.' Her smiled faded into seriousness. 'Magical ceremonies and rituals are designed to create the sort of atmosphere you'd need.'

I snorted. 'Magic? You mean the sort of theatrical drivel Zack performs? Whom shall I cut open?'

She stopped fingering her glass to shake her head emphatically. 'No. What he engaged in was a black mass-a Christian heresy. It is a magical ritual, but one hopelessly ineffective and crude.'

She leaned over the table toward me. She seemed a touch drunk.

'I'm speaking of the Old Ways. The craft that Bridget preserves and practices.'

I stared at her. 'Witches?' This was getting to be too much. 'Broomsticks and black cats and cauldrons?'

'We needn't take the cauldron, Dell.' Having broached the subject, she took another sip of her drink, allowing her cool gaze to warm a bit. 'You've read enough by now to realize that the legends of witchcraft consist of a lot of misinterpreted myth. I suspect the only broom Bridget owns is used to sweep out the store.'

I polished off my bourbon and spent a moment surveying the patrons of the bar. No one appeared to be eavesdropping, though the wonders of electronics could easily have had me fooled.

'I had planned to do away with Him scientifically.'

'Remember what Bridget said. `Two great forces must join and two great forces must clash.''

'Is that the final piece of the puzzle? If it is,

I'm

supposed to produce it with a flourish, and

you're

supposed to say, `Astounding, Holmes.''

She gazed at me with searching eyes for a long moment. She looked disappointed.

'Final piece or not,' she said, 'the answer to the puzzle is this. The two great forces that must clash are good and evil.'

'I suppose I'm on the side of good? Look who hired me.' I ordered another drink.

'Sometimes evil aims can unwittingly set good actions into motion,' she said. 'Besides, Zacharias changed his mind after thinking about the consequences.' She plowed on, undeterred. 'The two great forces that must unite are science and magic. The roots of god reach deep into magic and myth. Without magic, no amount of science can affect him.'

I shrugged my weary shoulders. Her theory was no more ridiculous than anything else I'd considered.

'All right, angel. I'll give it a whirl. What have I got to lose?'

Ann stared gloomily into her drink and didn't answer.

19

Crone

'Out, out,

out

of my store!'