wild in the streets. In London, authorities had used water cannon against similar protestors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had taken a beating and there had been a riot in a prison in Arizona that hadn't been quelled without grisly injury to both inmates and guards. In Boston, police were still puzzled by several homicides that had taken place during the prior year, and reported no new leads in the cases which involved young women being abducted and molested, before being killed. A three-car accident on Route 91 outside Greenfield had claimed a pair of lives, and a lawsuit had been filed by an environmental group accusing a large local employer of dumping untreated waste into the Connecticut River.
Every time Newsman paused in his reading, and Mister Evil launched into an effort to discuss any of these stories, or others, all discouragingly similar, Lanky nodded his head vigorously and started mumbling, 'There! See. That's what I mean!' It was a little like being in some bizarre revivalist church. Evans ignored these statements, trying to engage the other members of the group in some sort of give-and-take conversation.
Peter the Fireman, however, took notice. He abruptly turned to Lanky and asked him directly, 'Big Guy, what's wrong?'
Lanky's voice quavered, as he spoke: 'Don't you see, Peter? The signs are everywhere! Unrest, hatred, war, killing…' He abruptly turned to Evans and asked, 'Isn't there some story in the paper about famine, as well?'
Mister Evil hesitated, and Newsman gleefully said, 'Sudanese Struggle with Crop Failure. Drought and Starvation Cause Refugee Crisis. The New York Times.'
'Hundreds dead?' Lanky asked.
'Yes. In all likelihood,' Mister Evans replied. 'Perhaps even more.'
Lanky nodded vigorously, his head bobbing up and down. 'I've seen the pictures before. Little babies with their bellies swollen and spindly little legs and eyes sunken back all hollow and hopeless. And disease, that's always with us, right alongside famine. Don't even need to read Revelations all that carefully to recognize what's happening. All the signs.' He leaned back abruptly in his steel folding chair, took a single long glance outside the barred window that opened on the hospital grounds, as if assessing the final light of the day, and said, 'There is no doubt that Satan's presence is here. Close by. Look at all that is happening in the world. Bad news everywhere you look. Who else could be responsible?'
With that, he folded his arms in front of him. He was suddenly breathing hard, and small droplets of sweat had formed on his forehead, as if each thought that reverberated within him took a great effort to control. The rest of the dozen members of the group were fixed in their chairs, no one moving, their eyes locked on the tall man, as he struggled with the fears that buffeted around within him.
Mister Evil noticed this, and abruptly steered the topic away from Lanky's obsession. 'Let's turn to the sports section,' he said. The cheeriness in his voice was transparent, almost insulting.
But Peter the Fireman persisted. 'No,' he spoke with an edge of anger in his words. 'No. I don't want to talk about baseball or basketball or the local high school teams. I think we ought to talk about the world around us. And I think Lanky's truly onto something. All there is outside these doors is awful. Hatred and murder and killing. Where does it come from? Who's doing it? Who's good anymore? Maybe it isn't because Satan is here, like Lanky believes. Maybe it's because we've all turned for the worse, and he doesn't even need to be here, because we're doing all his work for him.'
Mr. Evans stared hard at Peter the Fireman. His gaze had narrowed. 'I think you have an interesting opinion,' he said slowly, measuring his words in an understated cold fashion, 'but you exaggerate things. Regardless, I don't think it has much to do with the purposes of this group. We're here to explore ways to rejoin society. Not reasons to hide from it, even if things out in the world aren't quite the way we might like them to be. Nor do I think it serves a purpose when we indulge our delusions, or lend any credence to them.' These last words were directed both at Peter and Lanky equally.
Peter the Fireman's face was set. He started to speak, then stopped.
But into that sudden void, Lanky stepped. His voice was quivering, on the verge of tears. 'If we are to blame for all that is happening, then there's no hope for any of us. None.'
This was said with such unbridled despair that several of the other people in the session, who had been quiet until then, immediately muffled cries. One old man started to tear up, and a woman wearing a pink ruffled housecoat, far too much mascara on her eyes, and tufted white bunny rabbit slippers cut loose with a sob. 'Oh, that's sad,' she said. 'That's so sad.'
Francis watched the social worker, as he tried to regain control over the session. 'The world is the way the world has always been,' he said. 'It's our own part in it that concerns us here.'
It was the wrong thing to say, because Lanky jumped to his feet. He was waving his arms suddenly above his head, much the way he had when Francis had first encountered him. 'But that's it!' he cried, startling some of the more timid members of the group. 'Evil is everywhere! We must find a way to keep it out! We must band together. Form committees. Have watchdog groups. We must organize! Coordinate! Make a plan. Raise defenses. Guard the walls. We've got to work hard to keep it out of the hospital!' He took a deep breath, and pivoted, searching out all the members of the group session with his eyes.
Several heads nodded in unison. This made sense.
'We can keep evil out,' Lanky said. 'But only if we're vigilant.'
Then, his body still shaking with the effort speaking out had taken, he sat back down, and once again folded his arms across his chest retreating into silence.
Mr. Evans glared at Peter the Fireman, as if he was to blame for Lanky's outburst. 'So,' he said slowly, 'Peter. Tell us. Do you think if we're to keep Satan outside these walls, perhaps then we should all be going to church on a regular basis?'
Peter the Fireman stiffened in his seat.
'No,' he said slowly, 'I don't think '
'Shouldn't we be praying? Going to services. Saying our Hail Mary's and Our Father's and Perfect Acts of Contrition. Taking communion on every Sunday? Shouldn't we be confessing our sins on a near constant basis?'
Peter the Fireman's voice grew low and very quiet. 'Those things might make you feel better. But I don't believe '
But Mr. Evans interrupted him a second time. 'Oh, I'm sorry,' he said, an edgy cynicism in each word. 'Going to church and all sorts of organized religious activities would be highly inappropriate for the Fireman, wouldn't they? Because the Fireman, well, you have a problem with churches, right?'
Peter shifted in his seat. Francis could see a slippery fury behind his eyes, which he had never seen before.
'Not churches. A church. And I had a problem. But I solved it, didn't I, Mister Evans?'
The two men stared at each other for a second, then Evans said, 'Yes. I suppose you did. And see where it has landed you.'
At dinner, things seemed to grow worse for Lanky.
The meal that night was creamed chicken, which was mostly a thick, grayish cream and not much chicken, with peas that had been boiled into a state where whatever claim they might once have had on being a vegetable had evaporated in the heat of the stove, and hard baked potatoes that had the same consistency as frozen, except that they were as hot as coals taken from the bottom of a fire. The tall man sat alone, at a corner table, while the other residents of the building jammed into seats at the other tables, trying to give him space. One or two residents had tried to join him at the start of the dinner, but Lanky had waved them away furiously, growling a bit like an old dog disturbed from its sleep.
The usual buzz of conversation seemed muted, the ordinary clatter of dishes and trays seemed softer. There were several tables set aside for the elderly, senile patients, who needed assistance, but even the hovering, attentive busywork of feeding them, or aiding the catatonics who stared blankly ahead, barely aware that they were being fed, seemed quieter, more subdued. From where he was seated, chewing unhappily on the tasteless meal, Francis could see that all the attendants in the dining room kept tossing glances at Lanky, trying to keep an eye on him, as they went about the business of taking care of the others. At one point Gulp-a-pill put in an appearance, spent a few moments intently observing Lanky before speaking rapidly with Evans. Before he
