A Bad Man by Stanley Elkin

Author:Stanley Elkin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781453204061
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media LLC
Published: 2010-10-26T10:00:00+00:00

13

A Warden’s Assembly was called. Feldman filed into the hall with the others and sat down.

Maintenance trusties unfolded the Gothic sidings and fitted them into place along the walls. Seen from close up in the still lighted auditorium, they had the cartoony aspect of painted flats in old burlesque skits. Scalloped apertures, cut into the cardboard and covered with sheets of colored cellophane that might have been torn from lollipops, were aligned with the auditorium windows. Bits of sequins embedded in the siding gave a quartzy effect to the granite blocks. Here and there little painted gargoyles frowned down from the moldings. They had the faces of the bad men. Everything had a livid cast, quickening the eye as though it were perceiving under strobe light.

The workmen finished and the warden entered from the back of the auditorium. The first to see him began to applaud. Those up front, without even turning, clapped lustily. One man stood, then another, and soon everyone was on his feet. There were shouts of “Bravo! Bravo!” “Hurrah” called a man near Feldman and was immediately echoed by one next to him, who seemed peeved that he had not thought of it first. “Hurray for the warden,” another invented, and “Three cheers for Warden Fisher,” yelled someone else. “Two-four-six-eight,” a voice rose triumphantly, “who do we appreciate?” And the thunderous answer. “Fisher! Fisher!”

The warden climbed the steps leading to the stage and looked out calmly over the cheering men. The applause was brutal. He smiled and glanced down shyly and they screamed. He raised his hand, and the men cheered louder. Piercing whistles shrieked through the room like the announcement of bombs. Again the warden looked up and raised his hand, but the applause raced on. A trusty fitted a collar microphone around his neck, and the warden raised both hands and faced the men. “Civilization is forms,” he said. “It’s also doing what you’re told. It’s knowing when enough is enough.”

The men began to shush each other. Some in the rear pounded each other’s shoulders, admonishing silence. “Shut up, you guys,” someone near Feldman said. “Warden Fisher wants to speak.” “That’s right,” another added, “we won’t hear him if you’re not quiet.” Feldman’s neighbor nudged him and pointed to a convict down the row who was still applauding. “Some guys ruin it for all the others,” he whispered. A man pointedly stifled a cough.

“‘The Parable of the Shoo-in,’” the warden announced. A few around the auditorium began to applaud again, but they were effectively squelched by those next to them.

“A guy had worked for a large corporation for seven years,” the warden said. “He’d had the whole bit: the interview in college in his senior year, the junior-executive training, the tour of the plant in Milwaukee, the couple of moves to branch offices around the country. The works. The guy was a quick study, very diligent, and his superiors were duly impressed. He made it apparent almost at once that he had what it takes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.