The Bumblebee Flies Anyway by Robert Cormier

Author:Robert Cormier [Cormier, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-83427-0
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2013-03-12T04:00:00+00:00

The Handyman summoned him to the Hit Room the next morning after breakfast. Barney entered the office warily, hoping that the Handyman wasn’t planning more merchandise this week.

Sitting behind the bare wooden desk as usual, the Handyman seemed affable and in good humor.

“How are you getting on with Miss Mazzofono?” he asked.

Barney felt his cheeks grow warm.

“Fine, just fine,” he said. Let’s change the subject, doctor.

“As you know, Barney, I am not a great disciplinarian, and I allow reasonable freedom here. In fact I encourage everyone to move around, go outdoors, to the best of their abilities. But I must tell you that I do not entirely approve of these meetings. Ours is a closed society here. She is a disruptive influence.” He didn’t seem angry. Sad, maybe.

“Your Miss Mazzofono is indulging in a bit of blackmail. Sweet blackmail from her viewpoint, I think. But blackmail all the same.”

Barney waited, didn’t know what to say anyway.

“She may have told you, Barney, that her mother is an important benefactor of ours. And we are in need of bene-factors. That is why I’ve allowed Alberto to become a resident here.” Resident instead of patient. “Why I allowed his sister to visit. Do you see?”

Barney nodded, still wordless.

“This Cassandra Mazzofono, she’s a beautiful young woman, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“Do you enjoy her visits?”

Another nod, not trusting his voice, afraid he might betray how he felt about her.

“This troubles me, Barney.”

Barney’s hopes began to capsize. He was afraid the Handyman would end the visits.

“I would not want you to form attachments, Barney. An attachment that may later cause unhappiness. You are the subject of delicate proceedings.” Proceedings instead of experiments. “It would be unfortunate to upset your delicate balance.”

“What do you mean—delicate balance?”

“In matters involving the mind, Barney, one cannot discount the emotions. Your emotional well-being is as vital as your mental and physical states.”

“What are you trying to tell me?” Barney asked, scared of all this mumbo jumbo about physical states and emotional well-being.

“I want you to be careful, Barney. Do your duty, what this young woman asks of you. But keep yourself remote from her. In your own compartment. Remember that you are a resident here and she is from the outside world. There will come a time eventually when she will have no need to visit here.”

The preciseness of the Handyman’s manner of speaking kept Barney alert to his words, and his words seemed to doom him now. He knows, Barney thought, he knows I love her, live for her visits. From the beginning he had seemed able to read Barney’s mind. Now he could read his emotions. Yet the Handyman’s words didn’t contain a threat, did they? They were more like a warning, a friendly warning, maybe.

“You may go, Barney.” His voice almost gentle.

On his way back to the room, going along the corridors in a haze of uncertainty, he wondered about this strange doctor who was the Handyman. He’d always been almost like a robot, hiding deep within his own compartment, and today he had seemed human.

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