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Welcome back to Sunday Reads and welcome all our new subscribers! Please enjoy this story of science gone evil.
“It’s All Good News” originally appeared in the anthology Sins of the Past.
Sit back and enjoy!
He wanted us to put him to work.
I’d been here a week, sent away for breaking windows, when we were brought into the courtyard to hear the doctor. They call it the Gladston School of Industry, but they have walls and guards like any other jail. It was early, before breakfast, but it was going to be as hot as a fire, and dark circles were already set into the warden’s white shirt. Not the doctor, though. He was dressed in his gray suit and hat. His tie was set so nice, and not a lick of sweat was on him. We were all dying out there. It just wasn’t natural. The rumble in the yard got louder the longer we all stood. A few of us had a smoke, and I was missing mine. Rules say no smokes for new boys, so I stood and sweated and waited.
Finally, the warden put his hand up, and everything got real quiet. “Boys, you are all very fortunate. Very fortunate indeed. For the benefit of the new stock, I introduce Doctor Weatherbee. I expect your undivided attention.” A few of us shuffled uneasy in the dust, but the screws saw to it that no one interrupted the doctor. His voice carried like the preachers my mam would take me to see when I wore short britches, not that it did any good, mind.
“What fine young men,” the doctor started. His eyes were closed, and he took a deep breath in, like he meant to suck us all up. “Boys, today is a great day. We live in an age of wonders. There will come a time when we will transport people across this great land of ours in a day! Do not be fooled by appearances or the ignorant mumblings of naysayers. We await our deliverance from the old, my boys. Remember, it is all good news!” I didn’t know about any of this. I wouldn’t turn down good news, though. I remember the look in Mam’s eyes when the big dust came to Kansas. Weren’t no good news then.
The doctor stalked across the stage, like he was the coyote and we were the sheep. I’d seen him right after I got in. He was supposed to be helping us get back out. “Science solves everything,” he’d tell us. He’d be out in the yard, talking to boys. He’d put his arm on ‘em, keep to ‘em real close. He never came up to me, though. A few of the fellas in my wing didn’t like him. They called him “unnatural,” and said once he talked to you, you weren’t to be seen again, like he was some kind of bogey man. I just figured they got early release, and the boys in the wing were just jealous, but I kept my mouth shut. I know enough not to stir trouble when I don’t have to.
We stood in that dusty yard for what felt like a year. The sun got higher and hotter and we couldn’t put our caps back on and the doctor kept talking and talking.
One boy, a little one who had no family, fell over in the dust. He didn’t move when the screws lit in to him, and they carried him to the hospital. The doctor didn’t slow up, didn’t even look at the commotion. It was like somethin’ got a hold of him. Anyways, the doctor stopped dead in his tracks, like he was listening to something no one else could hear. He nodded, then boomed out, “Good news, boys! We are on the precipice! The arrival of a new age! It all starts here. With you.” He wagged his finger at us. “We serve a great god. The god we call science will deliver us. You are all very fortunate. Very fortunate indeed. Put me to work, boys, and with science, we will bring about a new golden age!” Everyone was ‘hoopin’ and hollerin’ as the doctor stomped off, but I paid them no mind. “Put me to work.” I never heard such a thing, not from a doctor or anyone. Seems folks like to get me to doing something, not the other way ‘round. Foolishness.
Things finally calmed down, and we all headed to our chores. I dropped the whole thing out of my head. One day just rolled in to the next: up before the sun, eat what was set out, work, get beat by the screws anyways, Sundays in church, do it over again. Before I knew, the hot summer went and a deep cold winter took his place. We stuck together in the yard to stay out of the wind, but nuthin’ else changed.
“My boy. Yes, you. What’s your name?” It was the doctor. I hadn’t seen him since he preached about work and whatnot, but I had got to notin’ how some boys would come and go. “How long have you been here?”
“Been about six months, Sir.” I daren’t look him in the eye. You didn’t look any of them in the eye, unless you wanted a week in the infirmary after the screws were done with you. He touched his hand to my chin, lookin’ at me like my Pa would a horse he was fixin’ to buy. I thought he was going to check my teeth when he dropped his hand.
“I want you in my office tomorrow morning. First thing.” Then he was gone. I turned around, and the other boys were looking at me. I went to see some of the fellas in my wing, but they moved on, sort of how you do when someone tells you they have the fever. Finally, I saw Isaac, one of the older boys.
“So,” he started, before I could even say ‘hey.’ “You’re off, then.” He wasn’t askin’. I went to answer, but he kept on. “No one’s seen what happens when Ol’ Doc takes you, but it ain’t anything good.”
“But if it’s early…” He put his hand out to me.
“Once, there was a boy, Dwight. Sort of like you; kept his mouth shut, got on. Not a bad egg. One day, the doc called on him, and he was gone. We figured he went back to his people. A few weeks later, there was a fuss and commotion like you never heard. It was his mama and pa. He was a Pinkerton, flashing his tin at anyone he could get to look. Warden was there, Doc, everybody. They left after a while. Don’t think Dwight ever got home, though.” A screw made his way towards us, his truncheon out to play. He stopped, though, when he saw it was me. I saw him shake his head, turn and leave. Isaac pulled out his smokes, offered me one, and told me to keep the pack. He went back to the wing, and I was alone.
That morning, I had a chill I couldn’t shake. None of the other boys would come near me, and I ate alone. It didn’t bother me much; I didn’t have anything to say. All I’d heard wasn’t much good, anyways. I looked at my tray: cold grits, hard bread, and coffee. I pushed it away. I had to go. It was time.
Outside, the sky looked like gray flannel, and I pulled up my collar, but it didn’t help me none. I stood in front of the doctor’s door, dumb as an ox. I finally got my nerve up to knock when the door swung open. I’d never seen her before, but if screws were womenfolk, this is what they’d look like.
“You’re late.” I had my mouth open, but she kept goin’. “The doctor does not like to be kept waiting.” I didn’t say anything. I followed her through the narrow hall. It let out into a small parlor with fancy furniture like they have in the Sears Roebuck Catalog. I didn’t want to sit on any of it, but the lady screw grabbed my shoulders like a vice and forced me down on a bench. I didn’t move. I watched the dust in the sun.
I jumped when the door opened, and the doctor was there. He was wearing a dark blue suit and a white doctor’s coat. “So good to see you, my boy, I hope you weren’t waiting long.” I shook my head, “no” and let him guide me deeper into the house. Before I knew it, I was in a cotton shift, sitting on a table. The lady screw was scowling and taking notes as the doctor poked at me. He turned his back and nodded to the lady screw. He turned towards me again. “Did you hear what I said, Son?” I could feel myself get all red in the face.
“I’m sorry, Sir. I…”
“Your hearing, Boy, when did you lose it?”
“I was little, Sir. The scar…”
“Scarlet Fever,” he finished for me. “I see.” The doctor took the notes from the lady screw and started writing. I didn’t know what was happening. The fever came on me when I was a boy. Now I could hear some and figure out talk by watching folk’s mouths ‘cause Pa always said I shouldn’t let on about my frailty, but now what? What if he said no? Then what? He looked in my mouth and patted my face. “You’ll do, my boy. It’ll be fine.” The lady screw’s face never changed. “Tomorrow,” he said to her. “Make sure he’s ready.” She nodded and I followed her through another door and down to the other end of the hallway. She opened a door and pointed for me to go in. I never saw anything like it. It was all fancy, like in a rich man’s house. There was a bed with big pillows, and a fire in the fireplace. My things were there. I wished my mam could see.
“You will be staying here. I trust you will be… comfortable.” She sort-of smiled for a quick minute, then went back to looking angry. The lady screw turned to go back out the door. “You are very fortunate. You do not know how lucky you are.” She closed the door, and I heard the lock go, softer than on the wing. I put my things back on, and after a while, I tried the window. The glass was thick and heavy and I couldn’t budge it. I could see outside, but I couldn’t hear. The boys on the wing would have been done with morning prayers and chores. I could see over the wall and out over the prairie. The sky was hard and cold, but I missed the cold and the noise more than I thought. I was there a spell, and I felt a slow ache in my stomach. There was a pitcher with some water and a privy pot, but nothing else. I was ready to set in to my empty belly, when the lady screw opened the door. A boy, younger ‘n me, came in. Never saw him before. He had a tray with some milk and an apple. He didn’t say anything. He just put it down on the bed and scuttled out. “Eat,” the lady screw said. “You must take this, too.” I ate the apple and she handed me a grey pill. It was big, and I had to drink the whole glass to get it down. She took the things from me and said I should lie down. I felt fine, but I did as I was told. I lay on top of the soft bed, watching the shadows move across the wall.
I must have nodded off, because before I knew, it was full-on dark. I felt a need for the privy, but I couldn’t move. I could see and feel, but my arms and legs wouldn’t obey. I tried to look down to see what had me pinned, but I couldn’t move my head. That wasn’t the worst of it, though.
I wasn’t alone.
The boy was there, but it didn’t look like him. His eyes looked gone, and part of his face looked missing. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I could see where his mouth was supposed to be. I could see it move, “Get out.” I tried to yell. He reached for me, and everything went dark. I came to the next morning. The sun was just peeping up, but the boy was gone. “Get out,” he’d said. I tried to tell myself it was a dream, but I couldn’t shake it.
The door swung open, and I nearly knocked over the night stand. The lady screw was there with a fresh shift. “Good morning. I trust you slept well?” I told her yes, and she pointed at the shift, saying she wanted me to put it on. I asked where the boy was. Her face never changed and she went for the door. “What boy?”
What did I get myself into?
A few minutes later, the lady screw was back with some big fellas I’d never seen before. I couldn’t move before they wrapped me up and put me in a chair with wheels. My hands and feet were tied, and a sour-tastin’ rag was in my mouth. All I could think of was that boy in the night.
We went down and down. My wishes of going home were foolishness. I knew that now. I looked around, trying to find a way , but there were no windows or doors, just a long hallway. The lady screw bent forward next to my face and said, “You are very lucky. You have no idea.” I pulled at the straps, but they wouldn’t budge.
Finally, we got down to the cellar. It wasn’t like any I had seen, though. There were electric lights, but only some were on. I could see the doctor in a white outfit with a cap and apron. They wheeled me closer, and I looked at him, hoping he would maybe let me go. He turned to a basin, and started washing his hands. “Boy,” he said. “This is a wondrous day.” He turned, and the lady screw dried his hands and helped him put some gloves on. “Today, you make your contribution to science. People will be celebrating you in the next age.” The fellas picked me up and strapped me on a table and pulled the rag from my mouth.
Someone started turning on the lights, and I could see them: The boys, rocking back and forth or in heaps in cages or hanging on hooks like sides of beef. All of them, torn to bits like they went through a combine.
I saw the boy that was in my room. He was tied to a table, too. He looked like I remembered in the night, with chunks of his face missing. He was rocking himself like a baby.
The doctor came close. “I’m going to fix your hearing, lad. Your little friend will… help.” I started to cry. I couldn’t help myself. “Now, now. No tears,” the doctor pulled his head up away from me and turned to the lady screw. “Bring the tray. I’ll need the saw as well.”
I screamed. I couldn’t stop. The fellas flew at me, but the doctor put his hand up and stopped them. He crooked his finger at the lady screw. She poured something on a sponge and walked towards me. I tried to keep away from the funny-smelling thing, but she clamped it over my mouth and nose. I tried to fight it, to hold my breath. The last thing I saw was the boy moaning and rocking as everything went black.
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